Dell PowerVault MD3860i Storage Array

Description

The Dell PowerVault MD3860i storage array is the perfect solution for storage consolidation projects. It can support up to 60 drives and 600TB of data in just a 4U rack space or with a premium feature key and additional hardware up to 180 drives. The enclosure is capable of high-speed application performance with optional dual 16Gb Fibre Channel RAID controllers, which support four ports and up to 8GB of mirrored cache each. Multiple systems can be monitored through a single interface with Dell's Modular Disk Storage Manager software to reduce the complexity of storage management.

Storage

This high-density enclosure houses up to 60 small form factor (SFF) or large form factor (LFF) drives to provide a maximum storage capacity of 600TB of data. Administrators can configure this enclosure with a mixture of hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), near-line SAS (NL-SAS), and self-encrypting drives (SEDs) to create the optimum storage environment for their anticipated needs. The built-in high-performance tiering (HPT) feature increases application performance in arrays with a high drive count or configured with SSDs. Standard configurations provide 4GB of mirrored cache per controller, but can be upgraded to support up to 8GB of cache per controller for faster application performance. In the event of a power outage, the RAID controller's Battery Backup Unit (BBU) will continue to provide power to controller. With a premium feature key and two MD3060e enclosures supporting 60 drives each, this array can be expanded to support up to 180 drives to satisfy even the most data-intensive workloads.

High Availability clusters (HA) enable greater reliability and uptime with the help of high availability software to harness redundant computers in groups or clusters for fail-over support in the event of a systems crash. HA clusters are generally used to make the system as reliable as possible. Administrators have connectivity options with the Dell MD3860i and can choose either HA and non-HA configurations. A 4 x 12Gb SAS controller supports up to four servers in an HA configuration, or with a dual controller option, it will support 8 servers directly connected in a non-HA mode. There is also an option for a 16Gb Fibre Channel host connection with four ports plus 2 x 12Gb SAS ports per controller to deliver twice the bandwidth compared to its predecessor. With a network-attached configuration using an iSCSI configuration with industry-standard 10Gb Ethernet switches (an IP SAN) this storage array can support up to 64 hosts simultaneously using single or dual controllers.

Management

Dell's MD Storage Manager software features a graphical user interface with task-guided features for straightforward storage management regardless of the user's storage management knowledge. Multiple systems can be managed through a single interface and a "Recovery Guru" provides troubleshooting advice as soon as an issue is detected. The software's configuration flexibility allows users to mix RAID levels, cache policies, and array sizes within a single enclosure. Advanced features, like point-in-time replications of virtual disks, are available with the addition of a premium feature key.

Summary

The Dell PowerVault MD3860i storage array is the ideal solution for businesses that need to satisfy high data transfer workloads with limited space. When the enclosure is fully expanded, with the purchase of a premium feature key and two MD3060e dense enclosures, it can support up to 180 drives using less than half a standard rack of space. RAID levels and drive technologies can be mixed in a single enclosure to create a customized storage environment for the anticipated workload. Wizard-based tools and task-guided features make storage management a simple process, even for novice-level system admins.