DELL EMC POWERMAX

CONCEPTS AND
FEATURES

PARTICIPANT GUIDE

PARTICIPANT GUIDE
 Dell EMC PowerMax Concepts and Features-SSP

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Table of Contents

PowerMax, VMAX All Flash, & VMAX Family ....................................................................... 2

How to Navigate This eLearning .......................................................................................... 3

PowerMax Overview .................................................................................................. 4

PowerMax Introduction ........................................................................................................ 5
PowerMax Models ............................................................................................................... 6
Building Blocks of PowerMax Arrays .................................................................................... 7
PowerMax Components ....................................................................................................... 9
What's Inside ..................................................................................................................... 11
Maximum Configurations ................................................................................................... 12
Management ...................................................................................................................... 13

Knowledge Check: PowerMax Introduction .......................................................... 15

PowerMax 2000 ................................................................................................................. 16

PowerMax Software Packaging .............................................................................. 17

Essentials and Pro Packaging............................................................................................ 18
PowerMax Essentials ......................................................................................................... 19
PowerMax Pro ................................................................................................................... 21
Mainframe Software Packaging ......................................................................................... 23

Knowledge Check: PowerMax Software Packaging ............................................. 26

Essentials .......................................................................................................................... 27
zPro ................................................................................................................................... 28

PowerMax Use Cases .............................................................................................. 29

Data Reduction .................................................................................................................. 30
Service Levels ................................................................................................................... 32
Migration ............................................................................................................................ 34
Course feedback ................................................................................................................ 35

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 PowerMax Overview

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PowerMax Overview

PowerMax, VMAX All Flash, & VMAX Family

PowerMax and VMAX Family Solutions (DCS-IE) Implementation Engineer

Specialist track focuses on configuration and business continuity administration of
PowerMax and VMAX Family storage arrays in open systems environments.

PowerMax and VMAX All Flash (DCS-PE) Platform Engineer Specialist track
includes system installation and maintenance, initial configuration of ports, pools
and devices, storage provisioning, and business continuity operations using
TimeFinder Snap VX and SRDF.

VMAX All Flash and VMAX3 Solutions

A. VMAX All Flash and VMAX3 Security Concepts (ODC)

B. VMAX All Flash and VMAX3 FAST.X Solutions (ODC)
C. VMAX All Flash and VMAX3 Multi-site SRDF Solutions (ODC)
D. VMAX All Flash and VMAX3 SRDF Metro Solutions (ODC)
E. VMAX All Flash and VMAX3 Non-disruptive Migrations (ODC)
F. VMAX All Flash and VMAX3 Performance Workshop (C, VC, ODC)

Technology Architect, Implementation Engineer, Platform Engineer, PowerMax and VMAX All Flash
PowerMax and VMAX Family PowerMax and VMAX Family PowerMax and VMAX All Flash
Solutions Solutions

Coming Soon A. PowerMax Concepts and Features A. VMAX All Flash Fundamentals A. VMAX3 Fundamentals (ODC)
(ODC) (ODC)
Technology Architect, VMAX3 Solutions B. PowerMax and VMAX Family Local B. VMAX3 Local Replication
B. PowerMax Concepts and Features
Replication Concepts (ODC) Fundamentals (ODC)
(ODC)
C. PowerMax and VMAX Family Remote C. VMAX3 Remote Replication
C. PowerMax and VMAX Family Local
Replication Concepts Fundamentals (ODC)
A. VMAX3 Fundamentals (ODC) Replication Concepts (ODC)
(ODC) D. VMAX1 and VMAX2 Hardware
B. VMAX3 Local Replication D. Unisphere for PowerMax D. PowerMax and VMAX Family Remote
Fundamentals (ODC)
Fundamentals (ODC) Replication Concepts (ODC)
Implementation and Management E. VMAX3 Hardware Fundamentals
C. VMAX3 Remote Replication (ODC) E. PowerMax Hardware Concepts
Fundamentals (ODC) (ODC)
E. Solutions Enabler Implementation (ODC)
F. VMAX Family Installation and
D. VMAX3 - Unisphere for VMAX (ODC) E. VMAX All Flash and VMAX3 Hardware Maintenance (C,VC)
Implementation and Management F. Non-Disruptive Migration to PowerMax Fundamentals (ODC)
(ODC) and VMAX Family (ODC)
F. PowerMax and VMAX All Flash
E. VMAX3 Infrastructure Solutions G. PowerMax and VMAX Family 250/950 Installation and
(VC) Config and Business Continuity Maintenance (C, VC)
F. VMAX Solutions Design (VC) Admin (C, VC, ODC)

Information Storage and Management

Information Storage and Management (C, VC, ODC)

(C) - Classroom

(VC) - Virtual Classroom

(ODC) - On Demand Course

For more information, visit: http://dell.com/certification

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 PowerMax Overview

How to Navigate This eLearning

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section click the blue caret.
• Resources: Displays links to supplements that have been added to a course.
• Glossary: Displays glossaries that have been added to a course.
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To close the menu, click again. You can navigate the course using the Next
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PowerMax Overview

PowerMax Overview

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 PowerMax Overview

PowerMax Introduction

PowerMax is a storage array that is designed for performance, scale, and

availability. PowerMax arrays are Fast, Smart, Efficient, and Trusted as the best
solution for today's modern data centers. Click each of the images below for more
information.

1 2 3

1: Non-Volatile Memory Express, or NVMe, is a high-performance protocol

designed for modern media. NVMe-based flash drives used in PowerMax arrays
take advantage of the parallelism of modern CPUs and SSDs, overcoming
performance limitations of spinning disk drives.

2: PowerMax bricks are the building blocks of PowerMax arrays, consisting of an

engine and storage capacity. Bricks start as small as 13 TB. Scale up by adding
capacity to the brick, and scale out by adding additional bricks.
Data reduction, using PowerMax compression and deduplication, provides
significant consolidation, saving space and capacity.

3: PowerMax arrays provide trusted solutions with rich data services such as
SRDF, D@RE, and data reduction, along with features such as non-disruptive
upgrades and migrations. SRDF provides data recovery in the event of a disaster,
and D@RE protects confidentiality by encrypting all drives on the array. This
encryption ensures protection from unauthorized access if drives are removed from
the array or if encryption keys are removed due to a reinstall.

Fast Smart Efficient Trusted

PowerMax delivers Machine learning Scale-up and With PowerMax,
unprecedented levels and the use of scale-out data is always
of performance. service levels architecture protected and
improve application allows you to available.
performance. start small and
grow as the
business
demands.

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PowerMax Overview

PowerMax Models

There are two different models available with the PowerMax family of arrays. The
PowerMax 2000 is available with either one or two bricks only and uses a serial
number identifier of x979. The PowerMax 8000, serial number identifier x976, can
have up to 8 bricks. The operating system for these arrays is PowerMaxOS 5978.

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 PowerMax Overview

Building Blocks of PowerMax Arrays

PowerMax bricks are the building blocks for PowerMax arrays. A brick consists of
an engine and two 24-Drive Drive Array Enclosures (DAEs). Click the tabs to view
the bricks for each PowerMax model.

PowerMax 2000 Bricks

In the PowerMax 2000, each engine supports the drives in both DAEs. Shown here
is a diagram of drive support for a single-brick and a dual-brick PowerMax 2000.

PowerMax 8000 Bricks

In the PowerMax 8000, each engine also supports two DAEs, however, one DAE is
shared between two engines. This sharing is achieved by including two DAEs with
every odd-numbered engine. Drives are populated into the first DAE, and the
second DAE is partially populated with drives for this engine. A third DAE is
installed when an even-numbered engine is installed. Drives are populated into the
remainder of the second DAE and the third DAE for the even-numbered engine.

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PowerMax Overview

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 PowerMax Overview

PowerMax Components

Common components in PowerMax arrays include Engines1, Drive Array

Enclosures (DAEs)2 and Standby Power Supplies (SPSs)3. InfiniBand (IB)
switches4 are installed in multi-engine PowerMax 8000 systems only, and Ethernet

1Engines that are used in the PowerMax bricks contain two directors that are
configured identically within the engine. Directors have supporting cache for the
system, and in the rear of the director, modules that are used for front-end host,
back-end disk, and inter-engine connectivity. Also installed in the directors are flash
modules, which are used for vaulting, a management module, and a data reduction
module. Directors have fans for cooling, and two power supplies provide redundant
power to the director.

2 DAEs used in PowerMax arrays contain up to 24 flash drives. Various drive sizes
are available. Check support.emc.com for the latest supported drive sizes. Dual link
control cards that are installed in the rear of the DAEs are used for connectivity to
the back-end director modules. Two power supplies, also installed in the rear,
provide redundant power to the DAE.

3If a power failure occurs, SPSs are used in PowerMax arrays for battery backup.
A pair of SPSs supports an engine, and when installed in multi-engine PowerMax
8000 systems, the IB switches. Each SPS has two five-minute backups to support
power failures in the data center.

4 IB switches are used in the PowerMax 8000 system when multiple engines are
installed. Dual switches connect redundantly via InfiniBand to each director for data
transfer and to Ethernet switches for communications via Ethernet ports on the IB
switches. If a power failure occurs, SPSs provide battery backup to the IB switches
so they continue to run.

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PowerMax Overview

switches5 are present in all PowerMax 8000 arrays. A service tray6 is provided in
both PowerMax 8000 bays. Hover over each underlined component in this
paragraph for more details on the components.

5Two Dell Ethernet switches are installed in every PowerMax 8000 system for
communications. Each switch connects to every director and also to both IB
switches for redundancy in multi-engine systems. PowerMax 2000 arrays do not
have Ethernet switches. Direct connection between engines provides
communications capabilities in the PowerMax 2000.

6 A service tray is provided in the PowerMax 8000 system bays for connecting a
service laptop for maintenance activities. A red Ethernet cable is provided to attach
to the service laptop and a remote connection can then be made to the system for
serviceability. PowerMax 2000 arrays do not have a service tray, however, the red
Ethernet cable is provided for service laptop connectivity.

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 PowerMax Overview

What's Inside

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PowerMax Overview

Maximum Configurations

The maximum configuration for a PowerMax 2000 system is two bricks. Eight
bricks can be installed in two racks for the maximum configuration of a PowerMax
8000. Notice the stack-up of the engines and DAEs differs between the two
models. Also, components are installed in PowerMax 8000 arrays that are not
present in the PowerMax 2000.

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 PowerMax Overview

Management

Use Unisphere for PowerMax 9.0, Solutions Enabler 9.0, or the REST API 9.0 to
manage PowerMax arrays.

In the diagram below, click Unisphere GUI, REST API, and SYMCLI for more
information about management of PowerMax arrays.

Application Stack

1
2 3

1: Unisphere for PowerMax, or Unisphere, is an HTML5 web-based application that

allows users to manage, operate, and maintain PowerMax, VMAX All Flash, and
VMAX arrays. With Unisphere, users can view system dashboards, including
capacity information, performance detail, health status, storage group compliance,
and replication activities. Manage storage groups, service levels, volumes, hosts,
data protection, and hardware using Unisphere. Monitoring capabilities include
alerts and performance data.

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PowerMax Overview

2: A Unisphere Representational State Transfer Application Programming

Interface, or REST API, allows users to access diagnostic, performance, and
configuration data, and to perform provisioning operations on an array. These
operations can be performed in any programming environment that supports
standard REST clients, such as web browsers and programming platforms that can
issue HTTP requests.

3: Solutions Enabler Command Line Interface, or SYMCLI, provides a command

line interface for managing the storage environment. Solutions Enabler provides
the interface between the Storage Management Initiative (SMI) and the arrays,
allowing storage management and control from interfaces from multiple vendors. In
mainframe environments, Mainframe Enablers is used to monitor and manage
PowerMax arrays.

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 Knowledge Check: PowerMax Introduction

Knowledge Check: PowerMax Introduction

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Knowledge Check: PowerMax Introduction

PowerMax 2000

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 PowerMax Software Packaging

PowerMax Software Packaging

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PowerMax Software Packaging

Essentials and Pro Packaging

PowerMax appliance-based packaging includes either the Essentials or Pro

software packages. For Mainframe environments, zEssentials and zPro packages
are available. Some of the included and optional software is shown below.

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 PowerMax Software Packaging

PowerMax Essentials

PowerMax Essentials is the starter software package for PowerMax arrays.

Included is PowerMaxOS, TimeFinder SnapVX, Compression and Deduplication,
Non-Disruptive Migration, and the AppSync Starter Package. Optional software can
be added to the Essentials bundle on an individual basis. These optional features
include SRDF, eNAS, D@RE, SRM, Unisphere 360, ProtectPoint, PowerPath,
RecoverPoint, AppSync Full Suite, and EMC Storage Analytics (ESA). For details
on these software products, see the Pro packaging information on the next page.
Click each of the software titles below for a description of the included software.

3 4

2
5
6

1: PowerMaxOS is an open converged storage hypervisor and operating system

for PowerMax arrays. PowerMaxOS provides emulations that perform data
services and control functions, such as back-end, management, host connectivity
and remote replication, in the PowerMaxOS environment. It includes VMWare
Virtual Volumes (VVols) and Quality of Service (QoS).
VVols makes storage VM-centric. This allows provisioning based on the
performance and storage requirements of the VM. Management, such as local or
remote replication, is also performed at the VM level.
QoS tools give users the ability to meet specific performance targets for their
applications by allocating system resources accordingly.

2: TimeFinder SnapVX allows the creation of thousands of space-efficient point-in-

time replicas of production data. These replicas can be used for backups, decision
support, data warehouse refreshes, or any other process that requires parallel
access to production data. SnapVX also provides the ability to create secure
snaps, preventing intentional or unintentional deletion of snapshots. Snapshots will
only be deleted once the expiration date and time that is set has been reached.

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PowerMax Software Packaging

3: Inline deduplication and compression data reduction technologies help minimize

the storage footprint in Open Systems environments. Deduplication and
compression provide hardware-assisted reductions and are fully compatible with all
data services such as SRDF and SnapVX.

4: Non-Disruptive Migration, or NDM, provides seamless migration from any VMAX

to PowerMax arrays, enabling consolidation of multiple arrays into a fraction of the
existing footprint. No host reboot is required for most Open Systems environments.
NDM is not available for Mainframe environments.

5: AppSync offers a simple, SLA-driven, self-service approach for managing critical

applications and VMware environments. The AppSync Starter Pack provides the
license for a scale-limited, yet fully functional version of AppSync. The Starter Pack
allows 20 simultaneous copies of data on a single array, and includes the bronze
service plan, allowing only local protection on the system. Applications supported
by AppSync include Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and Exchange, and VMware
VMFS and NFS datastores and file systems.

6: Embedded Management, or eManagement, provides array management tools

running on the array, negating the need for an external host to run management
software. Unisphere for PowerMax, Solutions Enabler, SMI-S, and DBA are
included.

Unisphere for PowerMax is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) program providing

monitoring, management and configuration capabilities to users.

Solutions Enabler is Dell EMC's command line interface (CLI) for performing these
tasks.

SMI-S is an industry standard that facilitates the management of storage devices

from multiple vendors.

Database Storage Analyzer (DBA) is used with Unisphere and allows

administrators to view storage at database object levels.

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 PowerMax Software Packaging

PowerMax Pro

The PowerMax Pro software package includes all products in the Essentials
package, plus SRDF, eNAS, Unisphere 360, PowerPath, D@RE, SRM, and
AppSync Full Suite. Optionally, ProtectPoint, ESA, and RecoverPoint can be added
to the Pro packaging.
Click each of the software titles below for a description of the software available.

10
2
7
1

3
8
4
6
5

1: Symmetrix Remote Data Facility, or SRDF, is the gold standard for replication.
Dell EMC's SRDF packaging includes SRDF Synchronous (SRDF/S), Asychronous
(SRDF/A) and multi-site replication with SRDF/Star. Also included is SRDF/Metro,
providing an active/active configuration. SRDF/Metro allows both the primary, or
source, and the secondary, or target volumes to be read/write to hosts.

2: Data at Rest Encryption, or D@RE, provides hardware-based, on-array

encryption to protect data confidentiality on the entire array. D@RE uses FIPS 140-
2 approved 256-bit encryption to secure data on the disks in the array.

3: Embedded Network-Attached Storage, or eNAS extends the value of PowerMax

arrays to file storage, enabling deployment of a single infrastructure to manage
mission-critical block and file resources. NAS components have been virtualized
and embedded into PowerMax containers on the array for the eNAS offering.

4: With the introduction of eManagement, multiple VMAX and PowerMax arrays

within a data center can be running individual instances of Unisphere. Unisphere
360 provides single, centralized monitoring of up to 200 enrolled VMAX2, VMAX3,

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PowerMax Software Packaging

VMAX All Flash, and PowerMax arrays, providing better insight across the entire
data center.

5: Dell EMC's PowerPath provides automated data path management and load
balancing for all heterogeneous server, network and storage deployed in physical
and virtual environments. This streamlined data path enables more predictable and
consistent application availability while providing up to three times the IOPS even
during period of high I/O activity. The PowerPath package includes licenses for up
to 75 hosts. Additional licenses can be purchased separately.

6: The AppSync Full Suite allows unlimited mounted copies of data across multiple
arrays, providing gold and silver service plans. The gold service plan allows for
local and remote protection, and silver allows remote protection only. As mentioned
previously, the bronze service plan, included with the AppSync Starter Bundle in
the Essentials package, includes only local protection.

7: ProtectPoint is an integration between PowerMax and Data Domain storage

systems to backup production data. ProtectPoint provides block movement of data
on application source devices to Data Domain devices for incremental backups.

8: Dell EMC Storage Analytics, or ESA, delivers a single, end-to-end view of

virtualized infrastructures using simple dashboard views. ESA delivers performance
analysis and proactively facilitates increased insight into storage resource pools to
help detect capacity and performance issues before they become major issues.
ESA extends VMware vRealize Operations analytics to supported Dell EMC
storage platforms, including PowerMax.

9: Dell EMC RecoverPoint provides continuous data protection with multiple

recovery points, allowing restoration of applications instantly to a specific point in
time. Protect applications in physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructures with
bidirectional synchronous and asynchronous replication and digital video recorder-
like recovery using RecoverPoint.

10: SRM provides monitoring, reporting and analysis for heterogeneous block, file,
and virtualized storage environments. Use SRM to visualize applications to storage
dependencies, monitor and analyze configurations and capacity growth, and
optimize the environment.

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 PowerMax Software Packaging

Mainframe Software Packaging

Software packaging for Mainframe environments is similar to the Essentials and

Pro packages.
Click Mainframe Essentials, zDP, AutoSwap, GDDR, and Mainframe Essentials
Plus below under zEssentials for a description of these software features.

zEssentials zPro

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PowerMax Software Packaging

Included features Included features

• PowerMaxOS • All zEssentials features
• eManagement • SRDF
• SnapVX • D@RE
• Mainframe Essentials7 • Unisphere 360
• zDP
Optional features
• SRDF • AutoSwap

• D@RE Optional features

• Unisphere 360 • GDDR
• zDP8 • Mainframe Essentials Plus
• AutoSwap9
• GDDR10
• Mainframe Essentials Plus11

7Mainframe Essentials provides greater mainframe integration, and more extensive

management tools than the standard mainframe capabilities in PowerMaxOS.

8 Data Protector for z Systems, or zDP, is a Mainframe software solution that is

used to recover, with minimal data loss, from logical data corruption. zDP uses
SnapVX on PowerMax arrays to provide frequent multiple consistent point-in-time
copies of data in an automated fashion. Applications can recover to a point prior to
the corruption.

9AutoSwap provides the ability to perform automatic workload swaps between

PowerMax systems when the software detects planned or unplanned outages.

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 PowerMax Software Packaging

10Geographically Dispersed Disaster Restart, or GDDR, automates business

recovery following planned outages or disaster situations, including the total loss of
a data center. GDDR uses PowerMax architecture, along with the foundation of
SRDF and TimeFinder replication to eliminate any single point of failure for disaster
restart plans. GDDR does not provide replication and recovery services, but rather
monitors and automates the services provided by SRDF and TimeFinder, as well
as third-party products.

11Mainframe Essentials Plus is an expanded version of Mainframe Essentials,

featuring zBoost PAV Optimizer for improved performance on zHPF multi-track I/O.

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Knowledge Check: PowerMax Software Packaging

Knowledge Check: PowerMax Software Packaging

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 Knowledge Check: PowerMax Software Packaging

Essentials

1. Which software is included in eManagement?

a. Unisphere for PowerMax
b. Unisphere 360
c. Mainframe Essentials
d. Mainframe Essentials Plus

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Knowledge Check: PowerMax Software Packaging

zPro

2. Which optional software can be added to the zPro package?

a. GDDR
b. Unisphere 360
c. zDP
d. Mainframe Essentials

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 PowerMax Use Cases

PowerMax Use Cases

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PowerMax Use Cases

Data Reduction

PowerMax data reduction combines inline compression and inline deduplication to

provide a high-performing, space-efficient platform. Data reduction allows
presenting more front-end effective capacity to lower back-end usable capacity.
Compression and deduplication are two different functions that work together for
optimal data reduction. Data reduction savings will vary based on workloads.
Typical workloads see an average of 3:1 reduction. Compression reduces the size
of datasets, while deduplication identifies identical datasets and stores a single
instance of that dataset. Pointers are used to provide access for requests from
multiple sources sharing data.
Click the tabs below for use case details on compression and deduplication data
reduction.

Compression

Data that is not accessed frequently, such as backup or archived files, benefits
greatly from compression. Compressing this data optimizes space efficiency on
storage arrays. Dell EMC's PowerMax Adaptive Compression Engine uses internal
statistics to identify data that is a good candidate for compression. The
compression process skips frequently accessed data. To maximize compression
efficiency, Optimized Data Placement is a function within the system that
dynamically adjusts compression pool sizes to cater to incoming data and
accommodates multiple sizes of compression.

Deduplication

A typical email system might contain multiple instances of the same file attached to
many emails. If, for example, 50 emails have an identical attachment of 2 MB in
size, 100 MB of storage is required to save the instances of that file. With
deduplication, only one instance of the file is stored and each subsequent instance
is referenced back to the saved copy using pointers. This results in a significant
storage savings of 98 MB in this case.

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 PowerMax Use Cases

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PowerMax Use Cases

Service Levels

Service levels allow you to manage latency to ensure consistent response times for
applications. Critical applications can operate at necessary levels of performance,
while preventing less-critical applications from getting more performance than is
needed. PowerMax service levels are implemented at the Storage Group, or
application level and employ performance floors via delays. All applications default
to a Diamond service level unless changed during initial provisioning or after an
application is running. Click the tabs below for service level use cases.

Noisy Neighbor

Service levels allow isolation of performance-critical workloads to ensure that they

are not impacted by "noisy neighbors", or less important workloads. This isolation
ensures consistent levels of response times to critical applications, and prevents
noisy neighbors from taking resources away from those applications.

Honeymoon

When an application is added to a new system, resources are readily available,

and the application performs at a certain level. As new applications are added,
these resources are shared, potentially taking away from the original application.
The performance of the original application may be degraded. This is sometimes
called the "honeymoon" effect. In order to ensure the original application continues
to perform as expected, use service levels to retain consistent response times as
new applications are added to the environment.

As a service

Service levels are ideal for service providers or IT departments using "as a service"
models and chargeback. Not all tenants or applications require Diamond-level
service, and setting service levels provides balance and structure within a

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 PowerMax Use Cases

PowerMax system, allowing consistent, expected response times for different

applications.

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PowerMax Use Cases

Migration

Data migrations can be complex, time-consuming, and costly. Overcome these

challenges with PowerMax automated tools and application-centric approach to
migrations.

NDM ORS

Dell EMC Non-Disruptive Migration, or Open Replicator, or ORS, is a migration

NDM, provides seamless migrations tool that is used with PowerMax arrays.
from any VMAX system to PowerMax ORS features a method to migrate data
with no host reboot required for most from qualified third-party arrays to
open systems environments. NDM is not PowerMax. ORS works by pulling data
available in mainframe environments. from other arrays to the PowerMax over
Use NDM to consolidate multiple arrays front-end fibre channel ports.
into a fraction of the footprint, saving Performance-sensitive applications can
valuable data center space. be easily transitioned to PowerMax
arrays gradually using ORS.

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 PowerMax Use Cases

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