POWERSTORE 3.

0
CONCEPTS AND
FEATURES

PARTICIPANT GUIDE

PARTICIPANT GUIDE

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Table of Contents

PowerStore Concepts and Features 4

Introduction 4

PowerStore Introduction 5
What Is PowerStore? 5
Use Cases for PowerStore 6
PowerStore Deployment Modes and Architecture 7
PowerStore T Cluster 9
PowerStore X Cluster 9
Scalability 10
PowerStore Models 11
PowerStore Introduction Key Points 11

Hardware Introduction 13
Base Enclosure 13
Expansion Enclosure 34
Top of Rack Switches 41

Software Introduction 47
PowerStore Management Software 47
PowerStore Manager 48
PowerStore CLI 51
REST API 52
Licensing 53
PowerStore Reference Material 54
PowerStore Concepts and Features Key Points 58

Appendix 61

Glossary 67

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PowerStore Concepts and Features

Introduction

This course introduces the concepts and features for the PowerStore mid-
range storage product line, including:
 PowerStore Introduction and use cases
 Hardware Introduction, including base and expansion enclosures
and Top of Rack switches
 Software Introduction, including PowerStore Manager, CLI, REST
API
 Reference Material, including online help, Dell support site and
product pages, and the SolVe tool

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PowerStore Introduction

What Is PowerStore?

PowerStore is a next-generation midrange data storage solution that is

targeted at customers who are looking for value, flexibility, and simplicity.

PowerStore front view

 Optimized for transactional, virtualized, and hyperconverged

applications
 Purpose-built All-Flash Active/Active storage appliance.
 Supports:
 Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) communications protocol
 NVMe Solid State Drive (SSD) for storage
 NVMe NVRAM for cache
 NVMe and SAS SSDs by expansion
 End-to-end NVMe_oF (TCP and FC)
 Consolidates storage and virtual server environments
 Scale up and scale out
 Integrated data efficiencies and protection
 Simplified management
 DC power and NEBS-compliant version available with PowerStore 500

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Use Cases for PowerStore

Application Examples Use Case Examples

Healthcare and industry

applications:
Medical professionals
can use products from
vendors such as
MEDITECH to store
patient information to
share with other
providers.

Analyze data to drive

efficient strategies:
Products like SAP
Leonardo (rebranded
SAP IoT), using
PowerStore storage,
enable IT professionals
to analyze data from
multiple sources to solve
problems.

Agile Deployment for

industry-leading
platforms:
PowerStore storage
provides a foundation for
applications such as
Pivotal Cloud Foundry to
support full development
life cycle. Cloud Foundry
has been rebranded
VMware Tanzu
Application Service.

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Services to streamline IT
operations:
Dell Data Protection
Suite can protect data on
PowerStore to meet
ever-changing data
growth and governance
requirements while
protecting workloads
across an evolving IT
landscape.

PowerStore Deployment Modes and Architecture

PowerStore T and X architectures

PowerStore consists of two deployment modes:

PowerStore T
 Storage-centric—provides Block-only or Unified storage.
 Software stack starting with a CoreOS deployed directly on bare metal
hardware.

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 Uses NVMe, FC, and iSCSI for Block access.

 Uses NFS and SMB for File access.

PowerStore X
 Block-only storage with an integrated Hypervisor (ESXi) installed on
the bare metal.
 Controller Virtual Machine (VM) with CoreOS is deployed on the ESXi
hypervisor.
 With VMware license, customer can deploy additional VMs (Customer
VMs) and install custom applications.
 Uses NVMe, FC, and iSCSI for Block access.

Hardware Architecture
 The basic hardware on both configurations is called a Node.
 A node contains the processors and memory and is the storage
processor or storage controller.
 Two nodes are housed in a Base Enclosure.
 One Base Enclosure and up to three optional expansion enclosures
constitutes an Appliance.
 One or more appliances create a Cluster.
 Add SAS or NVMe Expansion Enclosures to each appliance for more
storage capacity.

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PowerStore T Cluster

PowerStore T cluster components

 Up to four PowerStore T appliances can be connected in a cluster.

 Different PowerStore T models are supported in the same cluster.

 Example: PowerStore 1000T and a PowerStore 3200T can be

combined in the same cluster.

PowerStore X Cluster

PowerStore X cluster components

 Up to four PowerStore X appliances can be connected in a cluster.

 Different PowerStore X models are supported in the same cluster.

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Important: The mixing of PowerStore T with PowerStore X

in a cluster is not supported.

Scalability

Each PowerStore configuration and model provides different performance.

PowerStore can be scaled up and scaled out.

PowerStore scalability

Scaling up is adding more Expansion Enclosures.

 Increases storage capacity.
 Up to three expansion enclosures per appliance

Scaling out is adding more Base Enclosures.

 Increases processing power and storage.

 Up to four appliances per cluster.

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PowerStore Models

There are several models available within the PowerStore series.

The higher the model number, the more CPU cores and memory per
appliance.

Model 500 only offered as a PowerStore T. Models 1000, 1200, 3000,

3200, 5000, 5200, 7000, 9000, and 9200 are available as PowerStore T
and X. There is no 7200T or X.

PowerStore models

PowerStore Introduction Key Points

The PowerStore series includes:

1. PowerStore T, configured for block only or block and file storage.
2. PowerStore X, configured for block storage with hypervisor.

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3. PowerStore 500 only offered as a T. Models 1000, 1200, 3000, 3200,

5000, 5200, 7000, 9000, and 9200 are available as PowerStore T and
X. There is no 7200T or X.
a. Larger model numbers offer more CPU cores, more memory, and
better performance.
4. PowerStore appliances are made up of a base enclosure and up to
three optional expansion enclosures.

a. Up to four appliances are allowed in a cluster.

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Hardware Introduction

Base Enclosure

PowerStore Redundancy Features

PowerStore system with bezel

PowerStore provides enterprise-class efficiency, performance, and high

availability with:

 Two redundant nodes

 Two redundant power supplies
 Multiple redundant network ports with system bond
 Constant uptime with intracluster migrations
 Dynamic Resiliency Engine (DRE)—Proprietary algorithms provide
drive redundancy to protect against drive failure

 Provides a more distributed, automated, and efficient way to protect

data than traditional RAID
 Drives are grouped into resiliency sets and each drive in the set is
divided into data and spare space areas
 Benefits:
o Automatic data placement
o Add single drives to the system to increase capacity
o Fast rebuild times when a drive fails
o Avoids RAID configuration and dedicated hot spare drives

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Deep Dive: For more information about the DRE, go to Dell

PowerStore Clustering and High Availability whitepaper.

Base Enclosure Front View

Serial Number, Service Tag, and Product Number

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QRL Code

The Dell Serial Number Tag (DST) and World Wide Name Seed are
serialized labels that allow Technical Support to track nested hardware
material in the field.

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Node Modular Design

Important: The CPU Board, LCC, and the Midplane are not
CRUs or FRUs. They are internal to a node.
The Embedded Module is also called the I/O Personality
Module (IOPM).

Top view of a node with cover removed

Here is the top view of a node with the cover removed. Note the
modular design.
1. The Link Control Card (LCC) Board interfaces between the CPU Board
and the NVMe drives.
2. The CPU Board contains the CPUs, Memory, and M.2 modules.
3. The I/O Personality Module (Embedded Module) interfaces between
the CPU Board and the enclosure I/O connections (Embedded SAS,
Service, Management, and so forth).

There is a Midplane (not shown). The Midplane sits between the front and
back of the enclosure and separates the front-facing drives from the rear-

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facing nodes. It distributes power and signals to all components in the

enclosure. On the front of the base enclosure, drives plug directly into the
Midplane connections. On the back of the base enclosure, the nodes,
power supply modules, and I/O module plug directly into the Midplane
connections.

Node Internal Component Locations

The locations of the internal components of PowerStore 1000 to 9200 are

shown here.

The PowerStore 500 T has a slightly different fan assembly, with six 2-fan
fan modules:

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PowerStore 500 Fan Module

Explain Components

Dual Inline memory modules

The PowerStore 500 T model has six 288-pin sockets with 16 GB DDR4
DIMMs. On the PowerStore 1000 to 9200 models, each node has 24 288-
pin DIMM sockets to support up to 24 DDR4 DIMMs. The maximum
memory varies for each model of PowerStore. Memory upgrades, such as
upgrading from 192 GB to 576 GB, are not supported.

16 GB DDR4 DIMM

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Internal Battery Backup Module

Each node includes an internal battery that powers the associated

NVRAM cache drives during a power event. On the PowerStore 1000 to
9200 models, the battery is Lithium-ion (Li-ion).

On the PowerStore 500 only, the battery provides power to the CPU and
enables cache vaulting during power loss or node panic. It encrypts and
backs up cache data to the internal M.2 boot module.

Battery backup module

Internal M.2 Modules

The primary M.2 240-GB SSD module is the primary boot device. It
contains the base operating system and storage system software. It
also holds the root file system and log files (main core dumps and data
collects).

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On PowerStore 1000 to 9200 models, the CPU Board on each node has
slots for two internal M.2 modules, also called M.2 SSD or disk modules.
One internal M.2 boot module is used for general system operations, and
the other internal M.2 boot module is used for recovery.

On the PowerStore 500 model, each node has one 240 GB M.2 boot
module. The PowerStore 500 M.2 module is used for cache to recover
from system failure.

M.2 Drive 0 boot module

Fan Modules

Two fans are assembled into one fan module. On PowerStore 1000 to
9200 models, there are seven customer-replaceable fan modules within
each node. The PowerStore 500 model has six fan modules. The fan
modules provide continuous airflow through the front drives and out the
back of the node to keep the components at optimal operating
temperatures. The BMC monitors and adjusts the fan speeds as
necessary.

A node can run with a single fan failure. If a fan fails, the temperature
threshold reduces from 50° to 45° C (113° to 122° F), and all fans run at
maximum speed. If two fan modules fault within the same node, the node
performs a protective thermal shutdown. Replacing fan units requires a
node shutdown.

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Fan module - side view

Fan module - bottom view

Power Supplies

There are two models of AC power supplies, 1800 W, and 2200 W.

Higher CPU configurations draw more power, so they require a more
powerful power supply. Do not mix power supply types in a Base
Enclosure. The required input voltage to the power supplies is 220–240v
(High Line Power). Customers with 110v (Low Line Power) must provide

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220–240v or use step-up transformers. The PowerStore 500T has a 110v

(Low Line Power) option.

AC Power supply LEDs

Rear Components and Modules

The rear view shows I/O modules and ports that provide connectivity for
system management, to front-end hosts, and back-end Expansion
Enclosures.

Rear components and modules

DC Power Support

Starting with PowerStoreOS 2.1, the PowerStore 500 is availble in a DC

power version.

DC and AC power offer the same features and functionality. Both are
visible in PowerStore Manager and support the same types of drives.

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Considerations:
 A system cannot change from AC to DC or DC to AC.

Base enclosure DC power supply LEDs

 The DC configuration uses different hardware from the AC model:

 DC PSU
 DC battery backup module
 Air baffle to fit DC BBU to ensure proper airflow and cooling.
 PowerStore 500 can be connected to Telco 48 V directly without a
converter.
 System information that is sent to CloudIQ and Dell Technologies
includes whether it is AC or DC powered.
 During a power failure, the DC BBU supports cache vaulting to the
internal M.2 SSD. It works differently than the BBU and NVRAM self-
vaulting process that PowerStore 1000-9200 uses.

Drive Slots

 The Base Enclosure has 25 slots that are labeled 0 to 24. It supports
only NVMe devices.
 SAS SSDs can only be added to ESS25 SAS Expansion
Enclosures.

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 The Base Enclosure contains a combination of NVMe data drives and

NVMe NVRAM devices.
 Base enclosure data drives are for data storage. They can be any
combination of NVMe SSD and NVMe SCM. A minimum of six data
drives must be used.
 On the PowerStore 1000, 1200, 3000, and 3200 models, the last two
slots (23 and 24) are populated with two NVMe NVRAM devices. On
these models, the two NVMe NVRAM devices are used for write
caching and vaulting. NVRAM slots 21 and 22 must remain
unpopulated on these models:

PowerStore 1000, 1200, 3000 and 3200 disk view

 On the PowerStore 500 model, slots 0-24 are used for data storage.
There are no NVRAM disks. Write caching and vaulting are performed
by the internal M.2 module.

PowerStore 500 disk view

 PowerStore 5000, 5200, 7000, 9000, and 9200 have higher

performance requirements. They are populated with four NVMe
NVRAM devices in all the NVRAM slots, 21 through 24. On these
models, the four NVMe NVRAM devices are used for write caching and
vaulting.

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PowerStore 5000, 5200, 7000, 9000, and 9200 disk view

Drive Offerings

PowerStore supports four types of drives: NVMe SSD (Flash), NVMe

Storage Class Memory (SCM) SSD, NVMe NVRAM, and SAS SSD
(Flash).

The Base Enclosure supports three  The SAS Expansion Enclosure

device types: supports SAS SSD (All Slots).
 NVMe SSD (Data drive slots)  The NVMe Expansion Enclosure
 NVMe SCM (Data drive slots) supports NVMe SSD (All Slots).

 NVMe NVRAM (NVRAM slots)

 Supported device capacities:

 Four capacities of NVMe Flash for use in Base Enclosure and

NVMe expansion enclosures
 Three capacities of SAS Flash for use in Expansion Enclosures
 One capacity of NVMe NVRAM for use in Base Enclosure
o NVMe NVRAM drives are used for write caching and vaulting in
all models except the PowerStore 500
 One capacity of NVMe SCM Flash
o Data drive slots in the base enclosure can be populated with
NVMe SSD or NVMe SCM drives in any combination. You can
mix NVMe SSD and NVMe SCM drives in the same base
enclosure.

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o Systems containing NVMe SSDs and NVMe SCM drives

support expansion enclosures
o Systems having only NVMe SCM drives do not support
expansion enclosures
o In mixed SSD/SCM combinations, the SCM drives are used for
metadata tiering (done automatically by the system)
o In mixed SSD/SCM combinations, SCM drives do not add to
capacity for user data
 All current devices, except the NVMe NVRAM, are 100% FIPS certified
and labeled.

Go to: See Dell Encryption / Dell Data Protection Encryption

FIPS Compliance article and a Complete list of supported
drive types.

Embedded Module and Mezz Cards

Each node contains the Embedded Module I/O Personality Module

(IOPM). The Embedded Module has two slots that are called (MEZZ 0 and
MEZZ 1) MEZZ 0 slot can hold one 4-port card for front-end connectivity.
Depending on the PowerStore model, the MEZZ 1 slot is not used.

PowerStore 500

PowerStore 500 MEZZ card

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A 4-port card (MEZZ 0) is optional and only required for unified

deployment (file services) and clustering.

The 4-Port Mezz Card is used for cluster interconnect and front-end
connectivity. It is also used for back-end connection to the optional NVMe
expansion enclosure.

Only the 4-Port 25 GBE SFP-based Mezz card is supported.

 The card supports 1 GbE SFP to RJ45, 10 GbE SFP, 25 GbE SFP28.

 25 GbE passive TwinAx.

 10 GbE active or passive TwinAx.
The Mezz card includes 4x TwinAx cables to be used to connect the
appliance to a Top of Rack switch.

A 2-Port Card on MEZZ 1 is used for front-end connectivity and

replication. The 2-Port card is a fixed 10 GbE Optical card.

PowerStore 1000-9000

Embedded Module V1 with 4-port card and two SAS Ports

The v1 Embedded Module ships with PowerStore 1000 through 9000

models.

Provides two SAS ports for attaching SAS Expansion Enclosures.

Does not support 2-Port card (100 GbE QSFP) – no NVMe Expansion
Enclosure support.

Every Embedded Module must contain a 4-Port Card on MEZZ 0.

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The 4-Port Mezz Card is used for connection of the Base Enclosure to an
intercluster switch.

There are two (2) types of 4-Port Mezz cards.

 4-port 25 GbE SFP-based card, which supports:
 1 GbE SFP to RJ45
 10 GbE or 25 GbE SFP
 25 GbE passive TwinAx
 10 GbE active or passive TwinAx
 4-port 10GBaseT card. The 4-Port 10GBaseT embedded module
serves Ethernet traffic at the supported speeds of 1 GbE and 10 GbE.

The first two ports of the 4-Port Card on the Embedded Module should be
connected to a pair of the 10GbE/25GbE Ethernet switches. One port to
each switch.

MEZZ 1 slot is empty for these models but has a USB port and a
Nonmaskable Interrupt (NMI) button.

It is possible to convert to Embedded Module v2 to add NVMe Expansion

shelves.

 The Embedded Module v2 supports the two-port card, which is

required for NVMe Expansion Shelf.
 The Embedded Module v2 does not support SAS expansion
enclosures.

 Upgrading to the embedded module v2 is only possible on

appliances that do not have SAS expansion enclosures

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PowerStore 1200-9200

v2 Embedded Module
 The v2 Embedded Module ships only with PowerStore 1200-9200
models.
 The Embedded Module V2 is needed for NVMe Expansion (QSFP BE-
ports).
 2-Port card (100 GbE QSFP) is optional and only necessary if
customer is planning to have NVMe Expansion Enclosures.

The v1 Embedded Module is not supported on PowerStore 1200-9200

systems.

I/O Module Types

There are four types of I/O modules (SLICs) available for installation into a
Base Enclosure:

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4-Port BaseT

4-port BaseT I/O module

The 4-Port BaseT module:

 Is supported on PowerStore T and X model types.
 Runs at interface speeds of 10 Gb /s and 1 Gb /s.
 Provides host access to block storage resources using the iSCSI and
NVMe/TCP protocols.
 Can provide Ethernet connectivity for SMB and NFS file access.
 Supports replication.

Only Dell Technologies certified technicians can add I/O modules to empty
slots after the system is set up. Previously installed I/O modules are
Customer Replaceable Units (CRUs).

4-Port 25 GbE SFP-based

The 4-Port 25 GbE SFP-based I/O module is supported in PowerStore T

models. The I/O module uses an optical 25 GbE or 10 GbE capable SFP+
connection to a host or switch port. The Ethernet module supports iSCSI
and NVMe/TCP block access, NAS, and replication.

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4-port 25 GbE SFP-based I/O module

The module supports the following types of SFP transceivers:

 25 GbE SFP to RJ45

 25 GbE SFP-based SFP passive TwinAx
 10 GbE or 25 GbE SFP28
 10 GbE active or passive TwinAx
 1 GbE SFP to RJ45

2-Port 100 GbE Front-End I/O Module

The 2-Port 100 GbE front-end I/O module is supported in most

PowerStore T models. The Ethernet module supports iSCSI and
NVMe/TCP block access, NAS, and replication.

PowerStore back panel showing 2-port 100 GbE I/O module installed in Slot 0.

 The module can be installed in PowerStore T deployments only.

 The module is supported on PowerStore 1000-9200 models.

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 The PowerStore 500 does not support the I/O module.

 I/O module can be installed in Slot 0 only.
 The I/O module requires PCIe x16 bus width.

4-Port 32 Gb Fibre Channel

The 4-Port 32 Gb Fibre Channel I/O module is supported in PowerStore

T and PowerStore X models. The I/O module is used to serve Fibre
Channel block protocol using SAN to hosts. Each port has an optical 16
Gb/32Gb capable SFP connection to a host or switch port.

4-port 32 Gb Fibre Channel I/O module

 The SLIC supports two different types of SFP transceivers:

 32 Gb/s (can autonegotiate to 16 Gb/s or 8 Gb/s)

 16 Gb/s (can autonegotiate to 8 Gb/s or 4 Gb/s)
The SLIC supports SCSI and NVMe-oF block connections.

I/O Module Capabilities

PowerStore supports Non-Volatile Memory express over Fabrics (NVMe-

oF).

NVMe/FC

 NVMe/FC is front-end connectivity over 32 Gb FC I/O modules.

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 NVMe/FC is supported on any 32 G/16 G FC switches running

Brocade FOS 8.1.0 or later and Cisco NX-OS 8.1(1) or later.
 Fibre Channel front-end ports simultaneously support SCSI and NVMe
access.
 You can use both protocols on same port or use each protocol on
separate ports.
 Both protocols are active with no option to disable one of them.
 Host Bus Adapter (HBA) supports 32 Gb Gen6 and 7.

 Marvell QLogic QLE series

 Broadcom Emulex LPe series

NVMe front-end connectivity

NVMe/TCP

 PowerStore supports NVMe/TCP over all front-end Ethernet ports.

 All Ethernet modules support block access over NVMe and iSCSI
simultaneously.
 Set network purposes when creating a network:

 iSCSI
 NVMe/TCP
 Both
Hosts that support NVMe/TCP:
 vSphere 7.0U3
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2-8.4
 SLES 15 SP2-SP3

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I/O Module Slot Information

Different PCIe channels are associated with each slot. Slot 0 has a 16
lane PCIe channel, and Slot 1 has an eight lane PCIe channel. The 4-
Port 32 Gb Fibre Channel I/O module or the 4-Port 25 GbE SFP-based
I/O module should be installed in Slot 0 when possible. The 100 GB
Ethernet I/O module must be installed in Slot 0.

I/O module slots

Important: Install I/O modules in pairs—one module in

Node A, and one module in Node B. Both nodes must have
the same type of I/O modules in the same slots.

Expansion Enclosure

NVMe Expansion Enclosure

ENS24 Expansion Enclosure is an NVMe expansion enclosure.

 Uses NVMe over Fabric (NVMe/oF) standard.
 Increased performance compared to SAS expansion enclosure.
 PCIe NVMe drives in base enclosure to a SAS expansion
enclosure caused a performance bottleneck.

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 PCIe NVMe drives in base enclosure to an ENS24 Expansion

Enclosure relieves the bottleneck.
 Performance equal to the local PCIe NVMe drives with a 10-
microsecond delay.

Front View

ENS24 Expansion Enclosure Front View

1. 6 to 24 2.5" NVMe SSDs

2. Indication Panel including status indicator and LEDs
3. Drive status – Drive fault, unsupported drive, rebuilding
4. Temperature status – overheating component
5. Electrical status – PSU failure, incorrect voltage range
6. Memory status – DIMM failure
7. Drive interface status – Clock board, Ethernet interface
8. Front Indication Panel

 Solid blue – Expansion enclosure is powered on and healthy

 Blinking blue – System ID mode for identification of the enclosure in
the rack
 Blinking Amber – Hardware fault

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Rear View

ENS24 Expansion Enclosure Rear View

1. 2 - Storage Access Module (SAM)

2. 2 - 1800 W PSU
3. 2 - 100 GbE ports (QSFP28)
4. System ID
5. Daisy Chain ID
 00 - First expansion enclosure
 01 - Second expansion enclosure
 02 - Third expansion enclosure
6. 2 - 1 GbE RJ45 port - Management ports for support only

Unlike the Base Enclosure, the orientation of the two SAMs is the same,
instead of one SAM upright and one SAM flipped over.

BMC

 ENS24 expansion enclosure uses Redfish, a standard REST API

based protocol, to manage the BaseBoard Management Controller
(BMC).
 PowerStore uses BMC to access the hardware modules of the SAM.
The BMC has:
 Single direct connection to each node.
 Peer-to-peer connection to peer BMC.
o The connection allows BMC to pull data from one another.
o From one BMC, the status for both SAMs may be retrieved.

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 Access to the RJ45 management ports for support.

 BMC is responsible for powering up the system and starting the CPUs.

Block diagram of SAM compnents

Click here to view the component list of PowerStore Expansion Enclosure.

NVMe Supported Configurations

 One enclosure type, either SAS or NVMe is allowed per appliance.

 A cluster may have both SAS and NVMe expansion enclosures, but
not attached to the same appliance.

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1.92 TB, 3.84 TB, and 7.68 TB SSDs

 Up to three ENS24 expansion enclosures are supported per

appliance.
 Requires NVMe connectivity from new embedded module v2, 100 GbE
2-Port card, or 4-port 25 GbE card for the PowerStore 500.
 Drives may be added to the expansion enclosure one at a time or
multiple drives simultaneously.
 Drives may move between base and ENS24 Expansion Enclosure

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 Drives may move between different ENS24 expansion enclosures

within the same appliance.
 Supported drives on ENS24 Expansion Enclosure:
 NVMe SSD - PCIe, 1.92 TB – 15.36 TB (Raw capacity base-10)
 Supported drives on base enclosure:

 NVMe SSD - PCIe, 1.92 TB-15.36 TB (Raw capacity base-10)

 NVMe SCM SSD - PCIe, 750 GB (Raw capacity base-10)

SAS Expansion Enclosure

The SAS expansion enclosure (ESS25) includes slots for twenty five 2.5-
inch drives. It uses a 12-Gb/s SAS interface for communication between
the nodes and the expansion enclosure.

Front View

The front of the SAS expansion enclosure includes the following

components:

SAS Expansion Enclosure Front View

 Drives in 2.5-inch carriers (hot-swappable)

 Status LEDs

SAS expansion enclosure components:

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1. 2.5-inch, 12-Gb/s SAS drives

2. Expansion enclosure fault LED (amber)
3. Expansion enclosure power status LED (blue)
4. Drive status and activity (blue)
5. Drive fault LED (amber)

Rear View

The rear of the SAS expansion enclosure includes the following

components:

SAS Expansion Enclosure Rear View

 2 and 4 - Two 12-Gb/s SAS Link Control Cards (LCC)

 1 and 3 - Two power supply and cooling modules

Important: The SAS expansion enclosure is not supported

on appliances that include NVMe expansion enclosures.

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ESS25 Supported Drives

There are three (3) capacities of SAS Flash drives supported in Expansion
Enclosures. All drives are FIPS certified and labeled.

Interface Type WPD GB Encryption B/S

Type

SAS SSD/Flash 1 1920 FIPS 512

(Type-D)

SAS SSD/Flash 1 3840 FIPS 512

(Type-D)

SAS SSD/Flash 1 7680 FIPS 512

(Type-D)
SAS supported drives

Top of Rack Switches

Ethernet Switches

PowerStore supports Dell Networking Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches running

OS10 Enterprise Edition (OS10EE). Third-party switches with requisite
features are supported.

 Connect PowerStore to a pair of Ethernet switches to ensure high

availability.
 This requirement applies to switches used for iSCSI, file, NVMe,
intercluster management, and intercluster data.
 It is recommended to deploy the switches with Multi-chassis Link
Aggregation Group (MC-LAG).

 The Dell version of MC-LAG is called Virtual Link Trunking

interconnect (VLTi) topology.
 Alternative connectivity methods—including reliable L2 uplinks and
dynamic LAG—should be used only when VLTi is not a possibility.

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Dell Technologies recommends the following supported Dell EMC

PowerSwitch Ethernet switches:

Dell Picture (click image to enlarge) Specificati

OS10 ons
EE
Model

S4148  48
F-ON Fixed
10-GbE
SFP+
ports
Click here for a 3D view of the S4148F-ON switch.
 Two
Fixed
40-GbE
QSFP+
ports
 Four
Fixed
100-
GbE
QSFP2
8 ports

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S4148  48
T-ON Fixed
10-
GBASE
-T ports
Click here for a 3D view of the S4148T-ON switch.
 Two
Fixed
40-GbE
QSFP+
ports
 Four
Fixed
100-
GbE
QSFP2
8 ports

S5248  48
F-ON Fixed
25-GbE
SFP28
ports
Click here for a 3D view of the S5248F-ON switch.
 Two
Fixed
200-
GbE
QSFP2
8-DD
ports
 Four
Fixed
100-
GbE
QSFP2
8 ports

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Deep Dive: For information about OS10EE, see Dell EMC

PowerStore Networking Guide for PowerStore T Models on
the PowerStore Info Hub.
See the Simple Support Matrix on the PowerStore Info
Hub.

PowerStore T and PowerStore X Switches

PowerStore T and PowerStore X have different switch configurations.

PowerStore T uses two data PowerStore X uses two data

switches and a management switches. Management runs
switch. through the data switch
connections.

Example of PowerStore rack with one Example of PowerStore rack with two data
management switch and two data switches switches

Considerations for Out-of-Band (OOB) management configuration:

 At least one OOB management switch is recommended for
PowerStore T configurations. PowerStore X does not support OOB
management.
 Can be configured with or without a management VLAN.
 Switch ports must support untagged native VLAN traffic for system
discovery.

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PowerStore External Network Requirements

External networks are configured on the switches, in the PowerStore Initial

Configuration Wizard (ICW), and from the PowerStore Manager, REST
API, or CLI.

Network configuration requires a subnet for each network. PowerStore

requires all networks to be in a unique subnet.

Click here to view the external networks that are required for PowerStore
deployments.

Important: Dell Technologies recommends that each

network is configured with a dedicated VLAN.

Switch Configuration Overview

Network configuration overview:

 All types of PowerStore networks must be configured on the switch.
 The Management must be configured the first time that a cluster is
created in the PowerStore Initial Configuration Wizard (ICW).
 Configure the Storage network for iSCSI after the installation.
 NAS server networks are created through the PowerStore Manager,
REST API, or CLI after the initial cluster is created in PowerStore.
 As you add NAS servers to PowerStore, configure the Ethernet
switches to support the NAS server networks.
 An intracluster management network (ICM) and intracluster data
network (ICD) are preconfigured with the PowerStore.
 The intracluster management network uses IPv6 only.

 The IPv6 subnet is automatically generated using standards that

are based on IPv6 unique local address (ULA).
Types of internal networks:

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Network Types of Traffic

Intracluster Used to manage internal communication such as

management to the cluster database, and between appliances
within a cluster. The intracluster management
network is encrypted with IPSec.

Intracluster data Used for intracluster data mobility traffic, such as

storage migration between appliances.

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Software Introduction

PowerStore Management Software

Use PowerStore Manager to access, configure, and manage individual

PowerStore appliances and clusters.

This three-appliance PowerStore T cluster is managed under a single instance of

PowerStore Manager.

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PowerStore Manager

Dashboard

PowerStore Manager Dashboard View

PowerStore Manager opens to the Dashboard page by default with three

categories of information.
1. The Overview tab provides monitoring on critical resources, and a
summary of provisioned block and file storage resources. Select a
subtopic from these sections, such as Volumes, which is shown on the
Example—Volumes tab.
2. The Capacity tab displays information about space that is being used
on the cluster, including savings from data reduction. It also shows an
estimate of when the system is due to reach 100% capacity.
3. The Performance tab displays performance information, as shown on
the Example—Performance tab.

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Example—Volumes

PowerStore Manager Volumes List

1. To display a list of volumes, select Storage > Volumes from the

dashboard.
 To create one or multiple volumes, select +Create.
 The Volumes page displays a list of volumes that are provisioned
in the cluster/appliances. Selecting one item of the list displays the
volume properties information such as capacity, performance, and
host mappings.
2. To make bulk changes to multiple volumes, select the check boxes
and then More Actions.

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Example—Performance

Performance tab displays the summary of overall system performance.

 To view a specific area, such as Performance, click the tab.

 The Performance tab displays a summary view of the overall system
performance on the last hour. The view can be optimized for different
intervals and different performance data, such as latency or IOPS.
 Data updates automatically.

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PowerStore CLI

PowerStore CLI

Manage the PowerStore system using PowerStore CLI (PSTCLI) instead

of a user interface.
 Intended for advanced users who want to run scripts to automate
routine tasks.
 Supported tasks include:
 Configuring and monitoring the system
 Managing users
 Provisioning storage
 Protecting data
 Controlling host access to storage
 You can also use it for data exchange protocols, such as SNMP.

Go to: See the CLI User Guide on the PowerStore Info

Hub.

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REST API

REST API is another way to manage the system.

 What is REpresentational State Transfer (REST)?

 A web-friendly API protocol style
 Follows standard HTTP conventions
 Commonly used in web services
 Use cases:

 Automated remote management, including replication.

 DevOps integrations
 Third-party tool integrations
 User interface and CLI backend—you can add your own
extensions.
 Uses:
o Monitoring alerts—low space, performance issues, or hardware
failures
o Historical metrics collection—billing, forecasting
o Data center integration
o Adding common storage task options not in the standard UI

Go to: See the REST API description.

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Licensing

License Features

Features:
 Each PowerStore appliance requires a license.
 The license enables all PowerStore features.
 Licenses are permanent—no expiration.
 Appliances have a 30-day trial period without installing any licenses.
 Reinitializing the appliance resets the trial period.
 Appliance serial number is added to Dell License database (ELMS)
accessible through Dell Software License Central.
 VMware/ESXi Licensing is not part of PowerStore e-Licensing
feature.
 For most systems, there is an automated licensin process. There is a
manual licensing process to use for systems that do not have Internet
connectivity.

Automated Installation Process

Installation Process

For PowerStore systems with Internet connectivity:

 Primary appliance automatically retrieves licenses for all appliances in
a cluster.
 Primary retries three times if retrieval fails.
 Primary retries once a day until it succeeds.

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 If no license is loaded within 30 days, the system cannot be used.

 Each license contains the appliance serial number—signed to prevent
alteration.

When all cluster licenses are successfully installed, cluster displays active
license status under Settings > Cluster > Licensing.

PowerStore Licensing View

PowerStore Reference Material

Information about PowerStore can be found at the following locations.

Dell Support

Dell Support is the main resource for locating product support. Register
and sign in to fully access the resources.

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Dell Support landing page

PowerStore Info Hub

The Dell PowerStore Info Hub is the main resource for locating
PowerStore documentation.

There is additional information on the Info Hub that includes hands-on

labs, blogs, and videos.

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PowerStore Info Hub landing page

PowerStore Product Page

Searching for a PowerStore product displays a PowerStore product

page. Downloads and documentation are available from this page.

Product Support page showing PowerStore 3200T

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PowerStore Manager Online Help

Help can be found inside the PowerStore Manager application. Click the
question mark in the upper right corner. From the drop-down, there are
several options. The first option is context-sensitive to the current view.

PowerStore Manager showing context-sensitive help for Protection Policies

SolVe

Use SolVe to generate service information and procedures for

PowerStore.

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SolVe showing PowerStore replacement procedures

PowerStore Concepts and Features Key Points

The PowerStore series includes:

1. PowerStore T, configured for block only or block and file storage.
2. PowerStore X, configured for block storage with hypervisor.
3. PowerStore 500 only offered as a T. Models 1000, 1200, 3000, 3200,
5000, 5200, 7000, 9000, and 9200 are available as PowerStore T and
X. There is no 7200T or X.
a. Larger model numbers offer more CPU cores, more memory, and
better performance.
4. PowerStore appliances are made up of a base enclosure and up to
three optional expansion enclosures.

a. Up to four appliances are allowed in a cluster.

Multiple hardware components make up the PowerStore system:
1. Base Enclosure:
 The base enclosure is made up of nodes A and B, which manage
the system.
 The base enclosure holds up to 25 drives.

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2. Expansion Enclosures:
 ESS25 SAS Expansion Enclosure holds up to 25 drives
 ENS24 NVMe expansion enclosure holds up to 24 drives.
 An appliance may be a single base enclosure or a base enclosure
plus up to three expansion enclosures.
 SAS and NVMe expansion enclosures cannot be mixed on the
same appliance.
3. Top of Rack Switches:

 PowerStore T uses a management switch plus two data switches.

 PowerStore X uses two data switches, and management traffic
uses those same connections.
 A high-performance connection between data switches like VLTi is
the recommended configuration.

Go to: See Hardware Information Guide (for PowerStore

1000, 1200, 3000, 3200, 5000, 5200, 7000, 9000, and
9200) guide on the PowerStore Info Hub.

PowerStore can be managed in these ways:

1. PowerStore Manager is a user interface allowing access,
configuration, and administration of PowerStore appliances and
clusters.
2. PowerStore CLI, commonly called PSTCLI, is a command line
interface into the system.
3. REST API can be used to automate remote management, manage
metrics and alerts, and integrate into the data center.
4. PowerStore licensing is automatic or manually, and covers all
features except VMware/ESXi.

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Go to: See Setting Up PowerStore Manager Guide on the

PowerStore Info Hub.

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Appendix

Drive Types

Interface Type Writes GB Encryption Block Size

Per Day Type
(WPD)

NVMe SCM 30 375 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

NVMe SCM 30 750 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

NVMe SCM 30 1500 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

NVMe SSD/Flash 1 1920 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

NVMe SSD/Flash 1 3840 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

NVMe SSD/Flash 1 7680 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

NVMe SSD/Flash 1 15360 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

SAS SSD/Flash 1 1920 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

SAS SSD/Flash 1 3840 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

SAS SSD/Flash 1 7680 FIPS (Type- 512

D)

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 Appendix

NVMe NVRAM Used for 8 Not FIPS 512

Cache certified

PowerStore Expansion Enclosure Component List

Each Dell EMC PowerStore Expansion Enclosure consists of the following
components:

Component Description

Drive carrier Drive carriers provide contact with the enclosure slot
guides and connectors.

Drives Different drive types are distinguished by their type,

capacity, and speed labels on each drive.

Link Control Two LCCs support, control, and monitor the

Cards (LCCs) Expansion Enclosure and are the primary interconnect
management element. The LCCs connect to the node
and other downstream Expansion Enclosures.

Power Power supply and blower cooling assemblies are

supplies/cooling integrated into single modules. Each power supply can
modules supply power to both LCCs and the peer power supply
fans.

Midplane The midplane separates the front-facing disk drives

from the rear-facing LCCs and distributes power and
signals to all the enclosure components.

Electromagnetic Protects the drives and unit from EMI.

Interference
(EMI) shielding

Cable Provide cable management for the power cables and

management SAS cables that attach to the back ports.
arms
Expansion Enclosure components

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 Appendix

External Network Requirements

Network Types of Tagged Switch Use Node

Traffic or Transport
Untagge Ports
d

Initial PowerStore Untagged PowerStore PowerStore T

discovery Discovery T: uses
Utility. Manageme dedicated 1-
nt switch GbE
PowerStore Management
X: Primary PowerStore X
data switch uses ports 0
and 1 of 4-port
card, 1-GbE
Management
port not used

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Manageme Management Either PowerStore PowerStore T

nt network traffic, T: uses
which provides Manageme dedicated 1-
access to: nt switch GbE
PowerStore Management
 Infrastructur
X: Primary PowerStore X
e services,
data switch uses ports 0
such as
and 1 of 4-port
DNS, NTP,
card, 1-GbE
and SMTP.
Management
 PowerStore port not used
from the
PowerStore
REST API,
PowerStore
Manager,
and
PowerStore
CLI
 SupportAssi
st

Storage Storage network Either Primary 4-port card

(block) traffic data switch
and external
data mobility
traffic, such as
replication and
storage
migration.
PowerStore
iSCSI target
portals for front-
end traffic.

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NAS Server Network Either Primary First two ports

(PowerStor attached data switch of the 4-port
e T only) storage (file) card
front-end (VLTi/LACP)
access, such as
NFS, SMB, and First port of
FTP. the 4-port card
(Active/Backu
p)

vMotion The IP Either Enables First two ports

(PowerStor addresses are users to of the 4-port
e X only) used for a migrate card
dedicated virtual
network that machines
transfers virtual within the
machines vSphere
between cluster.
appliances.

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Glossary
Active/Active
Active/Active is an architecture that is designed for high availability in
which all components are active and available to perform a task if another
component fails. Each node has access to the same storage resources.

Block-only
Data is stored in separate blocks suited for applications requiring high
performance and low latency.

IoT
Internet of Things

NEBS
Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) is a set of guidelines for
telecommunications equipment in the United States.

NVMe
Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) is a communications protocol that
is specifically developed for SSDs.

NVMe_oF
Non-Volatile Memory Express over Fabric extends the NVMe protocol to
connect hosts to storage appliances across a TCP/IP or Fiber Channel
network fabric.

Unified
Unified storage consists of block and file storage.

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