Growing enterprises constantly have to solve non-trivial problems associated with storing and processing large amounts of data. Monitoring storage performance, upgrading, scaling and other work is time-consuming and expensive. To "heal" the IT infrastructure, get new opportunities and solve all the problems at once, you can use modern developments in the field of data storage systems.
Dell EMC PowerStore
Data storage systems have long ceased to be simply included in the general structure of drives. Thanks to the efforts of the developers, they turned into an independent solution endowed with rich functionality. This includes Dell EMC PowerStore, not so long ago presented on the IT market. Storage systems are manufactured exclusively to order in two versions with different technical capabilities and functionality.
- PowerStore T. This is a classic storage system. Its big advantage is unification, the ability to store data in various formats, including regular file formats, storage of containers, virtual and physical volumes. It uses modern technologies for storing and processing information, such as dynamic pools, which can significantly increase reliability and fault tolerance. Storage can also improve the performance of applications by optimizing the disk space they use. To do this, Dell EMC PowerStore has built-in data compression and deduplication functions that are performed on the fly.
- PowerStore X. In addition to conventional storage, the appliance includes an integrated VMware ESXi system. Thanks to platform-based virtualization, you can build systems that directly use storage. This eliminates intermediate components, simplifies and speeds up the work.
Differences and perspectives
One of the main challenges businesses face is the constant need to upgrade equipment. Expansion of the scope of activity, the emergence of new directions in work and other reasons require periodic scaling of capacity building. The design of Dell EMC PowerStore can address this and many related problems immediately.
First of all, the system is built on NVMe SCM drives, created using Intel Optane technology. These are high-performance solid state drives that will not technically become obsolete for a long time. At the same time, "hot swapping" of nodes allows upgrading and maintenance without stopping the data exchange. Storage is based on a microservices system. If new functionality is needed, the device only needs to be updated: perhaps, install new hardware modules and update software components. All microservices work separately from each other, so the update process is not nearly as painful as in the case of other storage systems.
Where you need to simplify your IT infrastructure, the functionality of the VMware ESXi module comes in handy. Its joint use with storage systems opens up great prospects and makes work easier. For example, one of the most effective solutions is organizing a backup system. Using a virtual machine directly on the Dell EMC PowerStore avoids purchasing and configuring a separate server. At the same time, the necessary applications can be created and then deployed in literally a few seconds, thanks to the integration and support of numerous developer tools.
These and many other technical solutions, including clustering, embodied in Dell EMC PowerStore, will help to consolidate numerous applications under one device.