PowerScale: Dell EMC's scale-out storage being unified

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In its move to simplify its storage portfolio, Dell EMC introduces the PowerScale line, which targets the scale-out segment. These solutions are multicloud oriented by integrating Kubernetes environments and automation tools.

In addition

The cleaning continues in the Dell EMC storage catalog. After the launch of PowerStore, the brand that oversees the mid-range segment, it is the turn of scale-out solutions to be impacted by this wind of rebranding with the arrival of the PowerScale range. The designated successor of the Isilon brand, Dell EMC is dedicating PowerScales to unstructured data that continues to grow in volume, as stated by Dan Inbar, general manager of the storage division at Dell Technologies. “The volume of unstructured data stored as a file or object in enterprises will triple by 2024 and there is no sign of slowing down,” he projects.

Concretely, the PowerScale range is available in two models: F200 and F600 of 1U size. The first solution is a single CPU socket with only 4 SSDs (960 GB, 1.92 TB, 3.84 TB) and a capacity of 3.84 TB to 15.36 TB. It is intended for remote sites where it is installed at the edge of the network. The F600 includes two CPU sockets with 8 SSDs (1.92TB, 3.84TB, 7.68TB) and offers a capacity of 15.36TB to 61.44TB. Note that this system supports deduplication and compression via OneFS.

OneFS goes to S3 and Kubernetes

The OneFS file operating system also benefits from this evolution of the range. It is modernizing to a version 9. Dell EMC has added support for AWS S3 object storage in addition to the already supported NFS, SMB and HDFS formats. Data reduction has been improved (x6 according to the manufacturer) compared to the previous version. Faced with the huge amount of data, OneFS v9 is able to handle clusters of 60 PB of raw capacity.

The orientation of the OS is clearly displayed towards the multicloud. This is because OneFS works on the three largest platforms, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Containerized environments are also a focus of development with the integration of Kubernetes, as is automation with the support of the Red Hat Ansible infrastructure configuration tool. Additionally, Dell EMC is launching a monitoring console, DataIQ, so administrators can monitor data stored both on-premises and in the cloud. “DataIQ helps control the data lifecycle by offering a set of tools to track it, ensure its location, determine if it is stored on the right platform and if it is accessible by validated users,” explains John Shirley, Dell’s head of unstructured data solutions, in a blog post.