Dell has delivered PowerMaxOS 10 software which is needed to run the two new PowerMax arrays, 2500 and 8500, announced in May.
This is high-end block+file array territory – PowerMax is said to be the world’s fastest storage array – and the two system refreshes upgrade the 2000 and 8000 PowerMax products with a new and more scalable, multi-node architecture, faster controllers, and more capacity. The full spec sheets for the 2500 and 8500 are now available here.
The PowerMaxOS news comes via a blog written by Ben Jastrab, Dell director for storage product marketing. He says PowerMaxOS 10 has more than 200 feature additions, focusing on storage intelligence, automation, cybersecurity, and resiliency. There is also simplified licensing which “will help customers keep their storage infrastructure continuously modern with even greater flexibility, performance, and massive scale.”
The “continuously modern” term is used because there are “future-proof and simplified services and maintenance offers to safeguard the investment throughout the product lifecycle.” A Dell PowerMax data sheet says: “Anytime Upgrade offers non-disruptive data-in-place upgrades to next-generation technology where PowerMax nodes can be upgraded non-disruptively while preserving existing drives and expansion enclosures, without requiring additional purchases. With PowerMax, infrastructure can be modernized without disruption, without downtime, and without impacting applications.
PowerMax has a zero-trust architecture. “We’re adding more advanced cyber resiliency capabilities while enhancing business continuity and disaster recovery to help our customers identify, prevent, detect, and recover from these threats,” says Jastrab. We are told that: “Using intrinsic security capabilities, PowerMax delivers swift ransomware and malware activity detection. Additionally, PowerMax offers 65 million secure snapshots to protect data from intentional/unintentional tempering helping to achieve better RPO and RTO in the case of a cyberattack.”
A separate blog by David Noy, Dell vice-president of product management, covers the cyber-resiliency area in more detail.
PowerMax offers secure and dynamic cloud-based data mobility between public and on-premises datacenters. Check out this document to find out more.
The Unisphere 10 management software features “storage automation, enhances reporting, simplifies multi-array provisioning, and enhances multi-factor authentication security.” It can place workloads on an appropriate PowerMax array in multi-array configuration. New SmartFabric Storage Software for NVMe/TCP lowers IP-based storage deployment time up to 44 percent compared to the iSCSI-based storage deployment and so helps open the way for migrating from iSCSI to NVMe/TCP, Dell says.
Jastrab adds: “PowerMax extends tight integration to the virtual machine and container-based workloads through VMware virtual volumes (vVols) and container storage modules (CSM) for greater applications scalability, business continuity, and disaster recovery protection in virtual environments.”
The new PowerMax 2500 and 8500 systems will be generally available with PowerMax OS v10 this month. The data sheet is well worth reading.
