Dell PowerFlex - An Enterprise Storage Solution For Mission-Critical IT Environments
Dell Technologies PowerFlex is a commercial software-defined storage product that creates a server-based storage area network by converting direct-attached storage into shared block storage that runs over an IP-based network. This technology makes it possible to use local servers as storage while still leveraging the flexibility of a large storage pool.
PowerFlex offers an array of new features and capabilities that can help you protect mission-critical data. The product will also feature Dell's Project Alpine initiative, which aims to bring Dell storage software to the public cloud. Moreover, it will be available to existing customers at no additional cost. Dell expects to release the PowerFlex in the third quarter of 2022.
The PowerFlex storage cluster can support up to 512 storage nodes and 16 PiB of storage. It offers advanced features such as enterprise-grade data protection, policy-driven snapshots, async replication with a 15-second RPO, HTML5 management, and more. Its architecture makes it possible for you to deploy and manage a single storage cluster while spanning multiple VMware clusters.
While PowerFlex does have some drawbacks, it is still a flexible storage solution. It also offers great performance. Dell has tested the product with 120 nodes and has customers who run a PowerFlex system with thousands of nodes. However, Dell PowerFlex is not a high-end HCI solution, so it cannot be compared to VMware's or Nutanix's HCI solutions. That's because it's aimed at a different type of customer and is priced differently.
The flexibility of Dell PowerFlex makes it an ideal choice for mission-critical IT environments. It allows you to mix and match nodes based on the needs of your organization. You can mix and match compute and storage nodes independently, as desired. It also supports a variety of different operating systems, including bare-metal OS and hypervisors. In this way, it enables you to deploy and scale the infrastructure for any workload.
PowerFlex is an excellent choice for large-scale data analytics. By using open-source PostgreSQL and flexible system architecture, it enables you to achieve the highest levels of storage capacity and performance. In addition to its powerful performance, it provides high availability. You won't need to copy data to another storage device if you use PowerFlex.
PowerFlex is a hyperconverged infrastructure solution that uses a software-defined storage layer to pool storage resources across multiple nodes. This allows you to build a high-performance storage pool, which in turn allows you to create more efficient database and analytics workloads. Further, PowerFlex offers data safety features that you can use to reduce the risks of data loss.
The Dell PowerFlex platform also features advanced automation capabilities, enhanced security, increased resiliency and scalable computing. It can support complex workloads and integrate with DevOps workflows. These features allow you to reduce the workload management time and increase your staff's productivity.