Dell Hardware for SAN and NAS Solutions

Posted by Josh Moss, xByte Solutions Architect on Nov 29, 2023

Dell Local Storage Hardware Solutions

In our Network-Attached Storage vs. Storage Area Network (SAN/NAS) post, we discussed IT environments that are best suited for a NAS or SAN solution. Once it’s determined if you need a NAS solution for storing and sharing files or a SAN solution for block-level data storage, how do you know which storage unit from Dell’s vast portfolio will work best for your storage needs?

Dell PowerVault ME5

Dell PowerVault ME5 Series

Dell PowerVault is well-regarded for its balance of performance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, making it a reliable choice for SMBs and ROBO environments that require dependable and affordable storage solutions. PowerVault ME5 supports many types of workloads including HPC, databases, VDI, safety and security, PowerEdge expansion, and more.

Best for: SAN

PowerVault ME5012 – Good for SMB and ROBO environments or lower I/O workloads
PowerVault ME5024 – Performance focused workloads
PowerVault ME5084 – Maximize storage density

Dell Unity XT

Dell Unity XT Series

The Dell EMC Unity XT Series is a line of all-flash and hybrid storage arrays designed to provide high performance, simplicity, and efficiency for mid-sized and enterprise-level businesses. Unity XT arrays are suitable for a wide range of applications and workloads, from virtualization and databases to file sharing and business-critical applications. They are often selected by organizations looking for a balance between high performance and cost-efficiency in a unified storage solution.

Best for: SAN and NAS

Low-cost base configurations
Workloads requiring flash and disk
Databases and file sharing

Dell PowerStore

Dell PowerStore Series

Dell PowerStore is an intelligent end-to-end NVMe solution designed to meet the dynamic needs of modern data centers, offering high performance and flexibility, agility, and scalability. It is particularly well-suited for organizations with a mix of workloads and storage requirements, as it can be configured to accommodate various use cases to deliver next-generation storage experiences. PowerStore is best for business-critical transactional workloads, database workloads, VDI, and more.

Best for: SAN

Business-critical transactional workloads
VMware applications
Database workloads

Dell PowerScale

Dell PowerScale Series

Dell PowerScale appliances stand out as a robust and versatile solution for managing unstructured data within enterprise environments. Powered by OneFS, this scale-out NAS solution is engineered to provide scalable and efficient storage. PowerScale excels in handling diverse workloads, making it ideal for organizations dealing with vast amounts of unstructured data such as documents, images, and videos.

With a focus on simplicity and flexibility, PowerScale allows seamless scaling to accommodate evolving storage needs while ensuring high performance and reliability. The appliance integrates easily into existing infrastructures and supports a wide range of applications, from content delivery to analytics. Dell’s arsenal of PowerStore models ranges from NVMe/All-Flash, to Hybrid, to even Archival (All-HDD), are all powered by the same underlying OneFS software architecture that simplifies data management and promotes collaboration across distributed environments.

Whether addressing the demands of file-based workloads, high-performance computing, or content repositories, Dell's PowerScale emerges as a comprehensive solution, offering the agility and scalability required in today's data-intensive landscape.

Best for: Scale-out NAS

PowerScale All-Flash: Media and Entertainment 8K, Genomics, Algorithmic Trading, AI/ML, and HPC workloads
PowerScale Hybrid: Wide range of large-scale, enterprise file workloads
PowerScale Archive: Extremely dense archive storage

Dell PowerMax

Dell PowerMax Series

Dell PowerMax is a high-end enterprise storage solution designed to provide excellent performance, scalability, and data management capabilities. It utilizes NVMe technology for faster data access and low latency. Utilizing deduplication and compression to optimize storage capacity and reduce storage costs makes the PowerMax series a great option for environments managing large data sets. The PowerMax line is suitable for a wide range of enterprise use cases from database workloads to artificial intelligence and machine learning applications. It is designed to meet the demands of organizations with critical data requirements for high-performance, reliable, and scalable solutions.