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Dell PS Series Arrays - Scalability and Growth in Virtual Environments Owner's Manual, User Guide

Summary

Technical white paper from Dell EMC Engineering (January 2017, TR1072, author Chuck Armstrong) examining Dell Storage PS Series array scalability and growth strategies in virtual environments. Covers larger volume support, CHAP authentication for access control, storage tiering, thin provisioning, and snapshot management within VMware and Hyper-V hypervisor deployments. Originally released November 2011, updated January 2017 with current Dell EMC branding and formatting.

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Dell Storage PS Series Arrays: Scalability and Growth in Virtual Environments Dell EMC Engineering January 2017

A Dell EMC Technical White Paper

Page Summary Contents For Dell PS Series Arrays - Scalability and Growth in Virtual Environments Owner's Manual, User Guide

Page 1 Dell Storage PS Series Arrays: Scalability and Growth in Virtual Environments Dell EMC Engineering January 2017 A Dell EMC Technical White Paper
Page 2 Revisions Date Description November 2011 Initial release January 2017 Updated to reflect new branding and formatting Acknowledgements Engineering: Chuck Armstrong The information in this publication i...
Page 3 Table of contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 5 2...
Page 4 Executive summary This document provides VMware® and Dell™ PS Series storage administrators with recommended best practices when configuring a virtual environment. This paper covers Dell recommendatio...
Page 5 1 Introduction The PS Series SAN architecture allows for mobility of storage volumes across the peer storage arrays. This architecture also includes a Network Load Balancer (NLB) to redirect i SCSI lo...
Page 6 2 Virtual, hypervisor-based environments Virtualization adds a new set of planning and scaling challenges to the data center. For example, the advanced virtual machine availability features in VMware,...
Page 7 In larger environments, these additional MPIO connections need to be taken into account at design time and as the environment scales. Here is an example of how quickly connections can be consumed: Ass...
Page 8 3 Larger volumes Another tactic for reducing volume connections in virtual environments is to create larger volumes and fewer of them. In many cases, administrators start with a particular volume size...
Page 9 4 CHAP authentication for access control Manipulating MPIO modules and increasing volume sizes are both great ways to manage volume connections but there are other best practices and recommendations t...
Page 10 5 Group and pool transparency When it comes to scaling PS arrays, there are two trains of thought: scale up or scale out. The PS Series architecture uses a scale-out architecture, but there are times ...
Page 11 6 VMware pods Creating VMware pods can help minimize connections in large VMware environments. The notion of VMware pods simply refers to reducing the number of nodes from large (many node) clusters t...
Page 12 7 Data protection and business continuity Another important discussion point is data protection and business continuity. PS Series snapshots are done at the volume level, and in most cases, snapshots ...
Page 13 8 Replication and scale It is important to understand how replication plays into the connection-count limitations and design of a DR site. PS Series firmware allows replication reserve space to be sel...
Page 14 9 Summary With virtualized data center environments being the standard, it is important that administrators understand exactly how to manage and control growth and sprawl of resources. Managing multip...
Page 15 A Technical support and resources Dell.com/Support is focused on meeting customer needs with proven services and support. Dell Tech Center is an online technical community where IT professionals have ...

Manual Details

Brand Dell
Pages 15
File Size 303.70 KB
Published June 18, 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions

How does PS Series SAN achieve storage volume mobility?

The SAN uses a Network Load Balancer (NLB) to redirect iSCSI login sessions, allowing volumes to move seamlessly across peer arrays.

What features are recommended for scaling virtual environments on the PS Series arrays?

Administrators should utilize managing multipath configurations, larger volume sizes, CHAP authentication, and group/storage pool transparency.

For who is this technical guidance intended?

The information is intended specifically for VMware and PS Series storage administrators and installers.

Where can I check the compatibility matrix for PS Series Storage arrays?

You must visit http://en.community.dell.com/dell- groups/dtcmedia/m/mediagallery/20438558 for an updated Compatibility Matrix.

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