Dell PowerEdge Servers and DataCore Make Great Software-Defined Storage Solutions

by Steve Houck, Chief Operating Officer of DataCore - Post from Dell4Enterprise Blog

As applications and data become more important, companies are transforming their data centers into private cloud infrastructure. This move will enable companies to provide high levels of availability, reliability and performance to applications, while dramatically reducing costs and simplifying management of the infrastructure.

Servers and, to a large extent, networks have moved to a private cloud model where the underlying infrastructure has been abstracted, pooled and automated.

But sometimes companies take a different approach to storage. Walk into any data center and you’re sure to find different types of storage systems, each bought to satisfy specific requirements and sometimes for different projects. For customers with disparate storage environments or lacking a strategically implemented hybrid SAN environment, often times high-performance storage was justified for latency-sensitive applications, while lower-cost, high-capacity storage made better sense for less-critical applications.

Unfortunately, sometimes companies find themselves with different storage systems, each in an “island” with different functionality and managed separately. Such diversity can complicate how storage resources are allocated and managed. Storage is the next big step in private cloud infrastructure.

DataCore has created a solution that virtualizes, pools and manages all storage from any vendor, regardless of model. Once-isolated storage systems can now become part of an enterprise-wide capacity pool, classified into tiers according to their unique characteristics. The system administrator can easily provision capacity and set high-level policies to allow the software to dynamically select the most appropriate storage tier and paths to achieve the desired levels of performance and availability.

View DataSheet: DataCore Software-Defined Storage on Dell PowerEdge Servers

This solution utilizes the latest generation Dell PowerEdge servers and DataCore SANsymphony™-V software, transforming isolated storage systems into a centrally managed storage infrastructure, helping you derive the most value from your storage investments, present and future. Using DataCore’s storage virtualization technology, Dell Storage MD Series, SC Series and PS Series arrays can be easily integrated with existing storage.

• Dramatically improves performance of all applications: High-performance caching algorithms intelligently anticipate reads, evaluate usage patterns and transform random writes into sequential writes. In addition, auto-tiering software dynamically matches workloads to the most appropriate class of storage from the virtual pool.
• Instantly reduces storage costs by increasing capacity utilization and reducing management complexity: Eliminates wasted storage capacity by pooling all of your storage, regardless of make/manufacturer. Each storage device is used in a way that best matches its capacity and performance capabilities.
• Prevents storage outages from affecting applications: Synchronous mirroring with “zero touch” failover and failback between any types of storage ensures that applications are not disrupted by storage or site outages. Easily migrate data between unlike systems, during production, with zero impact to applications.
• Quickly meets the needs of the business:  Centralized management using a common set of commands across disparate systems, together with extensive automation and orchestration, simplifies administration and allows IT to respond to business needs easily and without disrupting other applications.

Bottom line: DataCore’s SANsymphony-V Software-defined Storage platform together with Dell PowerEdge servers combine to empower your storage to new levels of performance, availability, automation and orchestration.