EqualLogic

EqualLogic
Industry Computer data storage
Founded 2001
Products iSCSI arrays
Parent Dell

EqualLogic products are iSCSI-based storage area network (SAN) systems marketed by Dell. Dell has 3 different lines of SAN products: EqualLogic, Compellent and Dell PowerVault. Before the acquisition by Dell in January 2008, EqualLogic was an independent company.[1]

History

EqualLogic is a company based in Nashua, New Hampshire. Formed in 2001 by Peter Hayden, Paul Koning, and Paula Long, it raised $52 million from investors between 2001 and 2004. The company was considering an initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock-exchange, but accepted an offer from Dell in 2008.[1] The all-cash take-over transaction of $1.4 billion was the highest price paid for a company financed by venture investors at the time. At the time of acquisition, the company was backed by three venture capital investors: TD Capital Ventures, Focus Ventures and Sigma.

Architecture

EqualLogic systems use iSCSI via either Gigabit Ethernet or 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers. The currently (June 2014) sold systems with 1 Gbit/s connections are the PS4100, PS6100 and PS6200 while the comparable systems with 10 Gbit/s Ethernet connections are PS4110, PS6110 and PS6210. There have been a number of previous generations, and as long as the software is updated on older systems they can work with the newer models. Within each series there are several options allowing for different types and sizes of hard disk drives or solid-state drives. EqualLogic options combine both in the same chassis and automatically migrate the most frequently accessed data to the SSDs. All PS series systems, except the PS-M4110 blade chassis system, are 19-inch rack systems in a 2 rack unit form factor or a 4 RU chassis for some of the PS61x0 models and the PS65x0 dense models.

EqualLogic Arrays can be combined with up to 16 arrays per group. Groups can mix different members, including multiple hardware generations, as well as different RAID types, in a group. By combining multiple arrays per group, very large storage groups can be created with maximum capacity in one group of over 1.5 PB. Arrays can be segmented into pools, and from pools, volumes. Volumes are exposed on a SAN network, and used by virtual machine hosts or other computers.

Controllers

Each array comes with two controllers, offering redundancy and load-balancing. A controller offers one or more data Ethernet interfaces for the iSCSI traffic and one management interface. A typical array has 2 or more iSCSI Ethernet interfaces and one management interface. The arrays with model PS XX00 have Gigabit Ethernet ports while the PS XX10 offer 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports for iSCSI traffic and a 10 Mbit/s / 100 Mbit/s management port. Depending on the model the interfaces can be either copper-based Gigabit Ethernet or 10GBaseT or fiber-optic interfaces using small form-factor pluggable transceivers. Controllers can be readily identified by a combination of their "faceplate" profile and color.[2]

Controller Type Profile Color Disk Interface / Speed Network Interface Management Associated Models Manufacturers P/N Dell P/N
Type 1 SATA wide black SATA I / 1.5 Gbps 3 x 1Gbase-T / 1Gbit/s SFP (combo) 1 (shared) PS50E, PS100E, PS200E, PS300E, PS400E, PS100X 70-0001
Type 2 SATA wide blue SATA II at 3 Gbps 3 x 1Gbase-T / 1Gbit/s SFP (combo) 1 (shared) PS50E, PS100E, PS200E, PS300E, PS400E, PS100X 70-0011 T946J / 0T946J
Type 3 SAS narrow blue SAS or SATA II at 3 Gbps 3 x 1 Gbit/s 1 (shared) PS3000 – PS5000 70-0101
Type 4 SAS narrow grey SAS at 3 Gbps 3 x 1 Gbit/s 0 PS3000 – PS5000 70-0111c
Type 5 SATA narrow olive SATA II at 3 Gbps 3 x 1 Gbit/s 0 PS3000 – PS5000 70-0115
Type 6 SATA narrow grey with brown stripe[3] 3 x 1 Gbit/s 1 (shared) PS5500 only 70-0111a
Type 7 SAS narrow light green 4 x 1 Gbit/s 0 PS6000 – PS6500 70-0202 5PM3C, RNPR1
Type 8 SAS narrow magenta 2 x 1 Gbit/s 1 PS4000 only 70-0120
Type 9 SAS narrow yellow 2 x 1 Gbit/s 1 x 10/100 Mbit/s 2nd generation PS4000 70-0210
Type 10 narrow orange 2 x 10 Gbit/s SFP+[4] 1 x 10/100 Mbit/s PS6010 – PS6510 70-0300 0G9J5
Type 11 Wide light green 4 x 1 Gbit/s 1 PS6100 Only 70-0400 7V250, HRT01
Type 12 Wide magenta 2 x 1 Gbase-T 1 PS4100 Only NMJ7P
Type 13 M-Blade silver 1x 10Gbit KR / KR Pass-Thru PS-M4110 1KWXY, 01KWXY
Type 14 Wide orange 1x 10Gbase-T / 1x SFP+ 1 PS6110 Only 61NCV
Type 15 Wide dark grey SAS

NL-SAS

SSD

2x 10GbE SFP+ / 2x 10GbaseT 1 x 10/100 Mbit/s
Type 17 Wide yellow SAS

NL-SAS

1x 10Gbase-T / 1x SFP+ 1 PS4110 Only X3J14, P0GJH YN3KR,
Type 18 Wide Marine Blue SAS

NL-SAS

SSD

2x 10GBASE-T / 2x 10GbE SFP+ 1 x 10/100 Mbit/s PS6610
Type 19 Wide Red SAS

NL-SAS

SSD

2x 10GBASE-T / 2x 10GbE SFP+ 1 x 10/100 Mbit/s PS4210

[5]

Models

The current primary models are the PS4100, PS6100 and PS6500 with 1Gb Ethernet and 10 Gb Ethernet model options. Within each "series" (i.e. 4100, 6100 and 6500) there are several sub models that include specific disk configurations. The last generation systems are the PS4100 and PS6100 series systems which continue to be sold.

PS41x0

The PS4100 series consists of 4 rack-models and one PS-M4110 for placement in the Dell M1000e blade enclosure. This model is described separately below.

PS4000 rack models
Model PS4100E[6] PS4100KV3,5[7] PS4110E[8] PS4110KV3,5[9]
height (RU) 2 RU 2 RU 2 RU 2 RU
#HDD 12 12 12 12
HDD type 7200 NL-SAS 15K SAS 7200 NL-SAS 15K SAS
capacity min
using
12 TB
12 x 1 TB
3.6 TB
6 x 600 GB
6 TB
12 x 500 GB
3.6 TB
6 x 600 GB
capacity max
using
36 TB
12 x 3 TB
7.2 TB
12 x 600 GB
36 TB
12 x 3 TB
7.2 TB
12 x 600 GB
#controllers 2 2 2 2
memory/ctrl (Gb) 4 4 4 4
iSCSI ports
per ctrl.
2 GbE 2 GbE 1 x 10GBaseT
1 x 10 Gb SFP+
1 x 10GBaseT
1 x 10 Gb SFP+
mgt ports
per ctrl.
1 x 10/100Mb 1 x 10/100Mb 1 x 100 Mb 1 x 100 Mb
Max # volumes 256 256 256 256
Snapshots/volume 128 128 128 128
Snapshots/group 2048 2048 2048 2048
RAID levels 5,6,10,50 5,6,10,50 5,6,10,50 5,6,10,50
Max arrays/group up to 2 x PS4xxx arrays/group

PS61x0

The PS61x0 series consists of two main models: PS6100 and PS6110 for 1G or 10G iSCSI ethernet ports on the controller. All arrays support RAID levels 6,10 and 50.

For the PS6100 series and PS6110 series there are 6 sube-models, based on the type of disks used:[10][11]

Model PS61x0-E PS61x0-X PS61x0-XV PS61x0-S PS61x0-XS PS61x0-XV3,5
usage/type high-capacity balanced high-performance low latency automated
SSD tiering
high performance&
high capacity
height (RU) 4 2 2 2 2 4
weight 45,36 25,4 25,4 24,5 24,5 44,45
max # disks/size 24x 3,5" 24x 2.5" 24 x 2,5" 24 x 2,5" 7 x 2,5SSD
17 z 10K SAS
24 x 3,5"
disk type 7200 NL-SAS 10K SAS 15K SAS SSD SSD/10K SAS 15K SAS
min capacity
using
12 TB
500 GB HDD
7,2 TB
300 GB
3,5 TB
146 GB
9,6 TB
400 GB SSD
13 TB
7 x 400 GB SSD
17 x 600 GB HDD
7,2 TB
12 x 600GB
max capacity
using
72 TB
3 TB HDD
21,6 TB
900 GB
7,2 TB
300 GB
19,2 TB
800 GB SSD
13 TB
fixed capacity
14,4 TB
600 GB
Powerconsumption 1080 W 700 W 700 W 700 W 700 W 1080 W

PS-M 4110

The PS-M 4110 is a SAN array in the form-factor of a dual 1/2 height blade-server and can be installed in the Dell M1000e blade-chassis. There are 4 models of this "datacenter in a box" solution where servers, storage and networking are all combined in one blade-enclosure

The SAN communicates with the blade servers in the chassis and/or external servers via Force10 MXL switches, PowerConnect M8024-K or Brocade based PC-M8428-K in the back of the enclosure. Also possible to use 10G Passthrough modules and external switches.[12]

PS-M 4110 blade SAN
Model PS-M4110-E PS-M4110-X PS-M4110-XV PS-M4110-XS
Usage Hi-capacity balanced perf/capacity high perf low latency
Controllers 1 or 2 1 or 2 1 or 2 2 only
Typical power 248,9 W 261 W 293,3 W 230,4 W
Weight (Kg) 12,49 12,87 12,62 12,38
Disk drives 14 HDD 14 HDD 14 HDD 9 x 10K SAS
& 5 x SSD
Drive capacity 500 GB
or 1 TB
600 GB
900 GB
146 GB
300 GB
600 GB HDD
400 GB SSD
Drive type 7,2k NL-SAS 10K SAS 15K SAS 10K SAS+SSD
System capacity 7 - 14 TB 8,4-12,5 Tb 2,5-4,2 TB 7,4 Tb

PS6500 and PS6510

The PS65x0 series consists of in total 6 models scalable SAN solutions. As with the other series the PS6500 is using 1Gb ethernet NIC's and the PS6510 offers 10Gb SFP+ interfaces.[13]

PS 65x0 SAN
Model PS6500-E/P6510-E PS6500-ES/PS6510-ES[14] PS6500-X/PS6510-X[15]
Intended Usage High density High Performance Mixed Use
Height (Rack Units) 4 4 4
Weight LB(Kg) up to 165(74.8) up to 165(74.8) up to 165(74.8)
Power consumption 1000-1030 VA
1400 VA Peak
1000-1030 VA
1400 VA Peak

1000-1030 VA
1400 VA Peak

Heat dispensation 3400 BTU max 3400 BTU 3400 BTU
Drive Bays 48 7 SSD + 41 HDD 48
Drive Options 1TB SATA
2TB SATA
3 TB NL-SAS
7 x 400 Gb SSD
& 41 x 2 TB NL-SAS
600 GB-SAS
900 GB SAS
Drive Speed 7200 RPM SSD & 7200 RPM SAS 10K RPM
RAW Capacity 48 TB(1TB Drives)
96 TB(2TB Drives)
144 TB(3TB Drives)
84.8 TB 28.9 TB (600GB Drives
43.2 TB (900GB Drives)

FS7500 / FS7600

Dell Fluid File System is available in combination with an EQLX array for the storage. FluidFS is also delivered in combination with Compellent and PowerVault SAN systems. Both the FS7500 and FS7600 NAS using EQLX SAN offers a maximum system site of 509 TB. The FS7600 is the 2nd generation system which is also available using 10G iSCSI speeds between the FS controller and the storage backbone[16]

References

  1. 1 2 XConomy Boston, Dell to buy EQLX for $ 1.4 billion, 5 November 2007. Visited: 1 March 2013
  2. "Used Dell EqualLogic Controllers iSCSI SAN Storage Systems". www.expresscomputersystems.com. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
  3. Systems, Express Computer. "Used Dell EqualLogic Price List Reference Guide and Tech Specs". www.expresscomputersystems.com. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  4. http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/storage/f/3775/t/19478620
  5. "Dell PS Series Configuration Guide" (PDF). Dell Storage Engineering. January 31, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  6. Technical specs PS4100E, visited 29 April 2013
  7. Technical specs PS4100KV3,5, visited 2 March 2013
  8. Technical specs PS4110E, visited 2 March 2013
  9. Technical specs PS4110KV3,5, visited 2 March 2013
  10. PS6100 series model overview, visited 2 March 2013
  11. PS6110 series model overview, visited 2 March 2013
  12. Dell datasheet on EQLX PS-M4110, downloaded: 2 March 2013
  13. Dell website on PS-65x0 series, visited 2 March 2013
  14. PS6500-ES/PS6510-ES specifications, visited 2 March 2013
  15. Technical specification 65x0-X, visited 2 March 2013
  16. Dell EQLX website on FS7600 NAS systems
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