2021-02-10T19:20:00Z

Has anyone tried Dell EMC PowerStore? What do you think of it and how was migration?

What do you guys think of Dell EMC PowerStore vs Pure Storage FlashArray and NetApp's AFF series. How was the migration process? 

EO
Equity Research Associate - IT Hardware & Memory at a tech company with 11-50 employees
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1 Answer
TS
VP, IT Infrastructure at Fairwinds Credit Union
User
2021-11-29T19:10:29Z
Nov 29, 2021

We compared PowerStore T 2.0 to Pure FlashArray and found them to be similar. 


Pure FlashArray has offered NVMe-oF connectivity for quite some time now via RoCE I believe, whereas the PowerStore has only offered it since 2.0 firmware which came out in June 2021 (using NVMe-FC)… so Pure is a bit ahead of Dell/EMC in that regard.


The flash drives in the Pure array are proprietary, which could be looked at as a positive (proprietary high-performance / high-reliability design), or a negative (proprietary low volume manufactured vs. mainstream high volume manufactured).


We liked that the PowerStore T allows you to store data persistently on SCM drives, which the Pure array did not support (although Pure does allow you to use SCM only as a DirectMemory cache tier, which you can also do on PowerStore 2.0 if you opt for an all-NVMe configuration).


Down-side to the PowerStore if you have big capacity needs, the base enclosure has a max usable capacity of around 1.5PB. If you need more than 1.5PB you’re either stuck adding an expansion enclosure and living with basic SAS SSDs in it or buying a whole additional PowerStore since NVMe and SCM drives are only supported in the base enclosure.


Ultimately, I think the Pure array probably is the superior product given its long track record of excellence which is consistent with Gartner's findings. However, the PowerStore is SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive. It’s not at all uncommon to see identical PowerStore configurations at less than half of the equivalent Pure cost (this is from my first-hand experience). They’ll argue that their TCO over 6 years is superior, but that was untrue in my personal experience.


On the All-NVMe PowerStore, we see around 0.27ms of overall latency, and on the All-SCM PowerStore, we see around 0.17ms of overall latency which is outstanding compared to our legacy arrays. In terms of bandwidth, we regularly sustain >6GB/s on PowerStore during backups and/or high levels of administrative activity such as database index rebuilds or table reorgs.


If you’re a VMware shop running VMFS file systems, migration is a non-event since you can set a compatible EVC baseline on your target compute cluster connected to whatever array you want (Pure, PowerStore, NetApp, etc.), then vMotion across with zero downtime, even on giant databases with thousands of connected users in the middle of a business day if desired.

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerStore vs. NetApp AFF (All Flash FAS) and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.
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Related Questions
Arti J - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Vice President- Digital Sales at TRANSLAB
Dec 28, 2022
Hi community,  I am the Assistant Vice President of Digital Sales at a small computer software company. I am currently researching all-flash storage arrays.  Which solution do you prefer: Huawei OceanStor 5300 or Dell PowerStore 500T? What are the pros and cons of each solution? What are the differences and similarities between the two solutions? Thank you for your help.
DR
Sr. Information Officer at Merino Industries Ltd (Merino Group)
Jun 1, 2022
Hi community, I work as a Sr. Information Officer at a Manufacturing company. Currently, I'm looking to compare Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs NetApp FAS Series.  Also, if possible, I'm looking to compare how they are both compared to Pure Storage. Can you please share your inputs? Thanks.
2 out of 3 answers
GL
Responsabile Data Management DC Area Nord Ovest at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
May 31, 2022
I think they are different types of storage for different purposes. If you are looking for a storage where to put backups data you can think Data Domain is the perfect choice because it is its main use (most or all the backup softwares have plugins in ordere to manage data domains). If you are looking for a primary storage (where to put your servers' data) then you can look to Netapp FAS and Purestorage. The latter are flash natives so it's simpler to manage and configure. If you look at the Netapp FAS you can also choose storages with HDDs with less performance (and a cheaper price). 
MS
President/CDS at Comcast Business
May 31, 2022
@Dhruba Roy, your question conflates very different kinds of storage.  PowerProtect DD is Dell's latest version of Data Domain. It is ONLY useful as target storage for backups. Nothing else, not even archiving. If that is what you want, it does what it's supposed to do. Albeit, it's a bit pricey and underperforming.  There are much faster, cheaper, and more advanced backup target storage. Especially when measuring restore performance. I would suggest you take a hard look at a variety of backup target storage vendors including, Infinidat InfiniGuard, ExaGrid, Quantum, StorONE, iXsystems, and many more. Most backup target storage is all HDD although some are hybrid SSD and HDD. NetApp FAS is a general-purpose storage system for blocks and files. It can be all HDD, hybrid HDD and SSD, or all SSD (all-flash FAS or AFF). It's a solid all around storage system with NetApp pioneered capabilities, but expensive as a backup storage target.  Pure Storage FlashArray//X or //C are block all-flash storage arrays. Their FlashBlades are all flash file and object storage systems. Good performers but overkill and way too expensive for backup target storage. I think you need to define what it is you really need. Of the 3 vendors you asked about, I am going to repeat myself, PowerProtect DD is ONLY useful as a target storage for backups. The other two can do so, but are really not priced nor designed specifically for backup target storage.  If general purpose storage is what you need NetApp and PureStorage are good possibilities among many others.
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