Virtual Data Products and Dell’s commitment to simplifying IT extends to configuration of total storage systems. The PS Storage Stack makes it easy to purchase multi-array configurations for customized performance and capacity. A PS Storage Stack can combine multiple PS Series storage arrays into a single SAN. By segmenting the storage in your SAN, you can optimize your environment to meet your service level and budget requirements.

Physically and logically combining arrays, a PS Storage Stack enables you to configure storage pools or tiers to optimize performance and capacity according to application-specific demands. Administrators have the ability to prioritize applications within a SAN by placing them on separate storage resources, each optimally configured for the required service level of the application. They can configure separate storage pools within a single SAN to help build an efficient, flexible, easy-to-manage storage environment. Using this “SAN within a SAN,” administrators can gain the advantages of consolidation, but can also easily separate workloads as needed: by application, by service level, by disk type, by cost, or even by department within the organization.

For example, larger high-density EqualLogic PS Series arrays can be placed in a dedicated pool to provide capacity-oriented tiers of storage for files, near-line applications, archiving, and de-duplicated backups. Because online data movement is built into all of Dell’s EqualLogic PS Series arrays, administrators can adjust application resources and move data between different pools of storage without downtime or disruption.

No matter which arrays you combine, you gain the high availability, reliability, scalability, and automation that come with built-in data services, redundant components, and modular design.

"Pretty much everything is included in the price of our SAN, in particular the software used to divide data, create and manage snapshots, replicate data, clone volumes and manage the I/O. Other vendors force you to buy additional licenses for these functionalities."

– Wim Diersen, Financial Manager at Bribus Keukens