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Dell EqualLogic is a well know name in iSCSI storage and it does not any presentation. But the “converged” version for the M1000e blade enclosure maybe need more information.

I’ve see a prototype (Code name: Colossus) during the Dell Storage Forum at London and it was absolutely interesting and promising.

The final product is called Dell EqualLogic PS-M4110 Blade Array and it’s fully compatible with the exiting PowerEdge M1000e enclosures (designed and realized several years ago) with the only requisite to have at least one 10Gbps fabric (and of course have an updated firmware).

Equallogic-BladeDifferent models are available with the same notation of other EqualLogic families: PS-M4110E (the NL-SAS version), PS-M4110X (the SAS 10k version), PS-M4110XV (SAS 15k version) and PS-M4110XS (the hybrid version).

It takes 2 unit in the chassis (on horizontal space) and can host a dual controller and 14 disks. Each M1000e can host max 4 of those storages.

All the configuration could be done from the CMC (the management interface of the M1000e) without the need of serial cable (still present if needed) or initialization tools (that still could be used).

The most important aspect is specify the right storage fabric (change it after could be difficult and you may need to call the support).

As written the fabric must be 10 Gbps (it requires Dell Force10 MXL, PowerConnect M8024-K, 8428-K or 10Gb-K Ethernet pass-through modules with external switches).

Equallogic-Blade-Config

In some deployment scenarios it could be interesting considering the rest of the Dell’s blade offer and also that those EqualLogic are basically the same of the traditional version (for example you can use a “Sumo” version to handle the multi-point replication of different chassis).

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Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.