Vmax All Flash Family

The Dell EMC VMAX All Flash
Family Overview
Abstract
Recent engineering advancements with higher density, vertical, multi-layer cell flash technology
have led to the development of higher capacity multi-terabyte flash drives. The introduction of
these higher capacity flash drives has greatly accelerated the inflection point at which flash drives
are economically equivalent to traditional hard drives functioning as the primary storage media for
enterprise applications in the datacenter. Dell EMC engineers foresaw this inflection point and are
pleased to offer the VMAX® All Flash family. This white paper provides the reader with an in-depth
overview of the VMAX All Flash family by providing details on the theory of operation, packaging,
and the unique features which make it the premier all-flash storage product for the modern
datacenter.
Dell EMC Engineering

April 2018
A Dell EMC document category

Revisions
Date Description
December 2017 Initial draft
March 2018 Version 2
April 2018 Version 3 – Update for PowerMaxOS
The information in this publication is provided “as is.” Dell Inc. makes no representations or warranties of any kind with re spect to the information in this
publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Use, copying, and distribution of any software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.
Copyright © 2018 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other
trademarks may be the property of their respective owners. Reference Number: H14920.3
Dell believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.
2 The Dell EMC VMAX All Flash Family Overview | White Paper
Table of contents
Revisions .........................................................................................................................................................................................2
1 Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................................ 5
1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................5
1.2 VMAX All Flash Platform High Level Overview .........................................................................................................5
1.3 Primary VMAX All Flash Benefits ................................................................................................................................ 5
2 VMAX All Flash Overview .......................................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................................................7
2.2 VMAX All Flash Terminology .......................................................................................................................................7
2.3 The VMAX All Flash Family .........................................................................................................................................9
3 VMAX All Flash Key Value Propositions .............................................................................................................................10
3.1 Expandable Modular Architecture with the V-Brick and zBrick ..............................................................................11
3.1.1 Engines.........................................................................................................................................................................13
3.1.2 Drive Array Enclosures (DAE) and Drive Configurations .......................................................................................16
3.1.3 VMAX All Flash Director and Connectivity Options.................................................................................................19
3.2 Streamlined Software Packaging ..............................................................................................................................25
3.2.1 VMAX All Flash Open System Software Packaging ...............................................................................................25
3.2.2 VMAX All Flash mainframe Software Packaging ....................................................................................................27
3.3 Flash Optimization ......................................................................................................................................................28
3.3.1 Cache Architecture and Caching Algorithms ...........................................................................................................28
3.3.2 Understanding Flash Cell Endurance .......................................................................................................................29
3.3.3 VMAX All Flash Write Amplification Reduction ........................................................................................................29
3.3.4 Boosting Flash Performance with PowerMaxOS FlashBoost ................................................................................30
3.4 Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS) .....................................................................................................30
3.5 Data Services ..............................................................................................................................................................31
3.5.1 Data Reduction using the Adaptive Compression Engine (ACE) ..........................................................................32
3.5.2 Remote Replication with SRDF .................................................................................................................................32
3.5.3 Local Replication with TimeFinder SnapVX .............................................................................................................33
3.5.4 Consolidation of Block and File Storage Using eNAS ............................................................................................34
3.5.5 Embedded Management (eManagement) using Unisphere for PowerMax .........................................................34
3.5.6 PowerMaxOS Service Levels and Host I/O Limits ..................................................................................................35
3.5.7 VMAX Non-Disruptive Migration (NDM) ...................................................................................................................36
3.6 The Dell EMC Future-Proof Storage Loyalty Program ...........................................................................................37
4 VMAX All Flash Deployment Models...................................................................................................................................38
4.1 VMAX 250F System Configurations .........................................................................................................................38
4.1.1 VMAX 250F Configurations .......................................................................................................................................38
4.2 Converged Infrastructures using the VMAX 250F ...................................................................................................39
4.2.1 Better Together............................................................................................................................................................39
4.2.2 Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle ..........................................................................................................................39
4.3 VMAX 950F..................................................................................................................................................................42
4.3.1 VMAX 950F System Configurations .........................................................................................................................42
5 Summary ................................................................................................................................................................................43
6 References .............................................................................................................................................................................44
1 Executive Summary
1.1 Introduction
All flash arrays are accelerating the pace of business transformation as IT professionals search for the most
relevant technologies to modernize their operation and drive down operational and capital expenditures. Dell
EMC VMAX All Flash arrays are architected to solve the CIO challenge of embracing a modernized flash-
centric datacenter for mission-critical applications while simultaneously simplifying, automating, and
consolidating IT operations. VMAX All Flash data services are engineered to use the latest high-density flash
technology to deliver high performance at attainable economics. These data services address the new
requirements of the modern datacenter while continuing to deliver the reliability and mission-critical availability
Dell EMC customers have relied on for years.
1.2 VMAX All Flash Platform High Level Overview

The primary hardware platforms in VMAX All Flash are the Dell EMC VMAX 250F and Dell EMC VMAX 950F.
Both of these platforms use a modular “brick” building concept which provides the following:
The VMAX 250F platform provides:

 2 x 12 core, 2.5 GHz Intel Broadwell CPUs yielding 48 cores per engine
 512 GB, 1 TB, or 2 TB of DDR4 cache per engine
 1 – 2 V-Bricks per system
 Up to 64 FE ports per system (open systems only)
 Up to 1 PBe capacity per system in a half rack using SAS-3 all-flash storage
 3rd party rack support
 1 M IOPS (8K RRH)
The VMAX 950F platform provides:

 2 x 18 core, 2.8 GHz, Intel Broadwell CPUs yielding 72 cores per engine
 1 TB, 2 TB DDR4 cache per engine
 1 - 8 V-Bricks / zBricks per system
 Up to 256 FE ports per system
 Up to 4 PBe capacity per system using SAS-2 all-flash storage
 Open Systems and/or mainframe support
 6.7M IOPS (8K RRH)
1.3 Primary VMAX All Flash Benefits

The primary benefits that VMAX All Flash offers to Dell EMC customers are:
 Scalable performance and economics

 Leverage advanced multi-core/multi-threading algorithms and a flash- optimized design to meet strict
SLAs for high-demand online transaction processing (OLTP), virtualized applications, and high-
growth Oracle and SQL databases
 Scale out performance and scale up capacity to achieve millions of IOPS, PBs of capacity and
predictable performance while meeting economic requirements using all flash storage.
 Mission-critical availability – Mission-critical six-nines availability architecture with advanced fault
isolation, robust data integrity checking, proven non-disruptive hardware and software upgrades, and
industry leading data services.
 Hyper consolidation availability – Achieve massive consolidation with support for mixed open,
mainframe, IBM i, and file storage on the same system simplifying management and significantly
lowering overall TCO,
2 VMAX All Flash Overview
2.1 Background
Enterprise storage capacity and storage performance requirements have increased dramatically in recent
years with the need to support millions of virtual devices and virtual machines. Although traditional spinning
disk media can still meet the storage capacity requirements, it is having difficulty meeting the performance
requirements (now measured in the millions of IOPS) for these e nvironments.
Until recently, the industry was in a quandary as the economics of all-flash storage were still prohibitive;
however, the recent advancements in flash technology – specifically the development of vertical, 3-bit, charge
trap NAND architectures (3D-NAND) – have led to a breakthrough in the capacity and price of flash storage.
This breakthrough has greatly accelerated the inflection point at which flash storage has the same economics
as traditional spinning disk media. The release of these new flash drives is now allowing the enterprise
datacenter to meet the storage capacity and performance requirements for highly virtualized environments at
affordable prices.
To meet the emerging requirements of the enterprise storage environment, Dell EMC is pleased to provide an
all-flash offering called VMAX All Flash. VMAX All Flash differs from legacy VMAX hybrid arrays as they are
true all-flash arrays. –VMAX products are specifically targeted to meet the storage capacity and performance
requirements of the all-flash enterprise datacenter. VMAX All Flash products are feature-rich all-flash offerings
with specific capabilities designed to take advantage of the new higher-capacity flash drives used in the
densest configuration possible. VMAX All Flash arrays offer enterprise customers the trusted VMAX data
services highly virtualized environments demand, while remaining economically comparable tomore traditional
storage workloads.
2.2 VMAX All Flash Terminology

The following table provides a detailed list of VMAX All Flash-related terms and their definitions:
Table 1 Key VMAX All Flash Terms and Definitions

Terminology Equivalent Term Definition
(first use in document) (after first use in doc.)
VMAX® All Flash VMAX All Flash VMAX All Flash refers to the all-flash VMAX offering.
VMAX 250F VMAX 250F VMAX 250F is the entry VMAX All Flash array. The F
appliance-based package includes base software titles.
VMAX 250FX VMAX 250FX VMAX 250FX ships with the FX package, adding
additional software titles to the F bundle.
VMAX 450F VMAX 450F VMAX 450F refers to a VMAX All Flash offering. F
appliance-based packaging includes base software
titles.
VMAX 850F VMAX 850F VMAX 850F refers to a VMAX All Flash offering. The F
appliance-based packaging includes base software
titles.
VMAX 950F VMAX 950F VMAX 950F is a scalable VMAX All Flash array. The F
appliance-based package includes base software titles.
V-Brick V-Brick A V-Brick is the building block for constructing a VMAX

All Flash array. It includes a VMAX engine, two DAEs,
and a fixed TBu of capacity.
Flash Capacity Pack Flash Capacity Pack A Flash Capacity Pack includes a fixed amount of
capacity that can be added to a VMAX All Flash array.
PowerMaxOS 5978 PowerMaxOS The PowerMaxOS 5978 release supports PowerMax

NVMe arrays, dedupe, and other software
enhancements and is offered with VMAX All Flash
arrays.
Drive Array Enclosure DAE DAE refers to the drive array enclosure used to store
flash drives in VMAX All Flash
Unisphere for PowerMax Unisphere Unisphere for PowerMax V9.0 enables management
V9.0 and monitoring of PowerMax and VMAX All Flash
arrays.
DAE25 DAE25 DAE25 refers to the drive array enclosure used to store
flash drives in the VMAX 250F (12 Gb/sec SAS)
inline compression ompression Inline compression refers to the intelligent data

efficiency technology used with VMAX All Flash arrays.
usable capacity (in TBu Refers to the amount of unique, non-compressed data
Terabytes)) that can be written into the array.
effective capacity (in TBe Includes the benefits of virtual provisioning, inline
Terabytes) compression, and space-efficient copies.
non-disruptive migration NDM Provides simplified data migration from VMAX1 /

VMAX2 arrays to VMAX All Flash / V3 systems.
virtual witness vWitness Virtual witness is a key component to the SRDF/Metro

DR offering, arbitrating between SRDF/Metro sites.
zBrick zBrick zBrick is the VMAX All Flash mainframe building block
consisting of an engine, two DAEs, and capacity.
zCapacity Pack zCapacity Pack zCapacity Pack is the storage unit used to add capacity
to VMAX All Flash mainframe systems.
zF software package zF package zF software package is the base software offering for
VMAX All Flash mainframe arrays.
zFX software package zFX package zFX software package is a comprehensive software
suite offered with VMAX All Flash mainframe arrays.
scale up scale up Scale up refers to adding Flash Capacity Packs to a
VMAX All Flash array.
scale out scale out Scale out refers to adding V-Bricks to grow performance
and expansion for VMAX All Flash systems.
service level service level Service level will be used with VMAX All Flash arrays.
This term replaces SLOs reflecting the single service
level used in this platform.
2.3 The VMAX All Flash Family

The Dell EMC VMAX All Flash family offers two primary models: the VMAX 250F and the VMAX 950F, as well
as two legacy VMAX All Flash models: the VMAX 450F and the VMAX 850F. The VMAX All Flash products
are feature-rich all flash offerings with specific capabilities designed to take advantage of the new higher
capacity flash drives used in the densest configuration possible. The VMAX All Flash arrays offer enterprise
customers the trusted VMAX data services, the improved simplicity, capacity, and performance which their
highly virtualized environments demand, while still meeting the economics of the more traditional storage
workloads.
Figure 1 The VMAX All Flash Family
3 VMAX All Flash Key Value Propositions
VMAX All Flash is designed for scalable performance, mission critical availability, hyper-consolidation, and to
support the densest flash configuration possible by using industry standard high-capacity flash drives. Below
is a summary of some of the essential value propositions that VMAX All Flash offers customers:
 Performance – Regardless of workload and storage capacity utilization, VMAX All Flash is designed
to provide reliable high performance to the enterprise datacenter, delivering up to 6.7 million IOPS
with consistent sub-ms latency at 150 GB/sec bandwidth.
 High availability and resiliency – VMAX All Flash is built with trusted architecture featuring no
single points of failure, and it has a proven six nines of availability track record. The ability to use
SRDF gives customers full multi-site replication options for disaster recovery and rapid restart.
 Inline compression - Compression is a space-saving function designed to allow the system to
manage capacity in the most efficient way possible. Compression is performed inline on VMAX All
Flash using multiple compression ranges in order to achieve a 4:1 data reduction average for the
system when other data reduction methods are employed as well. Compression is available for open
systems workloads. Compression is not supported with mainframe workloads.
 Non-Disruptive Migration (NDM) - NDM is designed to help automate the process of migrating
hosts and applications to a new VMAX All Flash array with no downtime at all.
 Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) Flash – VMAX All Flash is the technology leader using
NMVe flash for storing critical system configuration data.
 Enhancing flash drive endurance –VMAX All Flash has unique capabilities for greatly minimizing
write amplification on the flash drives. It employs large amounts of cache to store writes and then
uses intelligent de-staging algorithms to coalesce the writes into a larger sequential write , minimizing
random write I/O to the back-end. VMAX All Flash also employs proven write-folding algorithms which
drastically reduce the amount of write I/O to the back-end.
 Flash density – Using standard high-capacity flash drives, VMAX All Flash delivers the highest
IOPS/TB/floor tile in the industry. This support for industry standard flash drives provides a
differentiated capability as compared to many all-flash alternatives as this allows VMAX All Flash to
leverage increases in flash drive densities, economies of scale, and faster time to market.
 Scalability – VMAX All Flash configurations are built with modular building blocks called “ bricks”. A
brick includes an engine and two drive DAEs pre-configured with an initial total usable capacity. Brick
capacity can be scaled up in specific increments of usable capacity called Flash Capacity Packs.
 Data services – Full support for the industry’s gold standards in remote replication with SRDF and
local replication with Timefinder SnapVX. VMAX All Flash integrates fully with Dell EMC AppSync for
easier local replication management of critical applications. Dell EMC RecoverPoint is also available
for all VMAX All Flash models.
 Consolidation –VMAX All Flash systems are the only all flash storage products in the industry which
can consolidate open systems, mainframe, and IBM i block as well as file storage onto a single floor
tile. VMAX All Flash supports many front end connectivity options including Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and
FICON for mainframe.
 Streamlined packaging - The VMAX All Flash family features “F” and “FX” model options. The
difference in the models is specifically related to the greatly simplified software packaging for the
VMAX All Flash product line. The VMAX All Flash base models are the VMAX 250F, 450F, 850F, and
950F. The base “F” models include an entry level software packaging with features such as
embedded Unisphere. The “FX” models include the entry level “F” packaging, plus more advanced
software offerings such as SRDF.
 Ease of management – Embedded Unisphere for PowerMax V9.0 is provided in both the F and FX
package. Unisphere’s intuitive management interface allows IT managers to maximize productivity by
dramatically reducing the time required to provision, manage, and monitor VMAX All Flash storage
assets. The fact that Unisphere is embedded within VMAX All Flash allows for this simplicity of
management without the need for additional servers and hardware. The FX package also includes
Unisphere 360, which lets storage administrators view site-level health reports for every VMAX in the
datacenter, and also coordinate compliance to code levels and other infrastructure maintenance
requirements.
3.1 Expandable Modular Architecture with the V-Brick and zBrick

VMAX All Flash employs a simplified appliance-based modular building block architecture to reduce
complexity and simplify configuration and deployment. Building blocks called “bricks” allow VMAX All Flash to
scale to deliver predictable high performance where needed.
Two types of bricks are available for the VMAX All Flash:
 The V-Brick supports open system configurations with Fibre Channel or iSCSI connectivity and FBA
device formatting.
 The zBrick supports mainframe configurations with FICON connectivity and CKD device formatting.
Note: In this document, the term “brick” will be used when discussing features and functions applicable to
both the open systems V-Brick and the mainframe zBrick. The zBrick will be discussed in more detail in the
VMAX All Flash mainframe support portion of this document.
Each brick has the following components:
 One engine using the dynamic virtual matrix architecture running PowerMaxOS 5978
 Fully redundant hardware with multiple power supplies and interconnecting fabrics
- No single points of failure architecture
- Proven six nines availability
 2 x 2.5” drive slot Drive Array Enclosures (DAEs)
- VMAX 250F has 2 x 25 slot 2.5” drive,
- VMAX 450F/850F/950F have 2 x 120 slot 2.5” drive
- VMAX All Flash starter brick configuration has a set amount of usable capacity
- Additional V-Brick storage capacity is added in defined increments called “Flash Capacity Packs”,
while additional zBrick storage capacity is added in defined increments called “zCapacity Packs”.
 Up to 32 ports of front end (FE) connectivity for the VMAX 250F. Up to 24 ports for VMAX 450F/850F/
950F (32 for Mainframe)
 Up to 2 TB of Cache per brick
The following table details the various VMAX All Flash model brick specifications:
Table 2 Brick Specifications by VMAX All Flash Model

5 5
Component Specification VMAX 250F VMAX 450F VMAX 850F VMAX 950F
Floor Tile Space
System Layout Required 1 1-2 1-4 1-4
# of Bricks per System 1-2 1-4 1-8 1-8
Support for mainframe
Compute zBrick No Yes Yes Yes
Maximum # of cores per
system 96 128 384 576
512 GB, 1 TB, and 2
Cache Cache per Brick Options TB 1 TB and 2 TB
Mixed cache support Yes No No No
Maximum FE modules 8 (32 total FE ports 6 (24 total FE ports per V-Brick – open systems / mixed
per V-Brick per V-Brick) workloads)
Ports and Maximum FE modules
Modules per zBrick NA 6 – 8 (24 or 32 total FICON ports per zBrick) 1,2
Maximum FE ports per 96 (OS), 192 (OS), 192 (OS),
system 64 128 (MF) 256 (MF) 256 (MF)
Brick DAE Type and 2 x 25 slot, 2.5"
QTY (DAE25) 2 x 120 slot, 2.5"
Maximum # of drives per
system 100 960 1920 1920
Maximum open systems
effective capacity per
system 3, 4 1 PBe 2 PBe 4 PBe 4 PBe
Maximum mainframe
usable capacity per
system 3, 4 NA 800 TBu 1.7PBu 1.7 PBu
Starter Brick usable 53 TBu (OS)
Drives and
capacity 11 or 13 TBu 3 53 TBu 13 TBu (MF)
Capacity
Flash Capacity Pack
increment size 11 or 13 TBu 3 13 TBu
RAID 5 (3+1),
RAID 5 (7+1)
RAID Options RAID 6 (6+2) RAID 5 (7+1), RAID 6 (14+2)
960 GB, 1.92 TB, 960 GB, 1.92 TB,
Supported V-Brick Flash 3.84 TB, 7.68 TB, 3.84 TB, 7.68 TB,
Drive Sizes 15.36 TB 960 GB, 1.92 TB, 3.84 TB 15.36 TB
960 GB, 1.92 TB,
Supported zBrick Flash 3.84 TB, 7.68 TB,
Drives Sizes NA 960 GB, 1.92 TB, 3.84 TB 15.36 TB
(1) Default zBrick comes with 2 FICON modules. Extra FICON modules can be ordered separately
(2) A zBrick can support up to 32 FE ports if SRDF compression is not used in configuration
(3) The VMAX 250F starter V-Brick and capacity increments can be either 11 TBu (RAID 5 3+1) or 13 TBu
(RAID 6 6+2, RAID 5 7+1)
(4) Dell EMC uses PBu (and TBu) to define usable storage capacity in the absence of compression, referring
to the amount of usable physical storage in the box. Dell EMC uses PBe (and TBe) to define effective
storage capacity in the presence of compression.
(a) For example, if a customer has 50 TBu of physical storage, and it is compressible on a 2:1 basis,
then the customer has 100 TBe (effective storage).
(5) While the VMAX 450F and 850F are still part of the VMAX All Flash portfolio, they are now considered
legacy systems having been superseded by the VMAX 250F and VMAX 950F. The VMAX 450F and
VMAX 850F will be de-emphasized in 2018.
The brick concept allows VMAX All Flash to scale up and scale out. Customers can scale up by adding Flash
Capacity Packs. Each Flash Capacity Pack has a multiple of 13 TBu of usable storage for the VMAX
450F/VMAX 850F/950F models, and 11 TBu or 13 TBu for the VMAX 250F model, depending upon the RAID
protection type selected. VMAX All Flash scales out by aggregating up to two bricks for the VMAX 250F, and
up to eight bricks for the VMAX 450F/850F/950F in a single system with fully shared connectivity, processing,
and capacity resources. Scaling out a VMAX All Flash system by adding additional bricks produces a
predictable, linear performance improvement regardless of the workload.
3.1.1 Engines
The core of the brick is the engine. The engine is the central I/O processing unit, redundantly built for high
availability. It consists of redundant directors that each contain multi-core CPUs, memory modules, and attach
interfaces to universal I/O modules, such as front-end, back-end, InfiniBand, and flash I/O modules.
The communication backbone of the brick is the trusted Dynamic Virtual Matrix Architecture. Fundamentally,
the virtual matrix enables inter-director communications over redundant internal InfiniBand fabrics. The
InfiniBand fabric provides a foundation for a highly scalable, extremely low latency, and high bandwidth
backbone which is essential for an all-flash array. This capability also allows VMAX All Flash to scale up and
out.
Figure 2 VMAX All Flash Engine Director (2 per engine)
Brick Engine CPU Core Configurations

Each brick engine has two directors. Each director has dual CPU sockets that can support multi-core,
multi-threaded Intel processors. The following table details the engine CPU core layout for each VMAX All
Flash model:
Table 3 Brick Engine CPU Cores per VMAX All Flash Model
VMAX All Flash Engine CPU Type Cores per Cores per Max Cores per System
Model Director Brick
250F (V-Brick Only) Dual Intel Broadwell 12 core 24 48 96 (2 bricks max.)
450F Dual Intel Ivy Bridge 8 core 16 32 128 (4 bricks max.)
850F Dual Intel Ivy Bridge 12 core 24 48 384 (8 bricks max.)
950F Dual Intel Broadwell 18 core 36 72 576 (8 bricks max.)
The brick engine uses a core pooling mechanism which can dynamically load balance the cores by
distributing them to the front end, back end, and data services running on the engine (such as SRDF,
eNAS, and embedded management). The core pools can be dynamically tuned to shift the bias of the
pools at any time to front-end heavy or back-end heavy workloads to further optimize the solution for a
specific use case.
Aside from being able to dynamically adjust the core pools, VMAX All Flash can also implement
advanced Quality of Services (QoS), such as setting the maximum amount of IOPS for a particular
storage group. This is extremely helpful at properly managing system core consumption so that a “noisy”
virtual machine or host cannot overly consume system resources. QoS helps ensure that all connected
hosts and virtual machines receive an evenly distributed amount of resources to deliver the maximum
performance possible in terms of IOPS and throughput.
Brick Cache Configurations

Every brick director has 16 memory slots which can be populated with 32 GB and 64 GB DDR4 DIMMS to
achieve up to 1 TB cache per director (2 TB cache maximum per PowerBrick engine).
Table 4 Brick Engine Cache Configurations per VMAX All Flash Model
VMAX All Flash Model Cache per Brick Max Cache per System
250F (V- Brick Only) 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB 4 TB (2 bricks max.)
450F 1 TB or 2 TB 8 TB (4 bricks max.)
For dual-brick VMAX All Flash 250F models, the system can use engines with differing cache sizes
(mixed memory). For example, the cache for the engine on brick A can be 1 TB while the cache for the
engine for brick B can be 512 TB. This would yield a total system cache size of 1.5 TB. The difference in
cache sizes between the engines has to be one capacity size smaller or larger. Valid mixed memory
configurations for the VMAX 250F are shown in the following table:
Table 5 Supported PowerMax 2000 Mixed Cache Configurations

Mixed Cache Smallest Engine Cache Largest Engine Total System
Configuration Size Cache Size Cache
Configuration 1 512 GB 1 TB 1.5 TB
Configuration 2 1 TB 2 TB 3 TB
Note: The VMAX 450F, 850F, and 950F models do not support mixed cache sizes between engines. In
these systems, the cache size between engines must be equal.
VMAX All Flash supports Dynamic Cache Partitioning (DCP) on the system engines. DCP is a QoS
feature which allows specific amounts of cache to be set aside for particular environments such as
“production” or “development”. Another example would be the separation of cache resources for “file
data” from “block data” on systems which are using eNAS services. Being able to fence off and isolate
cache resources is a key enabler for multi-tenant environments,
PowerMaxOS
Starting in 2018, each VMAX All Flash engine comes preloaded with PowerMaxOS 5978. PowerMaxOS
is derived from the trusted and proven HYPERMAX OS used by the legacy VMAX3 and VMAX All Flash
arrays; however, PowerMaxOS has been re-written to take advantage of the NVMe architectures used by
the PowerMax family. PowerMaxOS continues to provide industry-leading high availability, I/O
management, QoS, data integrity validation, data movement, and data security within an open application
platform. Like the previous generation HYPERMAX OS, PowerMaxOS uses a real-time, non-disruptive
storage hypervisor that manages and protects embedded services by extending high availability to
services that traditionally would have run external to the array. The primary function of PowerMaxOS is to
manage the core operations performed on the array such as:
 Processing I/O from hosts

 Implementing RAID protection
 Optimizing performance by allowing direct access to hardware resources
 System Management and Monitoring
3.1.2 Drive Array Enclosures (DAE) and Drive Configurations
VMAX 250F DAEs
Each brick for the VMAX 250F comes with two 25 slot, 2.5” drive, 2U front loading DAEs along with 11
TBu of pre-configured initial capacity using RAID 5 (3+1) protection, or 13 TBu using RAID 5 (7+1) or
RAID 6 (6+2) protection. The VMAX 250F requires a minimum configuration of two (2) RAID groups.
The VMAX 250F DAE supports 12 Gb/sec SAS connectivity and requires 12 Gb/sec SAS flash drives.
Flash drives which use 6 Gb/sec SAS connectivity are not supported in the VMAX 250F. The VMAX 250F
DAE has dual-ported drive slots and dual power zones for high availability.
Figure 3 Fully populated VMAX 250F DAE
Additional scale up capacity is added to the VMAX 250F system using flash capacity pack increments of
11 TBu, scaling up to a maximum of effective capacity of 500 TBe per brick. A dual-brick VMAX 250F can
scale up to a total capacity of 1 PBe using a half rack (20 U) within a single floor tile footprint.
VMAX 450F, VMAX 850F, and VMAX 950F DAEs

Each brick for the VMAX 450F/850F/950F comes with two 120-slot, 2.5” drive, 4 U drawer DAEs. The V-
Brick comes with 53 TBu of pre-configured initial capacity that can use either RAID 5 (7+1) or RAID 6
(14+2) protection. The mainframe zBrick comes pre-configured with an initial capacity of 13 TBu for RAID
5 (7+1) or 26 TBu for RAID 6 (14+2).
Figure 4 Fully populated VMAX 450F/850F/950F Brick DAE
Each VMAX 450F, VMAX 850F, and VMAX 950F DAE uses dual-ported drive slots and four separate power
zones to eliminate any single points of failure. The VMAX 450F/850F/950F DAE layout is shown in the
diagram below:
Figure 5 VMAX 450F / 850F / 950F DAE Layout – Drive Slots and Power Zones
Additional scale up capacity is added to the system in multiples of 13 TBu increments called “Flash
Capacity Packs” for V-Bricks and “zCapacity Packs” for zBricks. The capacity pack concept allows for
considerable internal capacity growth over the lifespan of the VMAX 450F, VMAX 850F, and VMAX 950F
arrays – especially when higher capacity flash drives are used. Each VMAX 450F, VMAX 850F, and
VMAX 950F V-Brick can start small with 53 TBu of capacity. The mainframe zBrick capacity can start as
small as 13 TBu for the VMAX 950F; however, the zBrick requires 53 TBu for the VMAX 450F / 850F. As
capacity requirements grow, additional capacity can be added into the empty slots of the DAEs. This
allows for easy expansion as no extra DAEs would need to be added into the system bay. When a two-
brick VMAX 450F/ 850F/ 950F system bay is deployed with 2 TB cache engines using 2:1 compression, a
customer can have up to 1 PBe of effective flash capacity on a single floor tile while using only 500 TB of
physical storage. Using an average of 2:1 compression, the VMAX 450F system can scale to 2 PBe and
the VMAX 850F/950F systems can scale to 4 PBe.
Important notes about VMAX All Flash DAE capacity
 VMAX All Flash arrays will use a single RAID protection scheme for the entire system. The specific
protection scheme is determined by the initial usable capacity of the system. All follow-on capacity
and brick additions will use the same RAID protection scheme as the initial usable capacity
regardless of the drive size used by the additional flash capacity pack.
 Multiple flash drive sizes can co-exist within the brick DAE for all VMAX All Flash products.
 Brick RAID groups span across both DAEs
 Spare drive requirements are calculated with 1 spare per 50 drives of a particular size, on a per
engine basis.
 Mixed System VMAX 950F Notes:
- The VMAX 950F system must be “born” as a mixed system. This means that the system must be
originally ordered from the factory to support mixed workloads. For example - it cannot be
ordered specifically for open systems workloads, and then be upgraded to support mainframe
workloads at a later time, and vice-versa.
- Every engine in the mixed workload VMAX 950F will be a V-Brick with 66 TBu of initial capacity
(53 TBu for FBA and 13 TBu for CKD) and shipped with a pair of compression modules.
- The mixed VMAX 950F system will employ two SRPs – one specifically for FBA and the other
specifically for CKD. Both SRPs will use the same RAID protection scheme. Each SRP will
require its own spare drives as the mixed VMAX 950F SRPs cannot share the same spares even
if the drives in each SRP are the same size and type. The same sparing rules apply to the mixed
VMAX 950F systems as with the Open System specific and mainframe specific systems.
- The system can scale up in capacity by adding 13 TBu Flash Capacity and/or zCapacity packs.
The system can scale out by adding additional V-Bricks (up to eight in total).
3.1.3 VMAX All Flash Director and Connectivity Options

The VMAX All Flash engine architecture uses a series of hot swappable modules that plug into various slots
in the engine directors. These modules include engine cooling fans and power supplies which are accessed
via slots from the front of the engine director, along with I/O modules, management modules, and control
stations which are accessed via slots from the rear of the engine directors. The following table details the
module components used in an engine director:
Table 6 VMAX All Flash engine director components (for V-Brick, zBrick, and Mixed Systems)
Director Component Qty per Director Purpose
Power Supply 2 Provides redundant power to director
Fan 5 Provides director cooling
Management Module 1 Manage environmental functionality
The flash modules use NVMe technology to safely
store data in cache during the vaulting sequence (4 x
800 GB for VMAX 450F /850F / 950F, 3 x 400 GB or
Vault to NVMe Flash Module Up to 4 800 GB for VMAX 250F)
Provide front-end connectivity to the array. There are
different types of front-end I/O modules that allow
connectivity to various interfaces including Fibre
Channel, iSCSI, FICON, SRDF, and embedded NAS
Front-end I/O Module Up to 4 (eNAS)
Back-end SAS connection to DAEs (1 x 12 Gbps for
NVMe PCIe Back-end I/O VMAX 250F, 2 x 6 Gbps for VMAX 450F / 850F /
Module Up to 2 950F)
Performs inline data compression as well as SRDF
compression for the V-Brick. The data reduction
module performs SRDF compression only for the
Data Reduction Module 1 zBrick.
Provides connectivity between directors. In multi-
engine VMAX All Flash 450, 850, and 950 systems,
the fabric I/O modules are connected to internal
Fabric I/O Module 1 InfiniBand switches
Open Systems V-Brick

The VMAX 250F uses up to 3 pairs of Vault to NVMe Flash modules (six modules total) while the VMAX
450F /850F/950F systems use up to 4 pairs of Vault to NVMe Flash modules (eight modules total). The
extra flash module required for the VMAX 450F/850F/950F systems is due to the larger usable capacities
that these systems can scale to. The vault to flash modules usually will occupy slots 0, 1, and 6 on the
VMAX 250F V-Brick engine director while the vault to flash modules will usually occupy slots 0, 1, 6, and
7 on the VMAX 450F and VMAX 850F V-Brick engine directors.
The Data Reduction module performs all operations for the Adaptive Compression Engine (ACE) as well
SRDF compression for the VMAX All Flash systems. These operations are performed inline on the
module. This results in an offloading of the compression task to the module rather than using engine CPU
core cycles. Each V-Brick engine will use a pair of data reduction modules (one per each V-Brick
director). The compression modules are usually located in director slot 7 on the VMAX 250F and director
slot 9 on the VMAX 450F/850F/950F.
The following diagram depicts a typical director module for the VMAX 250F V-Brick engine:
Figure 6 Typical VMAX 250F V-Brick Engine Layout
Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Even
Director
Odd
Director
Vault Front-End
Empty Compression
to Flash Connectivity
Management Back-End Vault Front-End Internal
Modules Connectivity to Flash Connectivity Fabric
Note: On the VMAX 250F, director slot 5 is left empty (unused).
The following figure depicts a typical director module layout for a VMAX 450F / 850F / 950F V-Brick
engine:
Figure 7 Typical VMAX 450F / 850F / 950F V-Brick Engine Layout
Multiple supported V-Brick front-end connections are available to support several protocols and speeds.
The table below highlights the various front-end connectivity modules available to the VMAX All Flash V-
Brick:
Table 7 VMAX All Flash Open Systems V-Brick Front End Connectivity Modules
Connectivity Type Module Type Number of Mix With Supported Speeds
Ports Protocols (Gbps)
Fibre Channel 8 Gbps FC 4 SRDF 2/4/8
Fibre Channel 16 Gbps FC 4 SRDF 2 / 8 / 16
SRDF 10 GigE 4 iSCSI 10
SRDF GigE 2 None 1
iSCSI 10 GigE 4 SRDF 10
Cloud Array (CA) 8 Gbps FC 4 FC, SRDF 2/4/8
eNAS 10 GigE 2 None 10
eNAS 10 GigE (Copper) 2 None 10
eNAS Tape Backup 8 Gbps FC 4 None 2/4/8
Mainframe zBrick
For the mainframe zBrick, engine cooling fans and power supplies can be accessed from the front, while
the I/O modules, management modules, and control stations can be accessed from the rear. Since the
number of universal I/O modules used in the zBrick engine depends on the customer’s required
functionality, some slots can remain unused.
The zBrick supports FICON and SRDF front-end connectivity. The table below highlights the various
front-end connectivity modules available to the VMAX All Flash zBrick:
Table 8 VMAX All Flash mainframe zBrick Front End Connectivity Modules
Connectivity Type Module Type Number of Mix With Supported
Ports Protocols Speeds (Gbps)
FICON 16 Gbps FICON 4 Single / Multi Mode 4 / 8 / 16
SRDF 16 Gbps Fibre 4 None 4 / 8 / 16
Channel
SRDF 8 Gbps Fibre 4 None 4/4/8
Channel
SRDF 10 GigE 4 None 10
SRDF GigE 2 None 1
Note: The VMAX 250F does not support mainframe workloads.
The quantity of zBrick front-end ports scales to a maximum of 32 when SRDF is not being used. When
SRDF is used in the configuration, one of the front end slots is taken by the SRDF compression module
on each engine director. This limits the number of available zBrick front end ports to 24. By default, each
zBrick comes with two FICON modules.
When SRDF is used in the configuration, each zBrick will use a pair of data reduction modules which only
perform SRDF compression (one per each zBrick director). The SRDF compression modules are usually
located in engine director slot 9 on the VMAX 450F / 850F / 950F.
The following figure depicts a typical VMAX 450F / 850F / 950F zBrick engine that is configured for SRDF:
Figure 8 Typical VMAX 450F / 850F / 950F zBrick Engine Layout with SRDF
When SRDF is not used in the zBrick configuration, a front end module can be placed into slot 9 providing additional front
end connectivity. The following diagram shows a typical non-SRDF zBrick engine configuration:
Figure 9 Typical VMAX 450F / 850F / 950F zBrick Engine Layout without SRDF
Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Even
Director
Odd
Director
Back-End
Vault to Flash Vault to Flash
Connectivity
Management Front-End Front-End Internal
Modules Connectivity Connectivity Fabric
The VMAX 450F / 850F / 950F systems use up to of four pairs NVMe vault to flash modules. The extra
flash module pair is required due to the larger usable capacities available in these systems. The NVMe
vault to flash modules will usually occupy slots 0, 1, 6, and 7 on the zBrick engine directors.
Mixed open systems and mainframe (VMAX 950F only)

Mixed Open Systems and mainframe workloads are allowed only on the VMAX 950F systems, which
have specific configuration requirements for the support of mixed workloads:
 The mixed VMAX 950F system must be “born” as a mixed system. This means that the system must
be originally ordered from the factory to support mixed workloads. It cannot be ordered specifically for
Open Systems workloads, and then be upgraded to support mainframe workloads at a later time, and
vice-versa.
 Every engine in the mixed workload VMAX 950F must be a V-Brick with 66 TBu of initial capacity (53
TBu for FBA and 13 TBu for CKD) and must be shipped with a pair compression modules.
 The mixed VMAX 950F system uses two SRPs – one specifically for FBA and the other specifically
for CKD. Both SRPs use the same RAID protection scheme. Each SRP requires its own spare drives
as the mixed VMAX 950F SRPs cannot share the same spares even if the drives in each SRP are the
same size and type. The same sparing rules apply to the mixed VMAX 950F systems as with the
Open System-specific and mainframe-specific systems.
 The system can scale up in capacity by adding 13 TBu Flash Capacity and/or zCapacity packs. The
system can scale out by adding additional V-Bricks (up to eight in total).
 The system requires a consistent software packaging leve l (F and zF or FX and zFX).
The front end connectivity options for the mixed-system VMAX 950F incorporate the connectivity options
for both V-Bricks and zBricks, even though it is a V-Brick engine. The mixed system engine requires four
pairs of NVMe vault to flash modules, typically occupying slots 0, 1, 6, and 7 on each engine director. The
data reduction modules will occupy slot 9 on each director. This leaves slots 2, 3, and 8 available for I/O
modules on the mixed system V-Brick. Any supported open system or mainframe I/O module can be used
in these slots. An example mixed VMAX 950F configuration is shown in the diagram below:
Figure 10 Possible mixed system VMAX 950F V-Brick Engine Layout
3.2 Streamlined Software Packaging
VMAX All Flash arrays are built for simplicity and ease of ordering, with appliance-based packaging that
combines both hardware and software elements. VMAX All Flash offers two open systems packages called
the “F Software Package” and the “FX Software Package”. Details are provided below.
Two mainframe-specific software packages are offered with the VMAX All Flash arrays that support
mainframe. These mainframe software packages are called the “zF Software Package” and “the zFX
Software Package”. Details are provided below.
3.2.1 VMAX All Flash Open System Software Packaging

In order to simplify the software ordering and management processes, VMAX All Flash offers two different
software packages for the VMAX 250F / 450F / 850F / 950F in open systems environments.
The first option is known as the “F package” which can be considered a starter package. The F package
includes PowerMaxOS, Embedded Management, SnapVX and an AppSync starter pack. Any software title
supported on VMAX All Flash can be added to the F package as a separate software addition. The VMAX All
Flash models that use the F package are the VMAX 250F, VMAX 450F, VMAX 850F, and the VMAX 950F.
The second option – the more encompassing package – is known as the “FX package”. The FX package
includes everything t in the F package plus SRDF/S, SRDF/A, SRDF/STAR, SRDF/Metro, CloudArray
Enabler, D@RE, eNAS, Unisphere 360 and ViPR Suite. The FX is priced to offer a bundled discount over an
equivalent F option which has many a la carte titles as additions. Customers can add any title supported on
VMAX All Flash to the FX in an a la carte fashion as well, including ProtectPoint, the full AppSync suite, and
Dell EMC Storage Analytics. VMAX All Flash models that use the FX package are the VMAX 250FX, VMAX
450FX, VMAX 850FX, and the VMAX 950FX. The following table details what software is included in each
VMAX All Flash package.
Table 9 VMAX All Flash Systems Software Packaging Options
F Package F Package a FX Package FX Package a

Feature Included la Carte Included la Carte Notes
Includes Migration Tools, VVOLS, Service
PowerMaxOS   Levels, QoS 3
Includes Unisphere for PowerMax, Database
Storage Analyzer, Solutions Enabler, REST
Embedded Management   APIs, SMI-S
Advanced Data Reduction   Includes inline compression and deduplication
Local Replication   Includes Timefinder SnapVX
AppSync Starter Pack  
Remote Replication Suite 1
  Includes SRDF/S/A/STAR
SRDF/Metro 1
 
Unisphere 360  
D@RE 2  
eNAS 1, 2  
ViPR SRM  
PowerPath   Includes 75 host licenses
AppSync Advanced  
ProtectPoint  
RecoverPoint  
Dell EMC Storage
Analytics  
(1) Software packages include software licensing. Required hardware must be ordered separately.
(2) Factory configured. Must be enabled during the ordering process.
(3) Includes host I/O limits.
3.2.2 VMAX All Flash mainframe Software Packaging

Software for mainframe support comes in two packages:
 zF – the basic package

 zFX– a larger bundle with more advanced features
Additionally, many software features for mainframe can be ordered separately. The packages are
different from the standard all-flash packages and represent the core functionalities used by the
mainframe customer. The following table highlights the VMAX All Flash for mainframe software
packaging:
Table 10 VMAX All Flash mainframe Software Packaging Options (not available for VMAX 250F)
zF Package zF Package a zFX Package zFX Package a

Feature Included la Carte Included la Carte Notes
PowerMaxOS   Includes Migration Tools, QoS
Includes Unisphere for PowerMax,
Database Storage Analyzer, Solutions
Embedded Management   Enabler, REST APIs, SMI-S
Local Replication   Includes Timefinder SnapVX
Includes Compatible High Performance
FICON (zHPF) and Compatible PAV
Mainframe Essentials   (Dynamic, Hyper, and SuperPAV) support
1,
Remote Replication Suite
3
  Includes SRDF/S/A/STAR
Unisphere 360  
AutoSwap  
D@RE 2  
zDP  
Mainframe Essentials Plus   zBoost PAV Optimizer
GDDR 3
 
(1) Software packages include software licensing. Any additional required hardware must be ordered
separately.
(2) Factory configured. Must be enabled during the ordering process.
(3) Use of SRDF/STAR for mainframe requires GDDR.
Note: For mixed open systems and mainframe configurations, the VMAX All Flash array requires a
consistent software packaging level (F and zF or FX and zFX).
3.3 Flash Optimization

All-flash-based storage systems demand the highest levels of performance and resiliency from the enterprise
storage platforms that support them. The foundation of a true all-flash array is an architecture which can fully
leverage the aggregated performance of modern high density flash drives while maximizing t heir useful life.
VMAX All Flash has several features built into the architecture specifically designed to maximize flash drive
performance and longevity. This section will discuss these features in detail.
3.3.1 Cache Architecture and Caching Algorithms

VMAX All Flash is built upon a very large, high-speed DRAM cache based architecture, driven by highly
complex and optimized algorithms. These algorithms accelerate data access by avoiding physical access to
the back end whenever possible. Dell EMC has spent many years developing and optimizing caching
algorithms. The cache algorithms used by VMAX All Flash optimize reads and writes to maximize I/Os
serviced from cache and minimize access to back-end flash drives. The system also monitors I/O patterns
and proactively populates cache based on access to increase the chances of cache hits.
Some of the techniques used by the cache algorithms to minimize disk access are:
 100% of host writes are cached

 More than 50% of reads are cached
 Recent data is held in cache for long periods, as that is the data most likely to be requested again
 Intelligent algorithms de-stage in a sequential manner
3.3.2 Understanding Flash Cell Endurance
Write cache management is essential to improving performance, but it is also a key part of how VMAX All
Flash helps extend the endurance of flash drives. Flash drive longevity and endurance are most impacted by
writes, particularly small block random writes. Writing to a flash cell requires that the cell is first erased of any
old data and then programmed with the new data. This process is called the Program and Erase Cycle (P/E
Cycle). Each flash cell has a finite number of P/E Cycles that it can endure before it wears out (can no longer
hold data). Most modern flash cells can endure several thousand P/E Cycles.
One of the peculiarities of flash is that writes are spread out across a flash page (typically KBs in size);
however, prior to the write operation, the existing data in entire flash block (typically MBs in size) that the
page is located in must be erased. Prior to erasing the page, the flash controller chip finds an empty (erased)
location on the drive and copies (writes) any existing data from the page to that location. Because of how
flash writes data, a simple 4 KB write from a host could result in many times that amount of data being written
internally on the drive, causing P/E cycling on a large number of cells. This write-multiplying effect is called
“write amplification” and is detrimental to flash cell endurance. This effect is even more dramatic with small
block random write workloads. In this situation, a large number of small block random writes tends to
“buckshot” across the drive, impacting an even greater number of cells and invoking P/E cycling on a much
larger cell area. Write amplification is not nearly as significant with larger sequential writes as this data is
written sequentially local to a single flash block, thereby aligning better with flash page sizes and containing
the P/E cycling to a smaller area.
3.3.3 VMAX All Flash Write Amplification Reduction

Write amplification must be properly controlled and mitigated in order to ensure the longevity of flash devices
as uncontrolled write amplification is the number one reason for premature wear out of flash storage.
Controlling flash cell write amplification is one of VMAX All Flash’s greatest strengths and is what sets it truly
apart from other competitors’ flash arrays. Aside from using intelligent caching algorithms that keep data in
cache as long as possible, VMAX All Flash employs additional methods to minimize the amount of writes to
flash. These methods are:
 Write folding – Write folding avoids unnecessary drive I/Os when hosts re-write to a particular
address range. This re-written data is simply replaced in cache and never written to the flash drive.
Write folding can reduce writes to the flash drives by up to 50%.
 Write coalescing – Write coalescing merges subsequent small random writes from different times
into one large sequential write. These larger writes to the flash drives align much better with the page
sizes within the flash drive itself. Using write coalescing, VMAX All Flash can take a highly random
write host I/O workload and make it appear as a sequential write workload to the flash drives.
 Advanced wear analytics - VMAX All Flash also includes advanced drive wear analytics optimized
for high capacity flash drives to make sure writes are distributed across the entire flash pool to
balance the load and avoid excessive writes and wear to particular drives. Not only does this help
manage the flash drives in the storage pools, it makes it easy to add and rebalance additional storage
into the system.
All of the write amplification reduction techniques used by VMAX All Flash result in a significant reduction in
writes to the back-end, which in turn significantly increases the longevity of the flash drives used in the array.
3.3.4 Boosting Flash Performance with PowerMaxOS FlashBoost
Dell EMC strives to improve performance in its products. With every new hardware platform and release of
software, we try to remove potential bottlenecks that can impede performance. One feature that Dell EMC
introduced and has made standard as a part of PowerMaxOS is FlashBoost, which maximizes PowerMaxOS
efficiency by servicing read requests directly from the back-end flash drives. This approach eliminates steps
required for processing I/O through global cache and reduces the latency for reads, particularly for flash
drives. Customers with heavy read miss workloads residing on flash can see up to 100% greater IOPS
performance.
3.4 Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS)

VMAX All Flash arrays are based on a revolutionary design and include key enhancements that improve the
reliability, availability, and serviceability of the new systems – ideal choices for critical applications and 24x7
environments demanding uninterrupted access to information.
VMAX All Flash systems use components that have a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) of several
hundred thousand to millions of hours for a minimal component failure rate. A redundant design allows
systems to remain online and operational during component repair. All critical components are fully
redundant, including director boards, global memory, internal data paths, power supplies, battery backup, and
all NVMe back-end components. Periodically, the system tests all components. PowerMaxOS reports errors
and environmental conditions to the host system as well as to the Customer Support Center.
PowerMaxOS validates the integrity of data at every possible point during the lifetime of the data. From the
point at which data enters an array, the data is continuously protected by error detection metadata. This
protection metadata is checked by hardware and software mechanisms any time data is moved within the
subsystem, allowing the array to provide true end-to-end integrity checking and protection against hardware
or software faults.
The protection metadata is appended to the data stream, and contains information describing the expected
data location as well as CRC representation of the actual data contents. The expected values to be found in
protection metadata are stored persistently in an area separate from the data stream. The protection
metadata is used to validate the logical correctness of data being moved within the array any time the data
transitions between protocol chips, internal buffers, internal data fabric endpoints, system cache, and system
disks.
PowerMaxOS supports Industry standard T10 Data Integrity Field (DIF) block cyclic redundancy code (CRC)
for track formats. For open systems, this enables host generated DIF CRCs to be stored with user data and
used for end-to-end data integrity validation. Additional protections for address/control fault modes are
defined in user definable blocks supported by the T10 standard, with address and write status information in
the extra bytes in the application tag and reference tag portions of the block CRC.
VMAX All Flash’s industry leading reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) make it the ideal platform for
environments requiring always-on availability. These arrays are designed to provide six nines of availability in
the most demanding, mission-critical environments. Some of the key VMAX All Flash RAS features are
summarized below:
 No single points of failure – all components are fully redundant to withstand any component failure
 Completely redundant and hot-pluggable field-replaceable units (FRUs) to ensure repair without
taking the system offline
 Choice of RAID 5 or RAID 6 deployment options to provide the highest level of protection as desired
 Mirrored cache, where the copies of cache entries are distributed to maximize availability
 PowerMaxOS Flash Drive Endurance Monitoring – The nature of flash drives is that their NAND flash
cells can be written to a finite number of times. This is referred to as flash drive endurance and is
reported by drive firmware as a “percentage of life used”. PowerMaxOS periodically collects and
monitors this information and uses it to trigger alerts back to Dell EMC Customer Support when a
particular drive is nearing its end of useful life.
 Vault to flash with battery backup to allow for cache de-stage to flash and an orderly shutdown for
data protection in the event of a power failure
 Active-active remote replication via SRDF/Metro with read/write access to both Site A and Site B
ensures instant data access during a site failure.
 Fully non-disruptive upgrades, including loading PowerMaxOS software from small updates to major
releases
 Continuous system monitoring, call-home notification, and advanced remote diagnostics
 Data at Rest Encryption (D@RE) with integrated RSA key manager, FIPS 140-2 compliant to meet
stringent regulatory requirements
 T10 DIF data coding, with extensions for protection against lost writes
 Detailed failure mode effects analysis (FMEA) during design of each component to ensure failure
conditions can be handled gracefully
 Extensive fault detection and isolation, allowing early wear-out detection and preventing the passing
of bad data as good
 Service defined and scripted to ensure success, including color-coded cabling, cable positioning,
scripted steps, and checks of key parameters in those scripts
 All-flash cache data vault capable of surviving two key failures, ensuring that the system comes back
even when something has failed before the vault and something else fails when returning from the
power cycle
 Support for thermal excursions with graceful shutdown if, for example, a datacenter loses air
conditioning
 Integrated data protection via Dell EMC ProtectPoint backup and rapid restore, combining the gold
standards in backup with industry leading SRDF replication technology
Note: For more information on VMAX All Flash RAS capabilities, please see the Dell EMC VMAX All Flash
Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability Technical Note
3.5 Data Services

VMAX All Flash Data Services are processes that help protect, manage, and move customer data on the
array. These services run natively, embedded inside the VMAX All Flash itself using the PowerMaxOS
hypervisor to provide a resource abstraction layer. This allows the data services to share pooled resources
(CPU cores, cache, and bandwidth) within the array itself. Doing this optimizes performance across the entire
system and also reduces complexity in the environment as resources (system cache, CPU cores, and outside
appliances) do not need to be dedicated. Some of the most sought-after data services that are offered with
the VMAX All Flash product line are:
 Advanced data reduction using inline compression

 Remote replication with SRDF
 Local replication with TimeFinder SnapVX
 Embedded NAS (eNAS)
 eManagement – embedded Unisphere for PowerMax
3.5.1 Data Reduction using the Adaptive Compression Engine (ACE)

VMAX All Flash employs inline hardware compression using the Adaptive Compression Engine (ACE). ACE
provides VMAX All Flash and its customers with a data reduction method which delivers the highest space
saving capability with negligible performance impact.. The following design factors make the Dell EMC
Adaptive Compression Engine unique in the industry:
 Intelligent compression algorithms - Intelligent compression algorithms determine the best

compression ratios to be used and provide the ability to dynamically modify storage backend layout
for the highest data compression efficiencies.
 Inline hardware data compression - Inline hardware data compression greatly reduces the
compression function from consuming critical VMAX All Flash system core resources.
 Activity based compression - Activity Based Compression (ABC) focuses the compression function
on the least busy data in the system, while allowing the busiest (hot) data in the system to bypass the
compression workflow. This ensures that all data in the system will receive the appropriate
compression focus while maintaining optimal response time.
 Fine grain data packing - Fine grain data packing includes a zero reclaim function that prevents the
allocation of buffers with all zeros or no actual data.
The Adaptive Compression Engine is available to all open systems PowerMax and VMAX All Flash customers
at no additional charge. ACE is not currently supported for mainframe environments.
3.5.2 Remote Replication with SRDF

SRDF is perhaps the most popular data service in the enterprise datacenter because it is considered a gold
standard for remote replication. Up to 70% of Fortune 500 companies use this tool to replicate their critical
data to geographically dispersed datacenters throughout the world. SRDF offers customers the ability
replicate tens of thousands of volumes to a maximum of four different locations globally.
VMAX All Flash runs an enhanced version of SRDF specific for all-flash use cases. This version uses multi-
core, multi-threading techniques to boost performance; and powerful write folding algorithms to greatly reduce
replication bandwidth requirements along with source and target array back-end writes to flash.
There are three types of SRDF:
 SRDF Synchronous (SRDF/S) – SRDF/S delivers zero data loss remote mirroring between
datacenters separated by up to 60 miles (100 km).
 SRDF Asynchronous (SRDF/A) – SRDF/A delivers asynchronous remote data replication between
datacenters up to 8000 miles (12875 km) apart. SRDF/A can be used to support three or four site
topologies as required by the world’s most mission-critical applications.
 SRDF/Metro – SRDF/Metro delivers active-active high availability for non-stop data access and
workload mobility within a datacenter, or between datacenters separated by up to 60 miles (100 km).
SRDF/Metro allows for storage array clustering, enabling even more resiliency, agility, and data
mobility. SRDF/Metro allows hosts or host clusters access to LUNs replicated between two different
sites. The hosts can see both views of the Metro Replicated LUN (R1 and R2), but it appears to the
host OS as if it were the same LUN. The host can then write to both the R1 and R2 devices
simultaneously. This use case accounts for automated recovery and the seamless failover of
applications thus avoiding recovery scenarios altogether. Other key features of SRDF Metro are:
- It provides concurrent access of LUNS /storage groups for non-stop data access and higher
availability across metro distances
- It delivers simpler and seamless data mobility
- It supports stretch clustering which is ideal for Microsoft and VMware environments
SRDF software is included in the VMAX All Flash FX and zFX software packages, with no capacity-based
licensing. It can be ordered a la carte as an addition to the F and zF software packages. Any hardware
needed to support SRDF must be purchased separately.
3.5.3 Local Replication with TimeFinder SnapVX

Every VMAX All Flash array comes with the local replication data service Timefinder SnapVX which is
included as part of the Essentials and zEssentials packages. SnapVX creates very low-impact snapshots.
SnapVX supports up to 256 snapshots per source volume and up to 16 million snapshots per array. Users
can assign names to identify their snapshots, and they can set automatic expiration dates on each snapshot.
SnapVX provides the ability to manage consistent point-in-time copies for storage groups with a single
operation. Up to 1,024 target volumes can be linked per source volume, providing read/write access as
pointers or full-copy clones.
Local replication with SnapVX starts out as efficiently as possible by creating a snapshot: a pointer-based
structure that preserves a point-in-time view of a source volume. Snapshots do not require target volumes,
share back-end allocations with the source volume and other snapshots of the source volume, and only
consume additional space when the source volume is changed. A single source volume can have up to 256
snapshots.
Each snapshot has a user-defined name and can optionally have an expiration date, both of which can be
modified later. New management interfaces provide the user with the ability to take a snapshot of an entire
Storage Group with a single command.
A point-in-time snapshot can be accessed by linking it to a host-accessible volume referred to as a target.

The target volumes are standard thin LUNs. Up to 1,024 target volumes can be linked to the snapshot(s) of a
single source volume. This limit can be achieved either by linking all 1 ,024 target volumes to the same
snapshot from the source volume, or by linking multiple target volumes to multiple snapshots from the same
source volume. However, a target volume can only be linked to one snapshot at a time.
By default, targets are linked in a no-copy mode. This no-copy linked target functionality greatly reduces the
amount of writes to the back-end flash drives because this eliminates the need to perform a full volume copy
of the source volume during the unlink operation in order to use the target volume for host I /O. This saves the
back-end flash devices from enduring a large amount of write activity during the unlink operation, further
reducing potential write amplification on the VMAX All Flash array.
3.5.4 Consolidation of Block and File Storage Using eNAS

eNAS data service extends the value of VMAX All Flash to file storage by enabling customers to leverage vital
enterprise features including flash level performance for both block and file storage, as well as simplify
management, and reduce deployment costs by up to 33%. VMAX All Flash with the eNAS data service
becomes a unified block and file platform, using a multi-controller, transaction NAS solution. It is designed for
customers requiring hyper consolidation for block storage combined with moderate capacity, high
performance file storage in mission-critical environments. Common eNAS use cases include running Oracle
on NFS, VMware on NFS, Microsoft SQL on SMB 3.0, home directories, and Windows server consolidation.
Embedded NAS (eNAS) uses the hypervisor provided in PowerMaxOS to create and run a set of virtual
machines within the VMAX All Flash array. These virtual machines host two major elements of eNAS:
software data movers and control stations. The embedded data movers and control stations have access to
shared system resource pools so that they can evenly consume VMAX All Flash resources for both
performance and capacity.
Aside from performance and consolidation, some of the benefits that VMAX All Flash with eNAS can provide
to a customer are:
 Scalability – easily serve over 6000 active SMB connections

 Meta-data logging file system ideally suited for an all-flash environment
 Built-in asynchronous file level remote replication with File Replicator
 Integration with SRDF/S
 Small attack surface – not vulnerable to viruses targeted at general purpose operating systems
The eNAS data service is included in the FX software package. It can be ordered as an additional item with
the F software package. All hardware required to support eNAS on VMAX All Flash must be purchased
separately.
3.5.5 Embedded Management (eManagement) using Unisphere for PowerMax

VMAX All Flash customers can take advantage of simplified array management using embedded Unisphere
for PowerMax. Unisphere for PowerMax is an HTML5-based management interface that allows IT managers
to maximize productivity by dramatically reducing the time required to provision, ma nage, and monitor VMAX
All Flash storage assets.
Embedded Unisphere enables customers to simplify management, reduce cost, and increase availability by
running VMAX All Flash management software directly on the array. Embedded management is configured in
the factory to ensure minimal setup time on site. The feature runs as a container on a director, eliminating the
need for a customer to allocate their own equipment to manage their arrays. Aside from Unisphere, other key
elements of the eManagement data service include Solutions Enabler, Database Storage Analyzer, and SMI-
S management software.
Unisphere for PowerMax delivers the simplification, flexibility, and automation required to accelerate the
transformation to the all-flash datacenter. For customers who frequently build up and tear down storage
configurations, Unisphere for PowerMax makes reconfiguring the array even easier by reducing the number
of steps required to delete and repurpose volumes. With VMAX All Flash, storage provisioning to a host or
virtual machine is performed with a simple four-step process using the default Diamond class storage service
level. This ensures that all applications will receive sub-ms response times. Using Unisphere for PowerMax,
a customer can set up a multi-site SRDF configuration in a matter of minutes.
Embedded Unisphere for PowerMax is a great way to manage a single VMAX All Flash array; however, for
customers who need to view and manage their entire datacenter, Dell EMC offers Unisphere 360. Unisphere
360 software aggregates and monitors up to 200 PowerMax, VMAX All Flash, and legacy VMAX arrays
across a single datacenter. This solution is a great option for customers running multiple PowerMax and
VMAX All Flash arrays with embedded management (eManagement) who are looking for ways to facilitate
better insights across their entire datacenter. Unisphere 360 provides storage administrators the ability to
view site-level health reports for every PowerMax, VMAX All Flash, and legacy system VMAX or coordinate
compliance to code levels and other infrastructure maintenance requirements. Customers can leverage the
simplification of VMAX All Flash management, at datacenter scale.
Embedded Unisphere and Database Storage Analyzer are ava ilable on every VMAX All Flash array as they
are included in the F and zF software packages. Unisphere 360 is included in the FX and zFX software
packages, or can be ordered separately with the F and zF software packages. Unisphere 360 does not run in
an embedded environment and requires additional customer supplied server hardware.
3.5.6 PowerMaxOS Service Levels and Host I/O Limits

Service Levels for PowerMaxOS provide customers with the ability to separate applications based on
performance requirements and business importance. PowerMaxOS will give the ability to set specified
Service Levels to ensure the highest priority application response times are not impacted by lower priority
application IOPs.
Service Levels address the requirements of customers to insure the applications have a predictable, and
consistent, level of performance while running on the array. The available Service Levels are defined in
PowerMaxOS and can be applied to an application’s storage group at any time. This allows for the Storage
Administrator to set the initial, as well as, change the performance level of an application as needed. A
Service Level can be applied to a storage group using the PowerMax management tools (Unisphere for
PowerMax, REST API, Solutions Enabler, and SMIS-S).
Service Levels can be used along with Host I/O Limits to make application performance more predictable
while enforcing a specified service level. Setting Host I/O Limits allows a user to define front end port
performance limits on a storage group. These front end limits can be set by IOPs, host MB per host, or a
combination of both. Host I/O Limits can be set on storage group that has a specified Service Level to throttle
IOPs on applications that are exceeding expected Service Level desired performance.
There are six PowerMaxOS service levels to choose from:
Table 11 PowerMaxOS Service Levels

Service Level Expected Average Penalizes
Response Time(1)
Diamond (Highest .6 ms Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze
Priority)
Platinum .8 ms Gold, Silver, Bronze
Gold 1 ms Silver, Bronze
Silver 3.6 ms Bronze
Bronze (lowest Priority) 7.2 ms
Optimized (3) -
(1) Diamond, Platinum, and Gold service levels have an upper limit but no lower limit, ensuring IO
will be serviced as fast as possible. Silver and Bronze service levels have both an upper and lower limit
designed to allow higher priority IOPs to be unaffected. Storage groups that are set to Optimized will be
throttled to allow high priority IOPS on all service levels with the exception of Bronze.
Note: For more information on PowerMaxOS Service Levels, see the Dell EMC PowerMaxOS Service
Level White Paper
PowerMaxOS Service Levels and Host IO Limits are available at no additional cost for both PowerMax
systems and VMAX All Flash systems which are running PowerMaxOS 5978.
3.5.7 VMAX Non-Disruptive Migration (NDM)

Data migrations have always been challenging in an enterprise environment. The complexity and size of very
large storage environments makes planning for, scheduling, and executing migrations extremely difficult.
Migrations also often involve applications that cannot be taken offline, even briefly, for cutover to a new
storage array. Dell EMC’s VMAX Non-Disruptive Migration, or NDM, allows customers to perform online open
systems data migrations that are simple and completely non-disruptive to the host and application.
NDM is available for VMAX All Flash storage arrays running HYPERMAX OS 5977 Q3 2016 Service Release
or later and Solutions Enabler 8.3 or later. NDM is designed to help automate the process of migrating hosts
and applications to a new VMAX3 or VMAX All Flash array with no downtime. Non-Disruptive Migration
leverages VMAX SRDF replication technologies to move the application data to the new array. It also uses
VMAX auto-provisioning, in combination with PowerPath or a supported host multi-pathing solution, to
manage host access to the data during the migration process.
NDM offers these benefits:
 Allows migration from VMAX to VMAX3 or VMAX All Flash with hosts and applications completely
online
 Designed for ease of use with control operations that automate the setup and configuratio n of the
migration environment
 Managed by familiar and simple user interfaces via Solutions Enabler and Unisphere
 Migrations can be easily cancelled and failed back to the source array for any reason prior to commit
 Completely built in and requires no additional software or licensing costs
Notes:
Migrations should take place during low I/O activity to minimize performance impact.
NDM currently does not support mainframe CKD devices
3.6 The Dell EMC Future-Proof Storage Loyalty Program

The Dell EMC Future-Proof Storage Loyalty Program gives customers additional peace of mind with
guaranteed satisfaction and investment protection for future technology changes. This program includes the
entire Dell EMC Storage Portfolio including the flagship PowerMax, VMAX All Flash, XtremIO X2, SC Series,
Dell EMC Unity, Data Domain, Integrated Data Protection Appliance (IDPA), Isilon, and Elastic Cloud Storage
(ECS) appliance. This program provides Dell EMC customers with the following benefits:
 Full Portfolio Program:

- 3 Year Satisfaction Guarantee – Dell EMC guarantees 3 years of storage and data protection
appliance satisfaction
- Hardware Investment Protection – Trade in existing or competitive systems for credit towards
next generation Dell EMC storage, data protection appliances, or HCI product offerings
- Predictable Support Pricing – consistent and predictable maintenance pricing and services for
your storage appliances
 Select Storage Program Offers – specific to VMAX All Flash

- 4:1 All Flash Storage Efficiency Guarantee – Get effective logical capacity at least 4X the
purchased physical capacity
- Never-Worry Data Migrations – Use built-in data migration tools with seamless upgrades to move
to next generation storage
- All-Inclusive Software with the FX and zFX packages
-
For more information about the Dell EMC Future Proof Storage Loyalty Program, contact Dell EMC sales.
4 VMAX All Flash Deployment Models
The Dell EMC VMAX All Flash family is designed to offer customers a flexible all-flash storage platform that
provides industry leading IOPS density per system in a one to four floor tile footprint. This section describes
the deployable system layouts for the VMAX All Flash systems. It does not discuss available drive
configurations and system usable capacities as these topics were previously discussed in the DAE overview
section of this document.
4.1 VMAX 250F System Configurations

The VMAX 250F is the entry point into the VMAX All Flash family. It is ideally suited for customers with
modest capacity requirements who still want to take advantage of the enterprise capabilities of VMAX All
Flash at mid-range prices.
4.1.1 VMAX 250F Configurations

The VMAX 250F can be configured using either one or two V-Bricks in a single standard Dell EMC Titan rack.
Each V-Brick consumes 10 U of rack space (20 U maximum for dual V-Brick VMAX 250F systems). The initial
V-Brick will occupy the bottom 10 U of the rack when shipped from Dell EMC manufacturing. The second V-
Brick will occupy the 10 U directly above the initial V-Brick. This is applicable for systems ordered as dual V-
Bricks or scale out systems. The remaining rack space can be occupied by an additional VMAX 250F system
or by customer hardware such as servers and switches. The VMAX 250F does not feature a system tray,
KVM, or internal Ethernet or InfiniBand switches. It uses direct InfiniBand connections between engines on
dual PowerBrick systems
Figure 11 Single and Dual V-Brick VMAX 250F configurations
Starter V-Brick Dual V-Brick

System Bay System Bay
V-Brick B
20 U
V-Brick DAEs
2 x 25 slot, 2.5"
10 U V-Brick A
V-Brick Engine
System Power
Supplies
.
Note: The VMAX 250F supports the use of third party racking. The third party rack must be a standard
NEMA 19-inch rack and meet Dell EMC standards for cable access and cooling. For more information about
supported VMAX 250F third party racking options see the Dell EMC VMAX All Flash Site Planning Guide
4.2 Converged Infrastructures using the VMAX 250F

Due to the small maximum footprint of 20 U per system, the rack that houses the VMAX 250F can be used to
house additional hardware such as Dell network switches and Dell servers. This allows customers to use the
VMAX 250F as a building block to create true Dell “converged” infrastructures.
By definition, a converged infrastructure is an approach to datacenter management that packages compute,

networking, storage, and hardware virtualization into an integrated solution. These converged solutions are
typically spun into scalable reference architectures for larger enterprise applications such as Oracle, SAP,
and Microsoft’s SQL Server, Exchange, and SharePoint. One of the primary benefits of converged solutions is
that they provide much simpler management because the storage, compute, networking, and virtualization
can be automated and managed using far fewer interfaces. Also, all of the system components typically come
from a single vendor; therefore the components have much higher degrees of integration than disparate off-
the-shelf components from multiple vendors. The increased integration and simpler management of the
hardware ultimately leads to lower operating costs –the primary reason for customers to deploy converged
infrastructure solutions.
4.2.1 Better Together

By using the VMAX 250F with Dell switches, Dell PowerEdge Servers, and VMware to create a converged
solution, customers can take advantage of Dell’s “better together” philosophy. The “better together”
philosophy is a series of initiatives underway at Dell in which Dell storage, servers, and networking integrate
together as seamlessly as possible. This allows customers to choose products from the expansive Dell
portfolio and have the confidence that when put together as a solution, the components will work together
well.
One of these initiatives is producing a series of converged solutions specifically tailored for mission-critical
applications. These solutions are called “Ready Bundles”. With the Ready Bundles, Dell EMC engineering
has pre-validated the interoperability, integration, stability, performance, and optimization of the entire solution
for the application. Customers using Ready Bundle solutions are deploying their mission-critical applications
on a proven, pre-validated, documented platform which enables faster time-to-value.
4.2.2 Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle

Oracle databases play a critical role in today’s enterprises, handling massive amounts of data and
transactions that produce revenue and drive business insights. In recent years, virtualization has enabled
consolidation of database workloads, simplifying management and giving database administrators (DBAs) the
flexibility to mix online analytics processing (OLAP), online transaction processing (OLTP), and testing and
development (test/dev) workloads on the same infrastructure. While virtualization is a proven strategy for
consolidating databases, it can present unique challenges. Resource contention and lost connections c an put
critical database application performance and availability at risk. Hardware that isn’t optimized for virtualized
Oracle environments can lead to costly server and storage sprawl. Finally, managing Oracle databases is
complex, often consuming too much of a DBA’s time.
The Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle was designed to answer these challenges. This purpose-built solution
can support production OLAP and OLTP applications as well as test/dev environments at the same time
without sacrificing performance or storage space. With these Oracle databases and other applications
existing together and functioning optimally, customers gain a host of benefits, including:
 Safeguard availability – The Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle supports both production OLAP
and OLTP along with test/dev environments in a single virtualized environment. The high availability
(HA) architecture and design built at every component of the solution eliminates single points of
failure and provides flexibility for planned maintenance downtime.
 Increased efficiency – The Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle offers a lower purchase price than
other engineered solutions for Oracle on the market. In addition, the massive over-provisioning typical
of databases creates tremendous consolidation potential. With server consolidation, not only are
hardware footprints reduced, but the costs for expensive database licenses are also reduced. The
Dell EMC Ready Bundle with efficient VMAX All Flash storage, Dell servers, and VMware
virtualization enables consolidation onto fewer servers with a smaller storage footprint for overall
lower CapEx and OpEx costs.
 Simplify the environment – The Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle shortens the design cycle and
configuration with a solution that is tested and validated with OLAP, OLTP, and test/dev running in
the same environment for easier planning and deployment. Once in service, Dell EMC Remote
Access Controller (iDRAC) with Lifecycle Controller – embedded in Dell EMC PowerEdge servers –
enables intelligent, automated control of servers, storage and networking modules.
The Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle solution featuring the VMAX 250F includes the latest Dell EMC
PowerEdge 14G servers, redundant Dell EMC Networking 10 GbE top of rack switches for LAN, and also Dell
EMC Connectrix 16 Gb Fibre Channel switches. The Ready Bundle for Oracle solution with the VMAX 250F
uses Oracle 12cR2 Real Application Cluster (RAC), VMware vSphere 6.5, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3.
These components have been combined into validated solutions in an architecture that can scale to support
10, 25, and 50 consolidated Oracle databases. In all configurations, Dell EMC Engineering showed that each
Oracle database was able to achieve sub-millisecond response times while sustaining over a 2:1 I/O density
(IOPS/GB).
The following diagram shows the Dell Ready Bundle for Oracle configuration are designed for 25 consolidated
Oracle databases:
Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle 25 Oracle Database Configuration
The combination of Dell networking, servers, and storage in a single converged solution for mission-
critical applications produces many benefits. The ability to run applications such as Oracle, SAP, and
Microsoft SQL Server in a single virtualized environment with VMAX 250F as its storage bedrock will
safeguard availability, lower costs, and increase productivity through Dell’s “better together” product
integration for Dell customers.
Note: For more information about the Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle with the VMAX 250F, please
consult the Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle documents listed in the reference section of this document.
4.3 VMAX 950F
The VMAX 950F is designed to provide Dell EMC customers with the highest levels of scalability,
performance, and mission-critical availability. It can consolidate disparate open systems, mainframe, IBM i,
and file workloads into a single all-flash system. It can scale to support over 6.7 million IOPS (8K RRH) and
provide up to 4 PB of effective capacity in four floor tiles of space.
4.3.1 VMAX 950F System Configurations

The VMAX 950F is a highly configurable storage array that can support configurations from 1 to 8 V-Bricks
within four standard Dell EMC Titan racks (system bays). Each rack can support up to two V-Bricks with up to
480 flash drives in a rack (1 PBe per rack).
Notes:
 While still available, the VMAX 450F and 850F will be de-emphasized in 2018 in favor of the VMAX
950F. See table 2 in this document for VMAX 450F and VMAX 850F configuration details.
 The system bays on the VMAX 950F can be separated by up to 82 feet (25 meters) using optical
connectors,
The following diagram shows the 950F starter V-Brick system bay configuration along with a dual V-Brick
system bay configuration:
Figure 12 VMAX 950F Starter V-Brick and Dual V-Brick System Bay Configurations
5 Summary
VMAX All Flash is an all-flash array designed for the most demanding and critical workloads in the enterprise
datacenter. Its unique modular architecture allows it to massively scale while delivering predictable high
performance regardless of the workload. Built into the array are complex algorithms which maximize flash
performance while greatly enhancing flash drive endurance. Its unique data services and highly available
architecture make it a premier choice for the enterprise environment where ease-of-use coupled with trusted
dependability is an essential requirement.
6 References
Document Title Collateral Type Part Number
Dell EMC VMAX All Flash Product Guide Product Guide

Dell EMC Service Levels for PowerMaxOS White Paper H17108
Dell EMC Embedded Management on PowerMax, VMAX All Flash, White Paper H16856
and VMAX3
Data Reduction with Dell EMC PowerMax White Paper H17072
Dell EMC PowerMax Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability White Paper H17064
Technical Note
Dell EMC PowerMax and VMAX All Flash: GDPS and Advanced White Paper H16124
Copy Services Compatibility
Dell EMC VMAX3 and VMAX All Flash Quality of Service Controls White Paper H15498
for Multi-tenant Environments
Dell EMC VMAX All Flash Site Planning Guide Technical Guide
Dell EMC Timefinder SnapVX Local Replication Technical Note Technical Guide H13697
Dell EMC SRDF/Metro Overview and Best Practices Technical Guide H14556
Oracle Ready Bundle Validation Guide Technical Guide H16631
Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Oracle Solution Overview

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The Dell EMC VMAX All Flash

Dell EMC Engineering

A Dell EMC document category

December 2017 Initial draft

March 2018 Version 2

April 2018 Version 3 – Update for PowerMaxOS

1.2 VMAX All Flash Platform High Level Overview

The VMAX 250F platform provides:

The VMAX 950F platform provides:

1.3 Primary VMAX All Flash Benefits

 Scalable performance and economics

2.2 VMAX All Flash Terminology

Table 1 Key VMAX All Flash Terms and Definitions

V-Brick V-Brick A V-Brick is the building block for constructing a VMAX

PowerMaxOS 5978 PowerMaxOS The PowerMaxOS 5978 release supports PowerMax

inline compression ompression Inline compression refers to the intelligent data

non-disruptive migration NDM Provides simplified data migration from VMAX1 /

virtual witness vWitness Virtual witness is a key component to the SRDF/Metro

2.3 The VMAX All Flash Family

Figure 1 The VMAX All Flash Family

3.1 Expandable Modular Architecture with the V-Brick and zBrick

Each brick has the following components:

Table 2 Brick Specifications by VMAX All Flash Model

Brick Engine CPU Core Configurations

Brick Cache Configurations

Table 5 Supported PowerMax 2000 Mixed Cache Configurations

 Processing I/O from hosts

Figure 3 Fully populated VMAX 250F DAE

VMAX 450F, VMAX 850F, and VMAX 950F DAEs

Important notes about VMAX All Flash DAE capacity

3.1.3 VMAX All Flash Director and Connectivity Options

Open Systems V-Brick

Figure 6 Typical VMAX 250F V-Brick Engine Layout

Note: On the VMAX 250F, director slot 5 is left empty (unused).

Figure 7 Typical VMAX 450F / 850F / 950F V-Brick Engine Layout

Note: The VMAX 250F does not support mainframe workloads.

Mixed open systems and mainframe (VMAX 950F only)

Figure 10 Possible mixed system VMAX 950F V-Brick Engine Layout

3.2.1 VMAX All Flash Open System Software Packaging

Table 9 VMAX All Flash Systems Software Packaging Options

F Package F Package a FX Package FX Package a

3.2.2 VMAX All Flash mainframe Software Packaging

 zF – the basic package

zF Package zF Package a zFX Package zFX Package a

3.3 Flash Optimization

3.3.1 Cache Architecture and Caching Algorithms

 100% of host writes are cached

3.3.3 VMAX All Flash Write Amplification Reduction

3.4 Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS)

3.5 Data Services

 Advanced data reduction using inline compression

3.5.1 Data Reduction using the Adaptive Compression Engine (ACE)

 Intelligent compression algorithms - Intelligent compression algorithms determine the best

3.5.2 Remote Replication with SRDF

There are three types of SRDF:

3.5.3 Local Replication with TimeFinder SnapVX

A point-in-time snapshot can be accessed by linking it to a host-accessible volume referred to as a target.

3.5.4 Consolidation of Block and File Storage Using eNAS

 Scalability – easily serve over 6000 active SMB connections

3.5.5 Embedded Management (eManagement) using Unisphere for PowerMax