Dell AX4-5 Storage Array

Dell Updated: 2008-09-10 RSS
Dell AX4-5 Storage Array

The Dell AX4-5 arrays combine low cost, easy to use features with the scalability and functionality of advanced storage arrays. Dual controller models offer the excellent availability and performance that business-critical applications require. The AX4-5 can support up to four expansion enclosures spanning up to 60 hard drives. With the ability to provide consolidated storage for up to 64 hosts, the AX4-5 can provide the headroom that will keep up with your data and application growth. With both 1Gbit iSCSI and 4Gbit Fibre Channel models, the AX4-5 enables organizations to choose a network interconnect that is right for their environment and needs.

New Software Capabilities
* RAID 6 support offers an extra layer of data protection for customers who want to further reduce the risk of losing data based on multiple drive faults.
* Extended SAS drive support through elimination of the Expansion pack requirement for SAS drive support for configurations with up to 12 drives.
* Enhanced integration with VMware solutions through added capabilities for a operating system on a VMware Virtual Machine, including: Console-less VMware, Navisphere host Agent (Windows only), and Navisphere Server Utility (Windows only).

Tiered Storage Options to Match Your Needs
The AX4-5 supports the simple, yet powerful concept of tiered storage by having the option to easily mix SAS drives geared for performance, as required by I/O-intensive applications, with SATA drives that deliver cost-effective capacity for backup and archiving. Also, users can migrate data between different classes of drives and RAID types, dynamically and seamlessly, helping to avoid application disruption.

Seamless Integration with Servers
Dell AX4-5 arrays are designed and engineered for optimal performance with both PowerEdge server and PowerVault storage technologies. When you order a Dell PowerEdge server to support your Dell AX4-5 array, you can have your Host Bus Adapters and software drivers pre-configured at our factory to simplify setup, reduce complexity, and provide your organization with a system that integrates perfectly with your Dell technology.

Utilizing 4-Gigabit Architecture
The Dell AX4-5 doubles the 2-Gigabit architecture of previous generations of storage to give you 4-Gigabits per second of Fibre Channel data transfer, allowing you to take advantage of new SAN technologies for increased input/output and storage-access speeds. The Dell AX4-5 can also interoperate with earlier-generation technologies, allowing you to leverage your existing SAN investments.

Performance Today with Room to Grow
Versatile Storage Consolidation for small to mid-sized business and remote offices of larger organizations.
The Dell AX4-5 is the entry product in Dell's enterprise series of SAN arrays. It is an excellent consolidation solution for multiple application environments offering a great mix of price and performance. Using 15K RPM SAS drives for greater IO performance, the Dell AX4-5 has a lot of headroom for growing organizations.

Built for Scalable Storage Growth
Supports up to 64 servers and 60 drives
The Dell AX4-5 is highly flexible in the face of unforecasted growth, and rapidly evolving storage requirements. Start with as few as 4 drives and add capacity as you add hosts, a drive at a time, up to 60 drives.

A Choice of Drive Technologies
SAS or SATA
With the flexibility to deploy a mix of high-performance SAS drives or high capacity, lower cost SATA drives, you can now address the varied requirements of your applications and archiving strategy with a lower TCO.

Excellent Data Availability and Reliability
The AX4-5 has inherited many of the advanced software capabilities that historically have been available on the more advanced CX arrays. Its controllers provide end-to-end data integrity as well as continuous background disk consistency checking. In the unlikely event of a failure, data stored in cache can be gracefully destaged to disk, protecting against loss and corruption. The AX4-5's global hot spare technology enhances protection and makes the system extremely dependable.

Robust Suite of EMC Management Software
Ease-of-Use for Simple Deployment and Management
The Dell AX4-5 comes with Navisphere Express, an intuitive user interface that simplifies installation, configuration and operation, and that allows users to create and allocate new capacity in seconds. The AX4-5 also provides point-in-time snapshot capabilities and PowerPath path management software for load balancing and data path failover for continuous data access, providing a single supported solution across most operating systems and applications.

Optional Advanced Management and Data Replication
The optional Navisphere Manager Suite extends the capabilities of the AX4-5 to meet the needs of growing and distributed organizations. Easily discover, configure, manage, and monitor all aspects of your Dell AX4-5. Users can also manage multiple Dell/EMC arrays including AX and CX systems, all from a single console, whether locally or from a remote location over a secure connection. It also supports EMC SnapView, for multiple point-in-time snapshots and full-volume copies of critical data.

For Fibre Channel AX4-5 systems, the addition of EMC MirrorView provides data replication between arrays, enabling comprehensive disaster recovery solutions. EMC SAN Copy software enables data copy between arrays for data migration.

* EMC Navisphere®  Manager: Robust configuration, management and event notification from a single management station
* EMC SnapView : Point-in-time view of information for nondisruptive backup
* EMC SAN Copy : Migrate or distribute data within the SAN fabric (fibre channel AX4-5F only)
* EMC MirrorView : Provides synchronous or asynchronous mirroring of information between two or more arrays (fibre channel AX4-5F only)
* EMC Navisphere®  Analyzer: Provides detailed real-time and historical information about your arrays which can help you to investigate performance patterns and trends before problems occur and can provide a powerful tool for hardware capacity planning, as well as for intelligent load balancing