application servers calls for an agile storage environment
throughout the enterprise. Dell™ EqualLogic™ unified,
virtualized storage eases data management while
enhancing availability.
By Stanley L. Stevens and Michael Pacheco
Driving efficient IT through a simplified Windows storage environment
Dive deeper: Advanced storage integration
Visit the Dell Enterprise Technology Center (Dell TechCenter) to see an overview and demonstration featuring manual and remote installation of Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) 4.0.
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Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integration Focus on data management
Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integrationFocus on data management
flexibility and compound management
complexity. For example, many servers running
a Windows OS are connected to direct attach
storage (DAS), which can create islands of
stored data that restrict data sharing, storage
utilization, flexibility, and scalability while
complicating data protection and recovery.
Fibre Channel SANs—another possible
option—can add costs and complexity.
Addressing key storage challenges
Organizations facing the challenges of
deploying and managing storage for Microsoft
Windows–based servers running Microsoft
applications need a fresh approach to
storage that helps improve IT efficiency and
enhance agility. Planned upgrades to the latest
versions of the Microsoft Windows Server
OS, Microsoft Exchange Server messaging,
Microsoft SQL Server® database, and Microsoft
Office SharePoint Server software, as well
as the planned implementation of Microsoft
Hyper-V™ virtualization, offer opportunities to
reevaluate storage architectures for Windows
environments. An efficient approach to
storage for Windows-based servers helps
overcome three key IT challenges:
• High overhead: Inherent costs,
complexities, and inefficiencies in existing
storage architectures that encompass
numerous disparate storage systems,
such as DAS systems
• Management complexity: Multiple
storage tools and platforms complicating
management of a complex infrastructure
• Data protection and application
availability: Time-consuming, manual
processes and scheduling that extend
backup windows and delay recovery
Deploying unified, virtualized
IP-based storage
Implementing a unified, virtualized
IP-based storage environment helps
organizations accomplish their storage
goals for supporting Microsoft Windows–
based application environments. This kind
of storage environment can provide a
consolidated, centralized storage pool that
cost-effectively supports a comprehensive
Windows-based server infrastructure while
helping simplify its management.
Standardizing on an IP-based (Ethernet)
network infrastructure helps organizations
avoid the costs and complexity typically
associated with Fibre Channel SANs.
Moreover, adopting a unified, centrally
managed, and virtualized storage architecture
also helps ease administration, reduce costs,
and improve flexibility by avoiding the islands
of storage that can result from using DAS.
Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage
platforms are well suited for building an
optimal storage environment (see Figure 1).
Combining EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN
arrays and EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS
appliances enables organizations to create
a unified, virtualized pool of storage that
brings together block and file storage in a
single environment. Centralized management
capabilities and deep integration with
Microsoft tools enable efficient administration.
EqualLogic storage also combines high-
availability hardware design features with a wide
range of management tools that streamline
data protection and help sustain uptime.
Unifying storage with a scale-out
architecture
Dell EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS allows
organizations to unite block-level SAN storage
with NAS, which is often used to consolidate
Microsoft Windows–based file shares. The
EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS appliance
integrates directly with EqualLogic PS Series
SAN arrays to provide a unified infrastructure
that facilitates Common Internet File System
(CIFS) and Network File System (NFS) access
to virtualized, multitiered storage pools.1
This scale-out NAS approach of creating
a shared resource pool that combines
Figure 1. Consolidating virtualized, IP-based storage cost-effectively for Microsoft application server environments
Windows clients
LAN
SharePointServer
Exchange SQL Server Hyper-Vvirtualization
Microsoft application servers
EqualLogic FS7500scale-out NAS
Globalname space
Dell EqualLogic unified, virtualized, and IP-based SAN
EqualLogic PSGroup Manager
NAS reserve
Volume 1
Volume 3
Volume 2
Virtualizedstorage pool
EqualLogic PS Series virtualized iSCSI SANs
1 For more information about EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS, see “Taking a scale-out approach to unified block and file storage,” by Scott Sinclair, Arun Rajan, and John Mannix, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 3, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps3q11-20110186-rajan.pdf.aspx.
Dell EqualLogic and Microsoft integrationFocus on data management
individual networked storage components
helps administrators enhance their use of
resources while avoiding the complexity
of managing the components separately.
EqualLogic FS7500 appliances can
provide scale-out capabilities in part
because of the Dell Fluid File System, a
high-performance scale-out file system
that presents a single namespace through
a virtual IP address. Dell Fluid File System
avoids the file share size limitations
presented by many traditional NAS systems
and supports both scale-out performance
and scale-up capacity expansion.
When scaling up the capacity of EqualLogic
PS Series SANs, organizations can capitalize
on peer storage architecture capabilities,
which scale controller resources such as
processing performance, I/O, and capacity.
The peer storage architecture provides
automated striping and load balancing
across resources to help ensure consistent
application performance as organizations
expand storage capacity to accommodate
growing Windows environments.
Implementing centralized
management for storage pools
Dell EqualLogic PS Group Manager, available
for Dell EqualLogic PS Series SANs and
EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS, helps
simplify management of storage for Windows-
based platforms. Available with command-line
interface (CLI) or graphical user interface
(GUI) access through a Web-based browser,
EqualLogic PS Group Manager offers
centralized configuration and management
for EqualLogic PS Series storage pools
and volumes. It also enables management
of essential EqualLogic FS7500 services,
including the ability to stop, rename, and
remove an EqualLogic FS7500 appliance.
In addition, Group Manager provides
device-level diagnostics and component
health status information. Administrators
can choose to receive alarms and alerts
in the event of failures and take advantage
of e-mail notifications and Enclosure
Monitoring System (EMS) capabilities.
Deep integration with Microsoft
software allows administrators to manage
EqualLogic PS Series systems using
familiar Microsoft tools. For example,
Dell OpenManage™ Integration Suite for
Microsoft System Center includes Dell
EqualLogic Storage Management Pack
Suite. This comprehensive tool suite enables
administrators to discover, classify, inventory,
and monitor EqualLogic PS Series storage
using System Center Operations Manager
(SCOM) or System Center Essentials (SCE).
Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools
for Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) offers additional
means of helping simplify configuration
and management of EqualLogic PS Series
storage, including the following features:
• Windows PowerShell™ scripted
commands (cmdlets): Integrated
EqualLogic PowerShell Tools cmdlets
allow administrators to automate
numerous storage management and
administration tasks for EqualLogic PS
Series groups, from volume and group
administration to snapshot, replication,
and scheduling.2
• Remote Setup Wizard: Administrators
can use this tool to quickly attach,
initialize, set up, and configure access
to EqualLogic PS Series SANs.
• Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft
Edition (ASM/ME): ASM/ME allows
administrators to create hypervisor-
consistent, application-aware, point-in-time
snapshots, clones, and replicas of Microsoft
OS and application data. ASM/ME uses
Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service
(VSS) to offer enhanced data protection
for Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, and
other applications in Microsoft Hyper-V
virtualization environments. ASM/ME can
be accessed through a GUI or a CLI.
• Windows Multipath I/O (MPIO)
integration: MPIO provides a redundant,
high-performance network framework
designed to dynamically balance iSCSI
SAN traffic over multiple network paths.
• Microsoft Virtual Disk Service (VDS)
integration: VDS facilitates volume
management in EqualLogic PS Series
storage groups.
Boosting application availability
By adopting Dell EqualLogic unified,
virtualized storage, organizations can build a
fault-tolerant environment that delivers the
availability and resiliency needed for mission-
critical Microsoft applications. To help
prevent unplanned downtime, EqualLogic
PS Series storage includes redundant, hot-
swappable hardware components such
as dual controllers, fan trays, and power
supplies. Battery-backed mirrored memory
caches help sustain availability without
affecting performance. EqualLogic FS7500
scale-out NAS features a dual active/active
controller architecture, battery-protected
memory, and redundant power supplies.
The use of multiple active network
interface ports can boost resiliency while
bolstering performance. EqualLogic PS
Series SANs include up to four active Gigabit
Ethernet (GbE) network interface ports per
array. EqualLogic FS7500 scale-out NAS
appliances include eight active GbE ports.
EqualLogic PS Series SANs also include the
MPIO Device-Specific Module (DSM) for
EqualLogic PS Series storage to automate
the creation and management of multipath,
server-to-storage connections that help
improve availability.
Streamlining data protection
and recovery
Dell EqualLogic storage is designed to
offer simple, automated data protection
through snapshot tools integrated with
Dell EqualLogic PS Group Manager
2 For more information on EqualLogic PowerShell Tools, see, “Integrated, automated storage management with PowerShell scripting,” by Michael Pacheco and Stanley L. Stevens, in Dell Power Solutions, 2011 Issue 4, content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/business~solutions~power~en/documents~ps4q11-20110473-pacheco.pdf.aspx.
