Dell PowerVault MD3200i Series User manual

DELL PowerVault MD3200i/MD3220i
Series of Storage Arrays
A Dell Transition Guide
Version 1.0

Transition Guide for PowerVault MD3200i and MD3220i Series Arrays
ii
THIS TRANSITION GUIDE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL
ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.
© 2010 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without
the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell.
Dell, the DELL logo, and the DELL badge, PowerConnect, and PowerVault are trademarks of Dell Inc.
Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server and Hyper-V are either trademarks or registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks and trade names
may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their
products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its
own.
June 2010

Transition Guide for PowerVault MD3200i and MD3220i Series Arrays
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Contents
Introduction ..............................................................................................................2
What’s New?..............................................................................................................3
Comparison of MD3200i and MD3220i to the previous MD3000i .................................................4
Product Positioning .....................................................................................................4
Dell SAN Portfolio .......................................................................................................5
PowerVault™ MD3200i and MD3220i Features and Descriptions .................................................6
Product Overview .......................................................................................................7
MD3200i and MD3220i Front View ....................................................................................7
MD3200i and MD3220i Back View .....................................................................................8
Solution Configurations.................................................................................................8
Connecting Expansion and Enclosures ...............................................................................11
Mini-SAS Cable Transition ..............................................................................................11
Product Support .........................................................................................................11
Ethernet Components...................................................................................................11
Server Compatibility ....................................................................................................12
Management Software Support .......................................................................................12
Operating System Support .............................................................................................12
Drive Support.............................................................................................................13
Accessing a MD32X0i and MD3000i from the Same Server ........................................................14

Transition Guide for PowerVault MD3200i and MD3220i Series Arrays
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Introduction
Dell™ worldwide introduction of the next generation PowerVault™ MD3200i and MD3220i
iSCSI SAN arrays is on June 15, 2010. This document is intended as guidance for a
product transition from Dell's MD3000i to the new MD3200i and/or MD3220i.
Dell PowerVault MD3200i and MD3220i iSCSI SAN arrays provide improved performance,
capability and increased flexibility and scalability to the PowerVault array family.

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What’s New?
The PowerVault™ MD3200i and MD3220i offer the following new features:
2X performance improvements over MD3000i
oUp to 800MB/s RAID5 sequential reads
oUp to 30K RAID5 random disk reads
Four models to choose from:
oA cost effective, high capacity model (MD3200i): Single controller with 2GB of battery
backed cache and four 1Gb Ethernet host ports housed in a 6Gb SAS 2U, 12 drive 3.5” HDD
enclosure. (directly connect up to 4 non –HA physical servers or up to 32 non-HA physical
servers with an Ethernet switch)
oA highly available, high capacity model (MD3200i): Dual active/active controllers with a
total of 4GB mirrored battery backed cache and a total of eight 1Gb Ethernet ports housed
in a 6Gb SAS 2U, 12 drive 3.5” HDD enclosure. (directly connect up to 8 non-HA physical
servers or 4 HA physical servers or up to 32 HA physical servers with Ethernet switches)
oA cost effective, high performance model (MD3220i): Single controller with 2GB of battery
backed cache and four 1Gb Ethernet host ports housed in a 6Gb SAS 2U, 24 drive 2.5” HDD
enclosure. (directly connect up to 4 non –HA physical servers or up to 32 non-HA physical
servers with an Ethernet switch)
oA highly available, high performance model (MD3220i): Dual active/active controllers with
a total of 4GB mirrored battery backed cache and a total of eight 1Gb Ethernet ports
housed in a 6Gb SAS 2U, 24 drive 2.5” HDD enclosure. (directly connect up to 8 non-HA
physical servers or 4 HA physical servers or up to 32 HA physical servers with Ethernet
switches)
Support for SAS, near-line SAS and Solid state disk drives
oThe ability to mix SAS, near-line SAS and SSD drives within the same enclosure supports a
user’s ability to blend drives to best suit their applications’ storage needs across three tiers
of performance offerings
Expansion to 96 HDD
oAdditional expansion using MD1200 and/or MD1220 6Gb SAS enclosures for a maximum of 96
hard disk drives.
oEnclosures can be mixed behind base models to achieve the highest level of drive tiering
Support for self-encrypting drives (SED) for securing data at rest
oProvides security for data at rest via encryption at the HDD level
Turbo performance premium feature key
oIncreases random IO operations up to 33% over base models.

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Comparison of MD3200i and MD3220i to the previous MD3000i
Feature
MD3200i
MD3220i
MD3000i
Number of controllers
Single or Dual
Single or Dual
Single or Dual
Host ports/controller
4
4
2
Maximum servers
32
32
16
Cache/controller
2GB
2GB
512MB
Drives/enclosure
12, 3.5” in 2U
24, 2.5” in 2U
15, 3.5” in 3U
Maximum HDD count
96
96
45
Expansion enclosures
MD1200 and MD1220
MD1200 and MD1220
MD1000
Enclosure mixing
Yes
Yes
N/A
HDD supported
SSD, SAS, NL-SAS
SSD, SAS, NL-SAS
SAS & SATA
HDD mixing in enclosures
Yes
Yes
Yes
HDD carriers
11G server design
11G server design
9G/10G server design
SAS cables
8088 mini –SAS
connectors
8088 mini –SAS
connectors
8047 SAS connectors
Turbo Performance
Premium Feature
Premium Feature
N/A
Product Positioning
As the next generation of PowerVault SAN storage, the MD3200i series replaces the MD3000i in the product
portfolio. The MD3200i series is positioned above the MD3200 series because of the network connectivity
and the increased number of hosts supported by the products. Because the MD3200i and MD3200 shares a
common controller architecture, both products are similar when it comes to features and functions with
the main difference being the MD3200i products are purpose-built IP SAN arrays.

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The MD3200i series is positioned as an entry-level SAN array targeted at small and medium sized
businesses, public education and local governments that have a need for networked storage but lack the
financial resources to invest in a Fibre Channel SAN. The MD3200i series can also be an ideal storage
solution for larger organizations that require a lower cost networked storage solution that can be deployed
in remote/departmental locations or as a second tier SAN in a more centralized location to provide storage
for servers whose application value doesn’t justify the higher cost of connecting to a Fibre Channel SAN.
The MD3200i series is mostly a PowerEdge-centric storage solution although it can support heterogeneous
x86 servers. The MD3200i series enjoys common hard disk drives with the servers and capacity expansion via
the MD1200 and MD1220 drive enclosures.
Dell SAN Portfolio

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PowerVault™ MD3200i and MD3220i Features and Descriptions
Feature
MD3200i
MD3220i
Rack Height
2U
2U
Host interface technology
1Gb Ethernet
1Gb Ethernet
Disk interface technology
6Gb SAS
6Gb SAS
Controllers per system
Single or Dual
Single or Dual
Host ports per controller
4
4
Cache per controller
2GB
2GB
Number of Drive bays
12 –3.5”
24 –2.5”
Expandability
96 HDD
Expand with MD1200 or MD1220
enclosures
Enclosures can be mix for
expansion
96 HDD
Expand with MD1200 or MD1220
enclosures
Enclosures can be mix for
expansion
Manageability
2nd generation MDSM
2nd generation MDSM
Drive Support
SAS, NL-SAS and SAS SSD
SAS, NL-SAS and SAS SSD
Cluster Support
Yes
Yes
Rack or Stand alone Tower
Rack Only
Rack Only
Drive Hot Plug support
Yes
Yes
Snap Shot
8/LUN, 128/system
8/LUN, 128/system
Virtual Disk Copy
8 simultaneous, 255/system
8 simultaneous, 255/system
Turbo Performance Key
Yes
Yes

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Feature
MD3200i
MD3220i
Hot Plug Fans/blowers
Yes –Dual combined fan/power
supply module
Yes –Dual combined fan/power
supply module
Hot Plug Power supplies
Yes –Dual combined fan/power
supply module
Yes –Dual combined fan/power
supply module
Power Supply configurations
Redundant
Auto-Sensing
Redundant
Auto-Sensing
Fans/blowers
Redundant
Redundant
Chassis Dimensions
Height 8.68 cm (3.41 inches)
Width 44.63 cm (17.57 inches)
Depth 60.20 cm (23.70 inches)
Height 8.68 cm (3.41 inches)
Width 44.63 cm (17.57 inches)
Depth 54.90 cm (21.61 inches)
Weight
Weight (max config) 29.3 kg
(64.6 lb)
Weight (empty) 8.84 kg (19.5
lb)
Weight (max config) 24.2 kg
(53.4 lb)
Weight (empty) 8.61 kg (19 lb)
Product Overview
MD3200i and MD3220i Front View

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MD3200i and MD3220i Back View
Solution Configurations
Networked Configurations:
RAID Controller Module 0
RAID Controller Module 1
Power Supply / Cooling Fan Modules

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Transition Guide for PowerVault MD3200i and MD3220i Series Arrays
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Direct Connected Configurations:

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Connecting Expansion and Enclosures
Dell™ PowerVault™ MD3200i and MD3220i arrays standardize on the 6Gb/s (SAS 2.0) Mini-SAS cable (SFF
8088). The Mini-SAS cable is unique from the SAS cable used with the previous generation Dell™
PowerVault™ MD3000i.
Mini-SAS Cable Transition
Connectors on both ends of the SAS cable are universally keyed. Either end of the cable can be
connected to the MD32X0i or MD1200/MD1220 expansion enclosures.
To remove the SAS cable, pull the pull-tab to release the cable from the SAS connector.
Product Support
Ethernet Components
The MD3200i series of storage arrays is compatible all industry-standard GbE switches and NICs. The
MD3200i series of arrays do not support 10/100 directly connected to the array with the exception being
the management port.
The free initiators that ship with the Windows and Linux operating systems are the preferred connectivity
choice for the arrays. These initiators provide ample performance for this class of array.

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Server Compatibility
The MD3200i series of storage arrays is compatible with all industry standard x86 servers.
Management Software Support
The Dell™ PowerVault™ MD3200i and MD3220i arrays are managed via the 2nd generation MD Storage
Manager software provided on the Resource DVD that shipped with the product. This software is backwards
with earlier version of the MD3000i allowing a single pane view to monitor all of your MD External RAID
Array systems.
Operating System Support
Below is the list of operating systems the MD3200i and MD3220i RAID arrays will support at initial product
launch. Please visit the MD3200i web page for the most up to date list of supported operating systems.
Microsoft
Linux
Virtualization
Windows 2008 R1 & R2
•Standard & Core
•Enterprise Editions & Core
•Data Center & Core
•Foundation & Core
•Small Business Server
•Essential Business Server
Red Hat 5.4 & 5.5
VMware
•ESX 4.0
•ESX 4.0 U1
•ESX 4.1
Windows Storage Server 2008 R1 & R2
SuSE Enterprise Server 10 with
SP3
Windows 2008 w/Hyper-V
Windows 2008 HPC Server R1 & R2
SuSE Enterprise Server 11 & 11
U1
Hyper-V Server 2008 & 2008 with R2
Windows Unified Data Storage Server
2008 R1 & R2 (SAS Only)
Citrix Xen Server 5.5 U2
Windows 2008 Web
Citrix Xen Server 5.6
Windows 2003 Standard, Enterprise &

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Drive Support
Dell™ PowerVault™ MD3200i and MD3220i RAID arrays support SAS hot-pluggable HDDs (hard-disk drives) and
SSD (solid-state drives). Refer to Table below for Drive Support details.
MD3200i and MD3220i Drive Support
Form Factor
Speed (rpm)
Capacity (GB)
2.5” SAS
HDDs up to 6Gb/s
SSDs up to 3Gb/s
7,200
500 GB
10,000
146 GB
300 GB
600GB (post RTS)
15,000
73 GB
146 GB
SSD
150 GB
3.5” SAS
HDDs up to 6Gb/s
7,200
500 GB
1 TB
2 TB
15,000
300 GB
450 GB
600 GB
Small Business with SP2 and R2
Windows 2003 Standard & Enterprise
x64 with SP2 & R2
Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 &
SP2

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SATA interface drives are not supported with the Dell™ PowerVault™ MD3200 and MD3220
enclosures.
Accessing a MD32X0i and MD3000i from the Same Server
It is possible to have a single server accessing both an MD32X0iand an MD3000i running certain operating
systems. The following limitations apply to co-existence.
Requires the MD3000i to be at RC2 firmware version
Requires the operating system to be support on both platforms
Linux operating systems are limited to the versions of Linux that use Device Mapper (DM) and the
multi-pathing driver.
oRHEL 5.4 and 5.5
oSLES 10 SP3 and 11 with update 1.