Dell PowerVault MD3220i

Dell PowerVault MD3220i

The Dell PowerVault MD3220i Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) Storage Area Network (SAN) is cost-effective and provides scale-as-you-grow expansion options.  Structurally, it is the same as the MD3200i offering, but instead of housing 12 of the 3.5” drives, the MD3200i’s hard disk drive capacity maxes out at 24, 2.5” Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), Near-Line SAS (NL-SAS) and Solid State Drives (SSD). These drives are available in 300GB, 450GB, 600GB, 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB options, with support for RAID levels including 0, 1, 10, 5, and 6. While MD3200i iSCSI SAN’s can support up to 96 physical disk drives when utilizing a MD1200 or MD1220 expansion shelf, the maximum amount of virtual disks that a MD3200i storage array can support is 256. As a result of these features and more, Dell MD3220i storage arrays are ideal for a virtual server environment requiring high density and exceptional performance.

Through the use of the 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) technology, virtual environments can still be supported on the PowerVault MD3220i – which can be a relief for enterprise environments not looking to make the switch to Fibre Channel (FC) technology.  Additionally, MD3220i storage arrays have been certified to support virtualization technologies including VMware ESX 4.1, Citrix XenServer 5.6.0 and Microsoft Hyper-V software.  Other beneficial technologies integrated into Dell MD3220 iSCSI SAN’s include the management system, which is run through next-generation MD Storage Manager Software, an easy-to-use application.  MD Storage Manager provides Dell PowerVault MD3220i storage arrays with data protection, which includes features like snapshots (up to 8 per virtual disks and 128 per system), virtual disk copy (up to 8 simultaneous virtual disk copies), and self-encrypting drives.  Overall, the Dell PowerVault MD3220i is a robust, high capacity, and yet, surprisingly cost-effective iSCSI SAN solution.