Ask the Expert: Whats new in VMAX

Rakesh,

The specific version of Unisphere is 8.0 and it uses the new architecture. The look and feel is much different (and in my view much more intuitive). It is focused on Workloads (for Provisioning, Monitoring, etc.). I’m attaching a sample screen shot below to give everyone an idea of what the new UI looks like, this is a Monitoring screen. There was a longer demonstration of Unisphere in the launch webinar if you are interested.

Thanks.

Tom O

Hi,

Your question is essentially around FTS support. This is not available at GA, and is targeted for future release.

Best,

Paul

is vmax3 engine and vnx8000 storage processor the same? If so, vmax3 engine takes less units at cabinet. Is it still 8 engines maximum for one system? what is the maximum drives limit? How many drive enclosures sharing the same sas bus at the maximum configuration of vmax3 (max disk enclosures at daisy chained sas bus)?

IS it it still using heavy SPS batteries?

was SRDF technology modified? Can one sync DMX4 and vmax3 via SRDF?

is there still maximum 4 mirror positions for 1 device?

does new uni sphere for vmax still require gate keepers devs for controlling vmax3?

Sorry for the rain of questions, hope somedoby answer at least half of them)

regards, Alexander

Alkhvo,

Many of the questions you ask can be found as outlined in the VMAX3 Specification sheet to which I am providing a link. We still use SPS, but are not using Lead Acid and have moved to LiON batteries which are considerably lighter. VMAX 400K expands to 8 engines—please review the Spec Sheet.

http://www.emc.com/collateral/hardware/specification-sheet/h13217-vmax3-ss.pdf

Regards,

Paul

Alexander,

Couple of points to add to Paul’s answer:

· Gatekeepers are still required

· SRDF, both Sync and Asynch, has been enhanced. The main focus is improving performance of both technologies. When initially release we won’t be able to replicate between a DMX and a VMAX3 but it is something we are looking at for a future release

Thanks.

Tom O

Great! Good info Tom. Thanks a lot.

Rakesh

Experts,

I wanted to ask one more question. I read that we do NOT have to define VAULTs with VMAX3 ?

Thanx

Rakesh

Thank you for this ATE session.

- Wanted to know how the integration of the new VMAX is, w.r.t VPlex. What are the enhancements that have been added?

- Do the engines on the new VMAXes also share a processor? How are they configured?

It had previously been a nightmare when we had more than 35-40 hosts crowding 2/4 FA ports on each fabric, to avoid the other 2/4 set of ports since they were connected to hosts with more I/O loads. This was on VMAX 40k as well as VMAX 20k.

Also, this might be trivial (but maybe not), do the new VMAXs with the new code family - do they also require the same Director / FA settings when integrating / connecting new hosts?

Example: Setting the 'D' bit for HP-UX, SCSI3, SPC2 etc settings for Linux VMs as RDMs from ESX end.

Are these still the same with the new VMAX3?

Correct—vault is now to flash SLiCs and there is no dedicated vault capacity on any HDD’s anymore.

Hi,

There are no plans to increase the 25 meter dispersion limit, but remember that now every engine (or a cluster of engines) can be individually be dispersed 25 meters from Engine 1. This provides very good DC flexibility.

Paul

Thank you Paul.

Thank you Tom. This is helpful.

I see that the dispersion limit still remains the same as with the previous models. Not necessarily a deal breaker for many, but, just curious - are there plans to increase this so that it facilitates movement of engines/ bays inside a D/C?

This Ask the Expert event has ended. Thanks to our experts and those who participated in the discussion!

Cheers,

Roberto

Hello Expert Team!

   I was wondering how can we dynamicly switch the core allocation between Balanced, Front End heavy and Back End heavy atfer the pre-configuration?  Hope we don't have to reconfig the bin file and re-image the entire array. Thanks.