EqualLogic

Last updated
EqualLogic, Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Computer data storage
Founded2001;24 years ago (2001)
Defunct2008 (2008)
FateAcquired by Dell
Headquarters
Nashua   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
,
United States  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Products iSCSI arrays
Website www.equallogic.com   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

EqualLogic, Inc. was an American computer data storage company based in Nashua, New Hampshire, active from 2001 to 2007. In 2008, the company was merged into Dell Inc. Dell-branded EqualLogic products are iSCSI-based storage area network (SAN) systems. Dell has 3 different lines of SAN products: EqualLogic, Compellent and Dell PowerVault.

Contents

History

EqualLogic was a company based in Nashua, New Hampshire. Formed in 2001 by Peter Hayden, Paul Koning, and Paula Long, it raised $52 million from investors between 2001 and 2004. The company was considering an initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock-exchange, but accepted an offer from Dell in 2007, and was absorbed in late January 2008. [1] The all-cash take-over transaction of $1.4 billion was the highest price paid for a company financed by venture investors at the time. At the time of acquisition, the company was backed by four venture capital investors: Charles River Ventures, TD Capital Ventures, Focus Ventures and Sigma Partners. [1]


Architecture

EqualLogic systems use iSCSI via either Gigabit Ethernet or 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers. The now end of life (EOL) systems with 1 Gbit/s connections are the PS4100, PS6100 and PS6200 while the comparable systems with 10 Gbit/s Ethernet connections are PS4110, PS6110 and PS6210. There have been a number of previous generations, and as long as the software is updated on older systems they can work with the newer models. Within each series there are several options allowing for different types and sizes of hard disk drives or solid-state drives. EqualLogic options combine both in the same chassis and automatically migrate the most frequently accessed data to the SSDs. All PS series systems, except the PS-M4110 blade chassis system, are 19-inch rack systems in a 2 rack unit form factor or a 4 RU chassis for some of the PS61x0 models and the PS65x0 dense models.

EqualLogic Arrays can be combined with up to 16 arrays per group. Groups can mix different members, including multiple hardware generations, as well as different RAID types, in a group. By combining multiple arrays per group, very large storage groups can be created with maximum capacity in one group of over 1.5 PB. Arrays can be segmented into pools, and from pools, volumes. Volumes are exposed on a SAN network, and used by virtual machine hosts or other computers.

Controllers

EqualLogic control modules on a PS100E EqualLogic Control Module (157832705).jpg
EqualLogic control modules on a PS100E

Each array comes with two controllers, offering redundancy and load-balancing. A controller offers one or more data Ethernet interfaces for the iSCSI traffic and one management interface. A typical array has 2 or more iSCSI Ethernet interfaces and one management interface. The arrays with model PS XX00 have Gigabit Ethernet ports while the PS XX10 offer 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports for iSCSI traffic and a 10 Mbit/s / 100 Mbit/s management port. Depending on the model the interfaces can be either copper-based Gigabit Ethernet or 10GBASE-T or fiber-optic interfaces using Small Form-factor Pluggable transceivers. Controllers can be readily identified by a combination of their "faceplate" profile and color. [2]

Controller TypeProfileColorDisk Interface / SpeedNetwork InterfaceManagementAssociated ModelsManufacturers P/NDell P/N
Type 1 SATAwideblack SATA I / 1.5 Gbit/s3 x 1Gbase-T / 1Gbit/s SFP (combo)1 (shared)PS50E, PS100E, PS200E, PS300E, PS400E, PS100X70-0001
Type 2 SATAwideblue SATA II at 3 Gbit/s3 x 1Gbase-T / 1Gbit/s SFP (combo)1 (shared)PS50E, PS100E, PS200E, PS300E, PS400E, PS100X70-0011T946J / 0T946J
Type 3 SASnarrowblueSAS or SATA II at 3 Gbit/s3 x 1 Gbit/s1 (shared)PS3000 – PS500070-0101
Type 4 SASnarrowgreySAS at 3 Gbit/s3 x 1 Gbit/s0PS3000 – PS500070-0111c
Type 5 SATAnarrowoliveSATA II at 3 Gbit/s3 x 1 Gbit/s0PS3000 – PS500070-0115
Type 6 SATAnarrowgrey with brown stripe [3] 3 x 1 Gbit/s1 (shared)PS5500 only70-0111a
Type 7 SASnarrowlight green4 x 1 Gbit/s0PS6000 – PS650070-02025PM3C, RNPR1
Type 8 SASnarrowmagenta2 x 1 Gbit/s1PS4000 only70-0120
Type 9 SASnarrowyellow2 x 1 Gbit/s1 x 10/100 Mbit/s2nd generation PS400070-0210
Type 10narroworange2 x 10 Gbit/s SFP+ [4] 1 x 10/100 Mbit/sPS6010 – PS651070-03000G9J5
Type 11Widelight green4 x 1 Gbit/s1PS6100 Only70-04007V250, HRT01
Type 12Widemagenta2 x 1 Gbase-T1PS4100 OnlyNMJ7P
Type 13M-Bladesilver1x 10Gbit KR / KR Pass-ThruPS-M41101KWXY, 01KWXY
Type 14Wideorange1x 10Gbase-T / 1x SFP+1PS6110 Only61NCV
Type 15Widedark greySAS

NL-SAS

SSD

2x 10GbE SFP+ / 2x 10GbaseT1 x 10/100 Mbit/sPS6210DCY2N, K7TXY
Type 17WideyellowSAS

NL-SAS

1x 10Gbase-T / 1x SFP+1PS4110 OnlyX3J14, P0GJH YN3KR,
Type 18WideMarine BlueSAS

NL-SAS

SSD

2x 10GBASE-T / 2x 10GbE SFP+1 x 10/100 Mbit/sPS6610T43HT
Type 19WideRedSAS

NL-SAS

SSD

2x 10GBASE-T / 2x 10GbE SFP+1 x 10/100 Mbit/sPS42103KKYP

[5]

Models

EqualLogic PS100E PeerStorage Array EqualLogic PS100E PeerStorage Array (157832701).jpg
EqualLogic PS100E PeerStorage Array

The flagship product of the EqualLogic line is the PS Series (formerly PeerStorage [6] [7] ). Its current primary models are the PS4100, PS6100 and PS6500 with 1 Gb Ethernet and 10 Gb Ethernet model options. Within each "series" (i.e. 4100, 6100 and 6500) there are several sub-models that include specific disk configurations. The last generation systems are the PS4100 and PS6100 series systems which continue to be sold.

PS41x0

The PS4100 series consists of 4 rack-models and one PS-M4110 for placement in the Dell M1000e blade enclosure. This model is described separately below.

PS4000 rack models
ModelPS4100E [8] PS4100KV3,5 [9] PS4110E [10] PS4110KV3,5 [11]
height (RU)2 RU 2 RU2 RU2 RU
#HDD12121212
HDD type7200 NL-SAS15K SAS7200 NL-SAS15K SAS
capacity min
using
12 TB
12 x 1 TB
3.6 TB
6 x 600 GB
6 TB
12 x 500 GB
3.6 TB
6 x 600 GB
capacity max
using
36 TB
12 x 3 TB
7.2 TB
12 x 600 GB
36 TB
12 x 3 TB
7.2 TB
12 x 600 GB
#controllers2222
memory/ctrl (Gb)4444
iSCSI ports
per ctrl.
2 GbE2 GbE1 x 10GBaseT
1 x 10 Gbit SFP+
1 x 10GBaseT
1 x 10 Gbit SFP+
mgt ports
per ctrl.
1 x 10/100Mbit1 x 10/100Mbit1 x 100 Mbit1 x 100 Mbit
Max # volumes256256256256
Snapshots/volume128128128128
Snapshots/group2048204820482048
RAID levels5,6,10,505,6,10,505,6,10,505,6,10,50
Max arrays/groupup to 2 x PS4xxx arrays/group

PS61x0

The PS61x0 series consists of two main models: PS6100 and PS6110 for 1G or 10G iSCSI Ethernet ports on the controller. All arrays support RAID levels 6,10 and 50.

For the PS6100 series and PS6110 series there are 6 sub-models, based on the type of disks used: [12] [13]

ModelPS61x0-EPS61x0-XPS61x0-XVPS61x0-SPS61x0-XSPS61x0-XV3,5
usage/typehigh-capacitybalancedhigh-performancelow latencyautomated
SSD tiering
high performance&
high capacity
height (RU)422224
weight45,3625,425,424,524,544,45
max # disks/size24x 3,5"24x 2.5"24 x 2,5"24 x 2,5"7 x 2,5SSD
17 z 10K SAS
24 x 3,5"
disk type7200 NL-SAS10K SAS15K SAS SSD SSD/10K SAS15K SAS
min capacity
using
12 TB
500 GB HDD
7,2 TB
300 GB
3,5 TB
146 GB
9,6 TB
400 GB SSD
13 TB
7 x 400 GB SSD
17 x 600 GB HDD
7,2 TB
12 x 600GB
max capacity
using
72 TB
3 TB HDD
21,6 TB
900 GB
7,2 TB
300 GB
19,2 TB
800 GB SSD
13 TB
fixed capacity
14,4 TB
600 GB
Power consumption1080 W700 W700 W700 W700 W1080 W

PS-M 4110

The PS-M 4110 is a SAN array in the form-factor of a dual 1/2 height blade-server and can be installed in the Dell M1000e blade-chassis. There are 4 models of this "datacenter in a box" solution where servers, storage and networking are all combined in one blade-enclosure

The SAN communicates with the blade servers in the chassis and/or external servers via Force10 MXL switches, PowerConnect M8024-K or Brocade based PC-M8428-K in the back of the enclosure. Also possible to use 10G Passthrough modules and external switches. [14]

PS-M 4110 blade SAN
ModelPS-M4110-EPS-M4110-XPS-M4110-XVPS-M4110-XS
UsageHi-capacitybalanced perf/capacityhigh perflow latency
Controllers1 or 21 or 21 or 22 only
Typical power248,9 W261 W293,3 W230,4 W
Weight (Kg)12,4912,8712,6212,38
Disk drives14 HDD14 HDD14 HDD9 x 10K SAS
& 5 x SSD
Drive capacity500 GB
or 1 TB
600 GB
900 GB
146 GB
300 GB
600 GB HDD
400 GB SSD
Drive type7,2k NL-SAS10K SAS15K SAS10K SAS+SSD
System capacity7 - 14 TB8,4-12.5 Tbit2,5-4,2 TB7.4 Tbit

PS6500 and PS6510

The PS65x0 series consists of in total 6 models scalable SAN solutions. As with the other series the PS6500 is using Gigabit Ethernet NICs and the PS6510 offers 10 Gbit/s SFP+ interfaces. [15]

PS 65x0 SAN
ModelPS6500-E/P6510-EPS6500-ES/PS6510-ES [16] PS6500-X/PS6510-X [17]
Intended UsageHigh densityHigh PerformanceMixed Use
Height (Rack Units)444
Weight LB(Kg)up to 165(74.8)up to 165(74.8)up to 165(74.8)
Power consumption1000-1030 VA
1400 VA Peak
1000-1030 VA
1400 VA Peak

1000-1030 VA
1400 VA Peak

Heat dispensation3400 BTU max3400 BTU3400 BTU
Drive Bays487 SSD + 41 HDD48
Drive Options1TB SATA
2TB SATA
3 TB NL-SAS
7 x 400 Gb SSD
& 41 x 2 TB NL-SAS
600 GB-SAS
900 GB SAS
Drive Speed7200 RPMSSD & 7200 RPM SAS10K RPM
RAW Capacity48 TB(1TB Drives)
96 TB(2TB Drives)
144 TB(3TB Drives)
84.8 TB28.9 TB (600GB Drives
43.2 TB (900GB Drives)

FS7500 / FS7600

Dell Fluid File System is available in combination with an EQLX array for the storage. FluidFS is also delivered in combination with Compellent and PowerVault SAN systems. Both the FS7500 and FS7600 NAS using EQLX SAN offers a maximum system site of 509 TB. The FS7600 is the 2nd generation system which is also available using 10G iSCSI speeds between the FS controller and the storage backbone [18]

References

  1. 1 2 XConomy Boston, Dell to buy EQLX for $ 1.4 billion, 5 November 2007. Visited: 1 March 2013
  2. Controllers, EqualLogic (2024-08-15). "Dell EqualLogic Controller Models 2nd Gen". www.equallogiccontrollers.com. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
  3. Controllers, EqualLogic (2024-08-15). "Dell EqualLogic Controller Models 1st Gen". www.equallogiccontrollers.com. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
  4. "Difference between controller modules". 29 November 2012.
  5. "Dell PS Series Configuration Guide" (PDF). Dell Storage Engineering. January 31, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 1, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  6. Apicella, Mario (November 7, 2003). "EqualLogic delivers an array of impressive IP storage features". InfoWorld. San Francisco: IDG. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  7. "EqualLogic PeerStorage Array Achieves Designed for Windows Logo Qualification" (Press release). Nashua, N.H.: EqualLogic. BusinessWire. November 19, 2003. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  8. Technical specs PS4100E, visited 29 April 2013
  9. Technical specs PS4100KV3,5, visited 2 March 2013
  10. Technical specs PS4110E, visited 2 March 2013
  11. Technical specs PS4110KV3,5, visited 2 March 2013
  12. PS6100 series model overview, visited 2 March 2013
  13. PS6110 series model overview, visited 2 March 2013
  14. Dell datasheet on EQLX PS-M4110, downloaded: 2 March 2013
  15. Dell website on PS-65x0 series, visited 2 March 2013
  16. PS6500-ES/PS6510-ES specifications, visited 2 March 2013
  17. Technical specification 65x0-X, visited 2 March 2013
  18. Dell EQLX website on FS7600 NAS systems