DELL MD3620f 3620-1992 Leaflet

Product codes
3620-1992
Page of 2
Dell PowerVault  
MD3 Fibre Channel array series
The Dell™ PowerVault™ MD3 Fibre Channel array series introduces the next generation of 16Gb/s connectivity. 
This SAN solution is ideal for entry-level storage consolidation that requires high availability, high performance 
and business continuity without sacrificing ease of use and reliability.  
Fibre Channel-based network storage
PowerVault MD3 Fibre Channel arrays offer exceptional performance, reliability 
and versatility to meet your business demands. Now it’s simple to improve 
storage utilization by combining storage resources while increasing availability 
with redundant hardware, and streamlining the backup process. Management 
complexities are minimized by consolidating data and resources with a single 
array, using either the standard 2U configuration or the high-density 4U model.
Affordable versatility
The MD3 Fibre Channel series is designed to deliver maximum performance and 
capacity at an affordable price. This series is available with 3.5”, 2.5” or SSD hard 
drives in a 2U or 4U standard rack enclosure. If space is a concern, the MD3  
high-density array holds up to 60 hard drives in just 4U, improving both power 
and cooling expenses. The 2U MD3 models are designed to hold 24 x 2.5” drives 
or 12 x 3.5” drives. Grow your capacity when you want to, how you want to, with 
the expansion enclosures designed for the MD3 arrays.   
Ideal for data intensive applications
Implement your high-performance network storage solution for less with MD3 
Fibre Channel arrays while protecting your existing Fibre Channel investment. 
Now you can effectively consolidate storage to support the value of your existing 
Fibre Channel environment with performance to meet both IOP-intensive, 
high-bandwidth applications. MD3 storage arrays are also fully qualified for 
use in virtualized application environments with VMware
®
 ESX
 and Microsoft
®
 
Hyper-V
®
 software.
Keep pace with the latest technology
The MD3 Fibre Channel arrays deliver an excellent performance-per-price ratio. 
Take advantage of a next-generation array with four 16Gb/s Fibre Channel ports 
per controller that offers performance improvement, and easily handles the 
application demands of large databases with increased processing capability. 
These arrays also support solid-state drives (SSD) to meet the most demanding 
I/O requirements. An optional High-Performance Tier (HPT) feature is available 
to increase array I/O and throughput performance, and enables the SSD cache 
feature to improve your read performance by storing frequently read data for 
quick accessibility. A maximum of 16GB cache is available with the dual controller 
option, leveraging 8GB cache per controller.
Gain a new level of management efficiency
The MD Storage Manager software that manages the MD3 series is an intuitive 
client-based application designed for easy array interaction regardless of the level 
of familiarity with storage systems. It provides an enterprise graphical interface for 
monitoring multiple arrays and simplifying array management through one console. 
With the multi-generational and multi-protocol MD Storage Manager, all 
administrative tasks, including configuration, reconfiguration, expansion, 
maintenance and performance tuning, can be performed without array 
downtime or interruption to array performance. MD Storage Manager’s 
configuration flexibility includes the ability to mix RAID levels, segment sizes, array 
sizes and cache policies all within a single storage array. 
Deployment scalability and flexibility
Scale easily: Up to 64 servers in a SAN environment can be connected to  
a single MD3 Fibre Channel storage array. Storage capacity can be expanded up 
to a base of 120 hard drives
1
 on all models. If additional capacity is needed on 
the 2U models, scale by simply hot-plugging additional PowerVault MD1200 or 
MD1220 expansion enclosures to grow capacity up to 192 hard drives.
1
 The MD3 
4U dense arrays can scale up to 180 hard drives
1
 in just 12U using two MD3060e 
expansion enclosures.
Mix and match drives: 2U arrays hold up to 12 x 3.5” or 24 x 2.5” drives, and 
support additional expansion through the MD1200 enclosure (12 x 3.5”) or 
MD1220 enclosure (24 x 2.5”). Both the 4U dense array and the MD3060e 
expansion enclosure hold up to 60 hard drives (3.5” and 2.5”). 
Optional features
You can try the MD3 premium features with a 90-day trial license, then 
buy the features that meet the needs of your environment. Premium 
features can now be bundled into two options. One option is designed 
to support the high demand for performance, and includes the HPT 
feature. If protecting data is a priority, the pre-packaged Data Protection 
features ensure the availability of the full suite of premium data 
protection option.
Snapshots: Each virtual disk supports up to 128 snapshots, with a total 
of 512 snapshots per system. These are typically used when data needs 
to be “frozen” in time. Snapshot scheduler and Snapshot Rollback are 
features included in the Premium Feature Key, providing additional data 
availability.
Virtual disk copy (VDC): VDC is a full copy of an existing disk at any point 
in time, often used for decision support and application development 
testing. Reads and writes are supported while creating a virtual copy.
SSD cache: Helps improve performance when combined with the HPT 
option, supporting up to 5TB data with the 8GB cache controller. 
Self-encrypting drives (SEDs): With SEDs, if a drive is removed from the 
array or powered down, the data on that drive is encrypted and useless 
to anyone who attempts to access it without the appropriate security 
authorization. 
HPT: Meet the most demanding performance requirements for your 
organization to remain productive and competitive. 
Remote replication: To protect data and processes from major regional 
disasters like earthquakes, fires or large-scale power outages, your 
organization needs remote replication of data to a secondary site. Also 
used for testing and deploying new databases without any downtime.
Standard features
Reliable storage is enhanced with software features that provide added 
data protection, improved virtualization and ease of management. The 
integration of VMware VAAI helps improve performance where you need 
it, freeing your server from storage related tasks. Dynamic Disk Pools 
(DDP) simplify data management and improve storage efficiencies with 
self-healing dynamic disk rebalancing, without the worries of traditional 
RAID configurations. With just a few clicks you can add or delete disks 
from DDP to increase or decrease the size of your pools as needed. DDP 
supports up to 20 disk pools and can support up to 120 SSDs with up 
to 1024TB of storage.
2
 Other software feature enhancements include 
thin provisioning, vCenter Plug-in, enabling VASA and SRA, which are all 
standard features on the MD3 Fibre Channel models. The high-density 
models have standard features to ensure high performance for either 
general-purpose computing or applications with high-bandwidth 
requirements, including HPT and SSD cache.
Introducing the 
new MD3, the next 
generation of affordable 
storage.