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EMCVNX5200Review

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EMC'sVNX5200storagecontrolleristheentrypointforthecompany'sVNX2offeringsandfeaturesblockstoragewithoptional

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fileandunifiedstoragefunctionality.TheVNX5200canmanageupto125x2.5inchor3.5inchSASandNLSASharddrivesandSSDsandis
builtwithEMC'sMCxmulticorearchitecture.KevinO'Brien,DirectoroftheStorageReviewEnterpriseTestLab,recentlytraveledtoEMC'sdata
centerinHopkinton,MAforsomehandsontimeandbenchmarksoftheVNX5200.

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InSeptemberoflastyear,EMCupdatedtheirpopularVNXlineofunifiedstoragearrayswithsignificanthardwareenhancements.Theresultwas
theVNX2lineup,withenhancementslikeamovefromPCIe2.0toPCIe3.0andthenewMCxarchitecture(encompassingmulticoreRAID,

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ManyoftheseenhancementsfocusonenablingtheVNXplatformtomakebetteruseofflashatatimewhenstorageadministratorscontinueto
movetowardshybridarrayconfigurations.AccordingtoEMC,nearly70%ofVNX2systemsarenowshippinginhybridflashconfigurations,ashift

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WhilethesmallerVNXe3200thatwepreviouslyreviewedhasalsobeenupdatedwithVNX2technologies,theVNX5200isdesignedformidmarket
customerswhoneedaprimarystoragesystemattheirheadquartersandforremote/branchofficeneedsthataremorerobustthanwhatthe
VNXe3200canhandle.TheVNX5200canbeconfiguredforblock,file,orunifiedstorageandutilizesa3U,25x2.5inchEMCDiskProcessor
Enclosure(DPE)chassis.TheVNX5200sstorageprocessorunitsincorporatea1.2GHz,fourcoreXeonE5processorwith16GBofRAMandcan
manageamaximumof125driveswithFC,iSCSI,FCoEandNASconnectivity.

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TheVNX2familyalsocurrentlyincludesfivestoragesystemsdesignedforlargerscalesthantheVNXe3200andtheVNX5200.
VNX5400:Upto1PBofrawcapacityacross250drives,upto1TBofSSDFASTCache,andupto8UltraFlexI/Omodulesperarray
VNX5600:Upto2PBofrawcapacityacross500drives,upto2TBofSSDFASTCache,andupto10UltraFlexI/Omodulesperarray
VNX5800:Upto3PBofrawcapacityacross750drives,upto3TBofSSDFASTCache,andupto10UltraFlexI/Omodulesperarray
VNX7600:Upto4PBofrawcapacityacross1,000drives,upto4.2TBofSSDFASTCache,andupto10UltraFlexI/Omodulesperarray
VNX8000:Upto6PBofrawcapacityacross1,500drives,upto4.2TBofSSDFASTCache,andupto22UltraFlexI/Omodulesperarray

VNX5200blockstorageispoweredbydualVNXStorageProcessorswitha6GbSASdrivetopology.AVNX2deploymentcanuseoneormore
DataMoversandacontrollerunittoofferNASservices.LikeothermembersoftheVNXseries,theVNX5200usesUltraFlexI/Omodulesforthe
bothitsDataMoversandtheblockstorageprocessors.TheVNX5200supportsuptothreeDataMoversandamaximumofthreeUltraFlex
modulesperDataMover.
MCxMultiCoreFunctionality
VNXpredateswidespreadmulticoreprocessortechnology,andpriorgenerationsoftheplatformwerenotbuiltonafoundationthatcouldleverage
dynamicCPUscaling.FLARE,theVNX1andCLARiiONCXoperatingenvironment,didallowservicesincludingRAIDtoberunonaspecificCPU
core,butFLAREssinglethreadedparadigmmeantthatmanycorefunctionswereboundtothefirstCPUcore.Forexample,allincomingI/O
processeswerehandledbyCore0beforebeingdelegatedtoothercores,leadingtobottleneckscenarios.
MCximplementswhatEMCcharacterizesashorizontalmulticoresystemscaling,whichallowsallservicestobespreadacrossallcores.Under
thisnewarchitectureavailableonbothVNX2andtheVNXe3200,incomingI/Oprocessesarelesslikelytobecomebottleneckedbecause,for
example,frontendFibreChannelportscanbeevenlydistributedamongseveralprocessorcores.MCxalsoimplementsI/Ocoreaffinitythrough
itsconceptofpreferredcores.Everyport,frontendandbackend,hasbothapreferredcoreandanalternatecoreassignment.Thesystem
serviceshostrequestswiththesamefrontendcorewheretherequestsoriginatedinordertoavoidswappingcacheandcontextbetweencores.
AmajoradvantageofthenewMCxarchitectureissupportforsymmetricactive/activeLUN,whichenableshoststoaccessLUNssimultaneously
viabothStorageProcessorsinthearray.UnlikewithFLAREsasymmetricimplementation,symmetricactive/activemodeallowsbothSPsto
writedirectlytotheLUNwithouttheneedtosendupdatestotheprimaryStorageProcessor.
Atpresent,VNX2systemssupportsymmetricactive/activeaccessforclassicRAIDgroupLUNs,butdonotsupportactive/activeforprivatepool
LUNswhichinsteadcanmakeuseofasymmetricactive/activemode.PrivatepoolLUNsorClassicLUNscannotcurrentlymakeuseof
symmetricactive/activemodeiftheyuseDataServicesotherthantheVNXRecoverPointsplitter.

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OneoftheVNX5200scompellingsynergiesbetweentheMCxarchitectureandflashmediastorageisthesystem'ssupportfortheEMCFAST
Suite,whichallowsadministratorstotakeadvantageofflashstoragemediatoincreasearrayperformanceacrossheterogeneousdrives.The
FASTSuitecombinestwoapproachesforusingflashtoacceleratestorageperformancecachingandtieringintoanintegratedsolution.VNX2
updatestotheFASTSuiteincludefourtimesbettertieringgranularityandsupportforneweMLCflashdrives.
VNXFASTCacheallowsupto4.2TBofSSDstoragetobeutilizedinordertoservehighlyactivedataanddynamicallyadjusttoworkloadspikes,
althoughtheuppercachesizelimitoftheVNX5200is600GB.Asdataagesandbecomeslessactiveovertime,FASTVPtiersthedatafrom
highperformancetohighcapacitydrivesin256MBincrementsbasedonadministratordefinedpolicies.
EMCVNX5200Specifications
ArrayEnclosure:3UDiskProcessorEnclosure
DriveEnclosures:
2.5inchSAS/Flash(2U),25drives
3.5inchSAS/Flash(3U),15drives
MaxSANHosts:1,024
Min/MaxDrives:4/125
MaxFASTCache:600GB
CPU/MemoryperArray:2xIntelXeonE526004Core1.2GHz/32GB
RAID:0/1/10/3/5/6
MaxRawCapacity:500TB
Protocols:FC,FCoE,NFS,CIFS,iSCSI,
StorageTypes:Unified,SAN,NAS,Object
DriveTypes:FlashSSD,SAS,NLSAS
CapacityOptimization:ThinProvisioning,BlockDeduplication,BlockCompression,FileLevelDeduplicationandCompression
Performance:MCx,FASTVP,FASTCache
Management:EMCUnisphere
VirtualizationSupport:VMwarevSphere,VMwareHorizonView,MicrosoftHyperV,CitrixXenDesktop
MaxBlockUltraFlexI/OModulesperArray:6
MaxTotalPortsperArray:28
2/4/8Gb/sFCMaxPortsperArray:24
1GBASETiSCSIMaxTotalPortsperArray:16
MaxFCoEPortsPerArray:12
10GbEiSCSIMaxTotalPortsperArray:12
ControlStations:1or2
MaxSupportedLUNs:1,000(Pooled)
MaxLUNSize:256TB(VirtualPoolLUN)
MaxFileSystemSize:16TB
NumberofFileDataMovers:1,2or3
CPU/MemoryperDataMover:IntelXeon5600/6GB
UltraFlexI/OExpansionModulesforBlock:
4Port2/4/8Gb/sFibreChannel
4Port1Gb/s(copper)iSCSI
2Port10Gb/s(optical)iSCSI
2Port10GBASET(copper)iSCSI
2Port10GbE(opticalortwinax)FCoE
UltraFlexI/OExpansionModulesforFile:
4Port1GBASET
4Port1GBASETand1GbE(optical)
2Port10GbE(optical)
2Port10GBASET(copper)
DesignandBuild
InVNXterminology,astoragedeploymentconsistsofseveralintegratedrackcomponents.ThecontrollercomponentiseitheraStorage
ProcessorEnclosure(SPE)whichdoesnotincorporatedrivebays,oraswiththisVNX5200,aDiskProcessorEnclosure(DPE)whichdoes
provideinternalstorage.VNXDiskArrayEnclosures(DAEs)canbeusedtoincorporateadditionalstoragecapacity.

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AnSPEincorporatestheVNXstorageprocessorsinadditiontodualSASmodules,dualpowersupplies,andfanpacks.DiskProcessor
Enclosures(DPEs)includeanenclosure,diskmodules,storageprocessors,dualpowersupplies,andfourfanpacks.Addingadditionalstorage
throughtheuseofDAEscanbedonethroughtheuseofeither15x3.5inch,25x2.5inch,or60x3.5inchdrivebayswithdualSASlinkcontrol
cardsanddualpowersupplies.

Whethertheyarepartofastorageprocessorenclosureoradiskprocessorenclosure,VNXstorageprocessorsprovidedataaccesstoexternal
hostsandbridgethearraysblockstoragewithoptionalVNX2filestoragefunctionality.TheVNX5200cantakeadvantageofavarietyofEMC's
UltraFlexIOModulestocustomizeitsconnectivity.
UltraFlexBlockIOModuleOptions:
Fourport8Gb/sFibreChannelmodulewithopticalSFPandOM2/OM3cablingtoconnecttoanHBAorFCswitch.
Fourport1Gb/siSCSImodulewithaTCPoffloadengineandfour1GBaseTCat6ports.
Twoport10Gb/sOptiSCSIModulewithaTCPoffloadengine,two10Gb/sEthernetports,andanSFP+opticalconnectionorantwinax
copperconnectiontoanEthernetswitch.
Twoport10GBaseTiSCSImodulewithaTCPoffloadengineandtwo10GBaseTEthernetports
Twoport10GbEFCoEmodulewithtwo10Gb/sEthernetportsandanSFP+opticalconnectionoratwinaxcopperconnection
Fourport6Gb/sSASV2.0moduleforbackendconnectivitytoVNXBlockStorageProcessors.EachSASporthasfourlanesperportat
6Gb/sfor24Gb/snominalthroughput.ThismoduleisdesignedforPCIe3connectivityandcanbeconfiguredas4x4x6or2x8x6.
InordertoconfiguretheVNX5200forfilestorageorunifiedstorage,itmustbeusedintandemwithoneormoreDataMoverunits.TheVNXData
MoverEnclosure(DME)is2UinsizeandhousestheDataMovers.DataMoversuse2.13GHz,fourcoreXeon5600processorswith6GBRAM
perDataMoverandcanmanageamaximumstoragecapacityof256TBperDataMover.Thedatamoverenclosurecanoperatewithone,two,or

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threeDataMovers.

ControlStationsare1UinsizeandprovidemanagementfunctionstotheDataMovers,includingcontrolsforfailover.AControlStationcanbe
deployedwithasecondaryControlStationforredundancy.UltraFlexFileIOModuleoptionsinclude:
Fourport1GBaseTIPmodulewithfourRJ45portsforCat6cables
Twoport10GbEOptIPmodulewithtwo10Gb/sEthernetportsandachoiceofanSFP+opticalconnectionoratwinaxcopperconnection
toanEthernetswitch
Twoport10GBaseTIPmodulewithcopperconnectionstoanEthernetswitch
Fourport8Gb/sFibreChannelModulewithopticalSFPandOM2/OM3cablingtoconnectdirectlytoacaptivearrayandtoprovidean
NDMPtapeconnection
ManagementandDataServices
TheVNXfamilyusesEMCsUnisphere
managementsoftware.Ouroverallimpressionof
Unisphereisthatitoffersacleanandwell
organizedinterfacethatwillbeaccessibletoIT
generalistswhilealsoallowingexperienced
storageadministratorstoaccessthesystem's
fullfunctionality.
Unisphereincorporatessnapshotfunctionalitythatincludesconfigurationoptionsforanautodeletepolicythatdeletessnapshotseither(1)aftera
specifiedamountoftimeor(2)oncesnapshotstoragespaceexceedsaspecifiedpercentageofstoragecapacity.VNXsnapshotscanmakeuse
ofEMCsthinprovisioningandredirectonwritetechnologiestoimprovethespeedandreducestoragerequirementsforstoredsnapshots.
VNXusesblockandfilecompressionalgorithmsdesignedforrelativelyinactiveLUNsandfiles,allowingbothitscompressionanddeduplication
operationstobeconductedinthebackgroundwithreducedperformanceoverhead.VNXsfixedblockdeduplicationisbuiltwith8KBgranularityfor
scenarioslikevirtualmachine,virtualdesktop,andtest/developmentenvironmentswithmuchtogainfromdeduplication.Deduplicationcanbeset
atthepoolLUNlevel,andthin,thickanddeduplicatedLUNscanbestoredinasinglepool.
UnisphereCentralprovidescentralizedmultiboxmonitoringforuptothousandsofVNXandVNXesystems,forexamplesystemsdeployedin
remoteandbranchoffices.TheUnispheresuitealsoincludesVNXMonitoringandReportingsoftwareforstorageutilizationandworkloadpatterns
inordertofacilitateproblemdiagnosis,trendanalysis,andcapacityplanning.
Invirtualizedenvironments,theVNX5200candeployEMCsVirtualStorageIntegratorforVMwarevSphere5forprovisioning,management,
cloning,anddeduplication.ForVMware,theVNX5200offersAPIintegrationsforVAAIandVASA,andinHyperVenvironmentsitcanbe
configuredforOffloadedDataTransferandOffloadCopyforFile.TheEMCStorageIntegratoroffersprovisioningfunctionalityforHyperVand
SharePoint.EMCSiteRecoveryManagersoftwarecanmanagefailoverandfailbackindisasterrecoverysituationsaswell.

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VNX2arraysfromtheVNX5200throughtheVNX8000offerEMCsnewcontrollerbaseddataatrestencryption,namedD@RE,whichencryptsall

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userdataatthedrivelevel.D@REusesAES256encryptionandispendingvalidationforFIPS1402Level1compliance.NewD@REcapable
VNXarraysshipwiththeencryptionhardwareincluded,andexistingVNX2systemscanbefieldupgradedtosupportD@REandnondisruptively
encryptexistingstorageasabackgroundtask.
D@REencryptsalldatawrittentothearrayusingaregular
datapathprotocolwithauniquekeyperdisk.Ifdrivesare
removedfromthearrayforanyreason,informationonthe
driveisunintelligible.D@REalsoincorporatescryptoerase
functionalitybecauseitsencryptionkeysaredeletedwhena
RAIDgrouporstoragepoolisdeleted.
VNX2offersmirroredwritecachefunctionality,whereeach
storageprocessorcontainsbothprimarycacheddataforits
LUNsandasecondarycopyofthecacheforthepeer
storageprocessor.RAIDlevels0,1,1/0,5,and6can
coexistinthesamearrayandthesystemsproactivehot
sparingfunctionfurtherincreasesdataprotection.The
systemusesintegratedbatterybackupunitstoprovidecachedestagingandotherconsiderationsforanorderlyshutdownduringpowerfailures.
LocalprotectionisavailablethroughUnispherespointintimesnapshotfeature,andcontinuousdataprotectionisavailableviaRecoverPointlocal
replication.EMCsVPLEXcanbeusedtoextendcontinuousavailabilitywithinandacrossdatacenters.AccordingtoEMC,itusedtelevision
DVRsasaninspirationforitsRecoverPointContinuousRemoteReplicationsoftware.
ReplicationManagerandAppSyncprovideapplicationconsistentprotectionwithEMCBackupandRecoverysolutionsincludingDataDomain,
Avamar,andNetworkertoshortenthebackupwindowsandrecoverytimes.
TestingBackgroundandStorageMedia
Wepublishaninventoryofourlabenvironment,anoverviewofthelab'snetworkingcapabilities,andotherdetailsaboutourtestingprotocolsso
thatadministratorsandthoseresponsibleforequipmentacquisitioncanfairlygaugetheconditionsunderwhichwehaveachievedthepublished
results.Tomaintainourindependence,noneofourreviewsarepaidforormanagedbythemanufacturerofequipmentwearetesting.
TheEMCVNX5200reviewstandsoutasaratheruniquetestingapproachcomparedtohowweusuallyevaluateequipment.Inourstandardreview
processthevendorshipsustheplatform,whichwethenconnecttoourfixedtestingplatformsforperformancebenchmarks.WiththeVNX5200,
thesizeandcomplexity,aswellasinitialsetupcausedustochangethisapproachandflyourreviewerandequipmenttoEMC'slab.EMC
preparedaVNX5200withtheequipmentandoptionsnecessaryforiSCSIandFCtesting.EMCsuppliedtheirowndedicated8GbFCswitch,while
webroughtoneofourMellanox10/40GbSX1024switchesforEthernetconnectivity.TostressthesystemweleveragedanEchoStreamsOSS1A
1Userver,exceedingthehardwarespecificationsofwhatweuseinourtraditionallabenvironment.
EchoStreamsOSS1A1USpecifications:
2xIntelXeonE52697v2(2.7GHz,30MBCache,12cores)
IntelC602AChipset
Memory16GB(2x8GB)1333MHzDDR3RegisteredRDIMMs
WindowsServer2012R2Standard
BootSSD:100GBMicronRealSSDP400e
2xMellanoxConnectX3dualport10GbENIC
2xEmulexLightPulseLPe16002Gen5FibreChannel(8GFC,16GFC)PCIe3.0DualPortHBA

OurevaluationoftheVNX5200willcompareitsperformanceinsyntheticbenchmarksacrossfiveconfigurationsthatreflecthowEMCcustomers

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deployVNX2systemsinaproductionsetting.Eachconfigurationleveraged8LUNsmeasuring25GBinsize.
ARAID10arraycomposedofSSDmediawithFibreChannelconnectivity
ARAID10arraycomposedofSSDmediawithiSCSIconnectivity
ARAID6arraycomposedof7kHDDmediawithFibreChannelconnectivity
ARAID5arraycomposedof10kHDDmediawithFibreChannelconnectivity
ARAID5arraycomposedof15kHDDmediawithFibreChannelconnectivity.
Eachconfigurationincorporated24drivesandusedRAIDconfigurationsmostcommonwiththeirdeploymentinaproductionsetting.

EnterpriseSyntheticWorkloadAnalysis
Priortoinitiatingeachofthefiosyntheticbenchmarks,ourlabpreconditionsthedeviceintosteadystateunderaheavyloadof16threadswithan
outstandingqueueof16perthread.Thenthestorageistestedinsetintervalswithmultiplethread/queuedepthprofilestoshowperformanceunder
lightandheavyusage.
PreconditioningandPrimarySteadyStateTests:
Throughput(Read+WriteIOPSAggregated)
AverageLatency(Read+WriteLatencyAveragedTogether)
MaxLatency(PeakReadorWriteLatency)
LatencyStandardDeviation(Read+WriteStandardDeviationAveragedTogether)
Thissyntheticanalysisincorporatesfourprofileswhicharewidelyusedinmanufacturerspecificationsandbenchmarks:
4krandom100%Readand100%Write
8ksequential100%Readand100%Write
8krandom70%Read/30%Write
128ksequential100%Readand100%Write
Afterbeingpreconditionedfor4kworkloads,weputtheVNX5200throughourprimarytests.Assuch,whenconfiguredwithSSDsandaccessed
viaFibreChannel,itposted80,472IOPSreadand33,527IOPSwrite.UsingthesameSSDsinRAID10(thoughthistimeusingouriSCSIblock
leveltest),theVNX5200achieved37,421IOPSreadand22,309IOPSwrite.Switchingto15KHDDsinRAID5usingFibreChannel
connectivityshowed12,054IOPSreadand3,148IOPSwrite,whilethe10KHDDconfigurationhit7,688IOPSreadand2,835IOPSwrite.When
using7KHDDsinaRAID6configurationofthesameconnectivitytype,theVNX5200posted4,390IOPSreadand1,068IOPSwrite.

Resultsweremuchofthesameinaveragelatency.WhenconfiguredwithSSDsinRAID10andusingaFibreChannelconnectivity,itshowed
3.18msreadand7.63mswrite.UsingthesameSSDswithouriSCSIblockleveltest,theVNX5200boasted6.84msreadand11.47mewrite.
Switchingto15KHDDsinRAID5usingFibreChannelconnectivityshowed21.23msreadand81.31mswriteinaveragelatency,whilethe10K

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HDDconfigurationposted33.29msreadand90.31mswrite.Whenswitchingto7KHDDsinaRAID6configurationofthesameconnectivitytype,
theVNX5200posted58.29msreadand239.64mswrite.

Next,wemovetoourmaximumlatencybenchmark.WhenconfiguredwithSSDsinRAID10andusingouriSCSIblockleveltest,itshowed
197msreadand421.8mswrite.UsingthesameSSDs,thoughthistimewithFibreChannelconnectivity,theVNX5200boasted202.1msreadand
429.2mswrite.Switchingto15KHDDsinRAID5usingFibreChannelconnectivityrecorded1,311.3msreadand1,199.2mswriteformaximum
latency,whilethe10KHDDconfigurationposted2,687.8msreadand2,228.1mswrite.Whenswitchingto7KHDDsinaRAID6configurationofthe
sameconnectivitytype,theVNX5200posted3,444.8msreadand2,588.4mswrite.

Ourlast4Kbenchmarkisstandarddeviation,whichmeasurestheconsistencyoftheVNX5200'sperformance.WhenconfiguredwithSSDsin
RAID10usingouriSCSIblockleveltest,theVNX5200posted3.30msreadand12.06mswrite.UsingthesameSSDswithFibreChannel
connectivityshows9.20msreadand14.32mswrite.Switchingto15KHDDsinRAID5withFibreChannelconnectivityrecorded25.93msreadand
120.53mswrite,whilethe10KHDDconfigurationposted35.37msreadand175.66mswrite.Whenusing7KHDDsRAID6configurationofthe
sameconnectivitytype,theVNX5200posted52.75msreadand254.55mswrite.

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Ournextbenchmarkusesasequentialworkloadcomposedof100%readoperationsandthen100%writeoperationswithan8ktransfersize.
Here,theVNX5200posted178,959IOPSreadand76,022IOPSwritewhenconfiguredwith10KHDDsinRAID5FibreChannelconnectivity.Using
15KHDDsinRAID5withFibreChannelconnectivityshows176,895IOPSreadand77,505IOPSwrite.SwitchingtoSSDsinRAID10usinga
FibreChannelconnectivityrecorded169,833IOPSreadand74,470IOPSwrite,whiletheSSDiSCSIblockleveltestshowed69,303IOPSread
and40,379IOPSwrite.Whenusing7KHDDsinaRAID6configurationwithFibreChannelconnectivity,theVNX5200posted75,982IOPSread
and76,122IOPSwrite.

Ournextseriesofworkloadsarecomposedofamixtureof8kread(70%)andwrite(30%)operationsuptoa16Threads16Queue,ourfirstbeing
throughput.WhenconfiguredwithSSDsinRAID10usingFibreChannelconnectivity,theVNX5200postedarangeof8,673IOPSto41,866IOPS
by16T/16Q.UsingthesameSSDsduringouriSCSIblockleveltestshowsarangeof6,631IOPSto28,193IOPS.Switchingto15KHDDsin
RAID5withFibreChannelconnectivityrecordedarangeof1,204IOPSand6,411IOPS,whilethe10KHDDconfigurationposted826IOPSand
5,113IOPSby16T/16Q.Whenusing7KHDDsRAID6configurationofthesameconnectivitytype,theVNX5200postedarangeof267IOPSto
2,467IOPS.

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Next,welookedataveragelatency.WhenconfiguredwithSSDsinRAID10usingFibreChannelconnectivity,theVNX5200postedarangeof
0.45msto6.11msby16T/16Q.UsingthesameSSDsduringouriSCSIblockleveltestshowsarangeof0.59msto9.07ms.Switchingto15K
HDDsinRAID5withFibreChannelconnectivityrecordedarangeof3.31msand39.89ms,whilethe10KHDDconfigurationposted4.83msinitially
and49.97msby16T/16Q.Whenusing7KHDDsRAID6configurationofthesameconnectivitytype,theVNX5200postedarangeof14.93msto
103.52ms.

Takingalookatitsmaximumlatencyresults,whenconfiguredwithSSDsinRAID10usingFibreChannelconnectivity,theVNX5200hadarange
of27.85msto174.43msby16T/16Q.UsingthesameSSDsduringouriSCSIblockleveltestshowsarangeof31.78msto134.48msinmaximum
latency.Switchingto15KHDDsinRAID5withFibreChannelconnectivityrecordedarangeof108.48msand2,303.72ms,whilethe10KHDD
configurationshowed58.83msand2,355.53msby16T/16Q.Whenusing7KHDDsRAID6configurationofthesameconnectivitytype,the
VNX5200postedamaximumlatencyrangeof82.74msto1,338.61ms.

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Ournextworkloadanalyzesthestandarddeviationforour8k70%readand30%writeoperations.UsingSSDsinRAID10usingFibreChannel
connectivity,theVNX5200postedarangeofjust0.18msto10.83msby16T/16Q.UsingthesameSSDsduringouriSCSIblockleveltestshows
asimilarrangeof0.21msto11.54msinlatencyconsistency.Switchingto15KHDDsinRAID5withFibreChannelconnectivityrecordedarange
of3.48msto56.58ms,whilethe10KHDDconfigurationshowed2.5msinitiallyand66.44msby16T/16Q.Whenusing7KHDDsRAID6
configurationofthesameconnectivitytype,theVNX5200postedastandarddeviationrangeof7.98msto110.68ms.

Ourfinalsyntheticbenchmarkmadeuseofsequential128ktransfersandaworkloadof100%readand100%writeoperations.Inthisscenario,
theVNX5200posted2.84GB/sreadand1.26GB/swritewhenconfiguredwithSSDsusingouriSCSIblockleveltest.Using15KHDDsinRAID5
withFibreChannelconnectivityshows2.48GB/sreadand2.33GB/swrite.SwitchingbacktoSSDsinRAID10(thistimeusingaFibreChannel
connectivity)itrecorded2.48GB/sreadand3.06GB/swrite.Whenusing7KHDDsinaRAID6configurationwithFibreChannelconnectivity,the
VNX5200posted2.47GB/sreadand2.68GB/swritewhilethe10KHDDconfigurationposted2.47GB/sreadand3.22GB/swrite.

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Conclusion
EMC'sVNXecosystemiswellestablishedintheenterprisestoragemarket,butVNX2reflectsthecompany'swillingnesstocompletelyoverhaul
theVNXarchitectureinordertomakethemostofadvancesinprocessor,flash,andnetworkingtechnologies.MuchliketheVNXe3200,whichis
orientedtowardssmallerdeployments,theVNX5200alsodemonstratesthatEMCispayingattentiontomidmarketfirmsandremote/branch
officeswhichmaynotbeabletojustifytheexpenseofthelargersystemsintheVNXfamilybutstillwantalloftheenterprisebenefits.

UsedinconjunctionwiththeFASTSuite,theVNX5200isabletoofferflashcachingandtieringintandem,acombinationagainstwhichEMC's
peershavetroublecompeting.Inourtestingwebrokeoutthecommontiersandconfigurationsofstoragetoillustratewithalimitedtestsuitejust
whatuserscanexpectfromthe5200.Testscovered7KHDDonuptoSSDs,illustratingtheflexibilitythesystemhas,deliveringcapacity,
performance,orbothoveravarietyofinterfaceoptions.
UltimatelytheVNX2platformcanhandlejustaboutanythingthrownitswayandit'sthatflexibilitythatwinsEMCdealsonadailybasis.Giventhe
blendofstorageoptions,IOmodulesandNASsupportthesystemsareabletomanageagainstalmosteverythinganorganizationcouldneed.Of
coursethereareusecasesthatgobeyondthe5200wetestedhere.TheVNXfamilyscalesupquiteabit(anddownsometoowiththe
VNXe3200)toaddresstheseneedsbeitwithmorecomputepower,flashallotmentordiskshelves.
Pros
AvarietyofconnectivityoptionsviaUltraFlexI/Omodules
Configurationsthatsupportblock,file,andunifiedstoragescenarios
AccesstotherobustVNXecosystemofadministrativetoolsandthirdpartyintegrations
Cons
Maximumof600GBofFASTCache
BottomLine

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EMCVNX5200Review|StorageReview.comStorageReviews

TheEMCVNX5200isakeyentryinatheirnewwaveofunifiedstoragearraysthatarearchitectedtotakeadvantageofflashstorage,multicore
CPUsandmoderndatacenternetworkenvironments.Itsaffordability,flexibilityinconfiguration,andaccesstoVNX2managementsoftwareand
thirdpartyintegrationsmakesforaformidableoverallpackageforthemidmarket.
EMCVNX5200ProductPage
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