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The$goal$of$ESG$Lab$reports$is$to$educate$IT$professionals$about$data$center$technology$products$for$companies$of$all$types$and$sizes.$ESG$Lab$reports$are$not$meant$

to$replace$the$evaluation$process$that$sho uld$b e$con du cted $before $m akin g$pu rcha sing$d ecisions,$but$rather$to$provide$insight$into$these$emerging$technologies.$Our$

objective$is$to$go$over$some$of$the$more$valuable$feature/functions$of$products,$show$how$they$can$be$used$to$solve$real$customer$problems$and$identify$any$areas$

needing$improvement.$ESG$Lab’s$expert$third-party$perspective$is$based$on$our$own$hands-on$testing$as$well$as$on$interviews$with$customers$who$use$these$

products$in$production$environments.$This$ESG$Lab$report$was$sponsored$by$Dell.$

©$2016$by$The$Enterprise$Strategy$Group,$Inc.$All$Rights$Reserved.$

"#$!%#&''$()$*!

Due$to$their$simplicity$and$flexibility,$NAS$storage$solutions$have$proven$invaluable$to$enterprise$organizations$as$in-

house$solutions$for$file$sharing,$backup,$and$archive$needs.$The$emergence$of$server$virtualization,$private$and$public$

clouds,$and$the$need$to$support$an$ever-increasing$mobile$wo rk fo rce $ has$led$to $inc re a se d $d emands$in$th e$performance,$

capacity,$securit y,$and$connectivity$of$NAS$storage$solutions.$With$an$ever-increasing $n e ed $t o $m a n a ge $a n d$p ro t ec t$a $

growing$amount$of$unstructured$data,$it$is$no$small$surprise$that$respondents$to$ESG$research$have$iden tifie d $h ar d w a re $

costs,$rapid$data$growth$rate,$data$p ro t e c tio n $a nd$migra ti o n ,$a n d $s ta f f$c o s ts $as$top$storage$challenges$faced$by$

enterprise$organizations.

$Storing,$protecting,$and$managing$access$to$such$a$large$mount$of$unstructured$data$is$costly$

both$in$terms$of$capital$expenses$(hardware$and$software)$and$operational$expenses$(management$and$expertise).$$

Figure'1.'Top'Five'Storage'Challenges'of'Enterprise'Organizations'

Source:'Enterprise'Strategy'Group,'2016.'

With$so$much$unstructured$data$to$manage$and$protect,$traditional$scale-up$NAS$storage$solutions$are$no$longer$

sufficient.$Organizations$require$a$NAS$solution$that$can$scale$out,$gro w $c a p a c it y$a nd$perfo rmance$o n $d e mand$a s$

needed,$bridge$the$gap$between$SMB$and$NFS$with$a$single$global$namespace,$and$remain$in$co m plia nce $w ith$sec urity,$

government,$and$organizational$regulations.$$

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

$Source:$ESG$Research$Report,$2015'Data'Storage'Market'Trends,$October,$2015$

23%$

26%$

27%$

Data$migra\on$

Staﬀ$costs$$

Data$protec\on$(e.g.$backup/recovery,$etc.)$

Rapid$data$growth$rate$$

Hardware$costs$

+(!)$($,&'-!.#&/!.01'2!301!*&3!&,$!301,!0,)&(45&60(7*!84) )$*/!9#&''$()$*!4(!/$,:*!0;!4/*!

*/0,&)$!$(<4,0(:$(/=!>?$,9$(/!0;!,$*@0(2$(/*-!ABCDC-!/0@!E<$!*#0.(F!

ESG$Lab$Review'

Dell$FluidFS'v5:"Flexible'and!Secure&ScaleGout#File#System!

Date:"February(2016!!!Author:!Aviv$Kaufmann,$Senior$ESG$Lab$Analyst$and$Mike$Leone,$Senior$ESG$Lab$Analyst!

Abstract:'This'ESG'Lab'Review'documents'hands-on'testing'of'Dell’s'FluidFS'v5'scale-out'file's y st em'with'a'fo cu s 'o n '

validating'the'latest'enhan ce m en ts'in'the'a reas 'of'simplicity,'scalability,'and'data'governance.''

Summary of content (8 pages)

PAGE 1
ESG Lab Review Dell FluidFS v5: Flexible and Secure Scale-out File System Date: February 2016 Author: Aviv Kaufmann, Senior ESG Lab Analyst and Mike Leone, Senior ESG Lab Analyst Abstract: This ESG Lab Review documents hands-on testing of Dell’s FluidFS v5 scale-out file system with a focus on validating the latest enhancements in the areas of simplicity, scalability, and data governance.
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ESG Lab Review: Dell FluidFS v5: Flexible and Secure Scale-out File System 2 The Solution: Dell FluidFS v5 and the FS8600 NAS Solution Dell FluidFS v5 is the fifth generation of Dell’s high performance scale-out file system. FluidFS provides a single, global namespace for NFS and SMB clients, greatly simplifying the management of unstructured data, while offering enhanced data governance and application integration capabilities.
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ESG Lab Review: Dell FluidFS v5: Flexible and Secure Scale-out File System 3 Simple Flexibility ESG Lab performed remote, hands-on testing of the Dell FluidFS file system running on two separate FS8600 clusters with block FC storage provided by up to four Dell/Compellent SC4020 storage systems.
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ESG Lab Review: Dell FluidFS v5: Flexible and Secure Scale-out File System 4 address range, subnet, or clients in a Netgroup). Mounting the volumes on clients was just as simple and required no extra steps because the clients were already members of the Active Directory (AD) domain. Even the NFS volumes were able to leverage the Global AD catalog as an LDAP repository, saving administrators the burden of having to maintain separate repositories for NAS shares.
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ESG Lab Review: Dell FluidFS v5: Flexible and Secure Scale-out File System 5 To validate this ability, ESG Lab used two identical FluidFS clusters (each consisting of two FS8600 appliances and two SC4020 arrays). On the first cluster, we created a file system and a base volume, and added both an NFS export and SMB share to the root of the volume.
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ESG Lab Review: Dell FluidFS v5: Flexible and Secure Scale-out File System 6 Security and Data Governance Next, ESG Lab validated some of the ways in which a Dell FluidFS v5 deployment can be used to provide more secure access to data for clients and remain in compliance through integration with Dell Change Auditor. With the added pressure to remain in regulatory compliance and protect against data breaches, it is critical for organizations to know who is accessing their data, and how they are doing so.
PAGE 7
ESG Lab Review: Dell FluidFS v5: Flexible and Secure Scale-out File System 7 events and see when files were opened, modified, deleted, renamed, or copied. File events were categorized and colorcoded by severity for quick visual analysis with simple file operations categorized as medium severity, and modifications to the Active Directory ACL categorized as high severity.
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ESG Lab Review: Dell FluidFS v5: Flexible and Secure Scale-out File System 8 The Bigger Truth Unstructured data continues to grow at an amazing rate. ESG research revealed that 88% of organizations believe that their storage capacity is growing at double-digit annual growth rates.4 Despite carrying the general perception of being complex to manage, NAS storage solutions continue to be the technology of choice when if comes to primary enterprise storage.