On a few reader request, here is a blog post on EMC AX4 technology.

Previously in one of the post on StorageNerve, I had explained the evolution of the EMC Clariion Technology including the AX products and the flare code that is associated with the success of this platform, to read the blog post.

The following are the 4 available models within the AX4 Platform; the naming conventions will explain it further.

AX4-5F (Fiber Channel Host Connect)

AX4-5FSC (Fiber Channel Host Connect, Single RAID Controller)

AX4-5i (iSCSI Host Connect)

AX4-5iSC (iSCSI Host Connect, Single Raid Controller)
Drives per DAE (Drive Array Enclosure)

12

Maximum DAE’s (Drive Array Enclosure) supported per System

4

DPE (Disk Processor Enclosure)

12 drive per DPE

Maximum Drives Supported per System

60

Minimum Drives Supported per System

4 Drives including the Flare Drives (Flare code resides on the 1^st 4 drives of the DPE, with do not remove stickers).

Naming Convention for Drives

Bus

Enclosure

Drive No

Possible Options

Bus 0 and 1

Enclosure 1, 2, 3, 4

DPE becomes enclosure 0

Drive 0 through 11 (12 Drives total)

B0_E3_D11 becomes Bus 0, Enclosure 3 and Drive 12

The following are the disk drives that are supported with the AX4 Platforms.

Capacity: 1TB

Speed: 7.2K

Type: SATA

Capacity: 750GB

Speed: 7.2K

Type: SATA

Capacity: 450GB

Speed: 15K

Type: SAS

Capacity: 400GB

Speed: 15K

Type: SAS

Capacity: 400GB

Speed: 10K

Type: SAS

Capacity: 300GB

Speed: 15K

Type: SAS

Capacity: 146GB

Speed: 15K

Type: SAS

As you notice above, only SAS and SATA drives are usable on an AX4 system with no support for FC or EFD’s.

Supported RAID Types with AX4 Systems

RAID 0, RAID 0+1, RAID 3 and RAID 5 Technologies.

CORRECTION: RAID 6 is now supported on AX-4 Platforms starting release 23 (Navisphere Express)

Supported Software on the AX4 Systems

Navisphere Express included

Navisphere Manager (Only with 2 Service Processors)

Navisphere QoS

Navisphere Analyzer

SnapView

MirrorView/S and /A

SANCopy

Ionix Control Center plug-in

PowerPath

RecoverPoint/SE and CDP/CRR

Replication Manager

Host Type Supported

Windows 2000/2003/2008

Linux

Solaris

HP-UX

AIX

VMware

Some very important characteristics of the AX4 Platforms

Very cost effective

Completes in the SMB space with low end IBM and HP Storage

Scales upto 60TB RAW Storage

Supports upto 64 Host systems connected

1GB Cache per Service Processor, 2GB max for dual processors.

4GB FC connectivity to host (fiber ports to switch / host)

You can run it with a single controller or dual controllers

iSCSI Support

SAS and SATA drives are supported

All Clariion Software supported

SPS (single included): Standby Power Supply – Battery allows the cache to destage during a forced shutdown resulting in no data loss

MetaLUN Technology supported

Virtual LUN Technology supported

Snaps and Clones supported

Supports Flare Release 23, 26 and 28.

Related posts:

1. EMC Clariion RAID-6 requirements and limitations
2. EMC Clariion Systems: Global Hot Spares & Proactive Hot Spares
3. EMC Symmetrix DMX-4: Supported Drive Types
4. Enterprise Flash Drives (EFD) on EMC Symmetrix V-Max Systems
5. After all, FAST makes a debut
6. EMC Symmetrix DMX-4 and Symmetrix V-Max: Basic Differences