VNX5200: Dell EMC VNX5200 Unified Storage System

The Dell EMC VNX5200 is an entry model of the VNX2 unified storage family: a block and file array with dual storage processors (Intel Xeon E5, 16 GB each), a 25-drive 2.5-inch disk processor enclosure and support for up to 125 drives.

Where it fits: midrange SAN and NAS consolidation serving FC, iSCSI and FCoE hosts alongside NFS and CIFS/SMB file shares through 1 to 3 Data Movers. Tell us your drive count, enclosure mix and whether you need file services and we confirm the configuration with your quote.

Dell EMC VNX Part Number: VNX5200

Product Description: Dell EMC VNX5200 Unified Storage System

All EMC VNX2 models support 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch SAS drives using either the 15-drive DAE, 25-drive DAE, 60-drive DAE, or 120-drive DAE and they also utilize the 6 Gb/s SAS back-end.
Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives, Near Line Serial Attached SCSI (NL-SAS) disk drives, and Flash drives are supported.

The EMC VNX2 series offers:
- PCI-E Gen 3 I/O modules
- 6 Gb/s x 4 lanes SAS back-end infrastructure
- Up to x 8 wide (6 Gb/s x 8 lanes) high-bandwidth connection to 60 drive DAE with new 6 Gb SAS I/O module
- Intel Xeon E5 multicore processors
- Expanded UltraFlex I/O, with denser packaging
- NEBS (Network Equipment-Building System) certified DC-powered arrays on the VNX5200, VNX5400, and VNX5600
- Block functionality that supports the FC, iSCSI, and FCoE protocols
- File functionality that supports the NFS, CIFS, and pNFS protocols
- Maximum of up to 1,500 drives
- 120-drive DAE
- Automated tiering with Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP) for block and file data
- Controller based, drive level, Data-At-Rest Encryption
- Updated unified management with Unisphere delivers a cohesive, unified user experience

Install tips:
- Spread flash drives across all available buses, and place them in the lowest numbered enclosures
- Use your flash storage for the active dataset for the best performance
- Plan to reserve at least one of every 30 installed drives of a given type for Hot Sparing. Hot sparing rebuilds the data from a failed drive onto a selected compatible drive. The count can be checked in the GUI at "System->Hot Spare Policy" and at the command line with "naviseccli hotsparepolicy -list"

What drives do you need?
SAS Flash
For extreme performance; these provide the best performance for transactional random workloads, and the lowest write service times. Required for Multicore FAST Cache.

SAS Flash VP
For extreme performance FAST VP tier; these are a higher capacity flash option. Not for use with Multicore FAST Cache.

SAS
For general performance tier.

NL-SAS (generally mechanically the same as 7,200 RPM SATA disks, but feature a SAS interface)
For less active data, well-behaved streaming data, archive purposes, and backups.

EMC VNX Acronyms:
BBU = Battery Backup Units
DAE = Disk Array Enclosures
DME = Data Mover Enclosure
DPE = Disk Processor Enclosure
NEBS = Network Equipment-Building System
SP = Storage Processors
SPE = Storage Processor Enclosure
SPS = Li-Ion Standby Power Supplies