Following the announcement of the <a href="http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2011/20110118-01.htm" target="_blank">VNX by EMC</a>, we are able to discuss what was previously a pretty hush-hush beta program. (Internally we’ve pronounced it as “vNIX”, and, as communicated to our  EMC friends during the beta, we want credit when that becomes popular!).

The first and largest architectural difference is the elimination of Fiber Channel for back end connectivity as well as connectivity of each of the drives in the array. This has been replaced with a 6Gbps SAS connection. That doesn't mean you cannot connect it to a Fiber Channel network-- don't get that confused. It simply means the connectivity the array had to its own DAEs and drives has been replaced (and upgraded).

Hardware wise, the VNX comes in an overall “denser” packaging. The DAEs now support up to 25 drives left to right, or 15 drives left to right (“normal” configuration).  AND the 25 drive DAEs only take up 2U a piece (unless it’s the 25 drive DPE—that guy is still 3U).

There’s still a little bit of confusion on this (mostly on my part)—but the 3 lower end models, the VNX5100, VNX5300, and VNX5500, go even more dense, combining what has traditionally been a drive-less DPE into a DPE with SPs on the back, 15-25 drives on the front. This comes in at 3U. The two higher end models have a 2U “SPE” with no drives—and come in what EMC called the “black widow” enclosure—similar to that of a Data Mover enclosure.

So what does it all mean? What's the benefit here? The benefit is a TRULY Unified Storage platform that's 3X FASTER, SIMPLER and MORE EFFICIENT. To showcase just how simple, I've recorded a couple of videos (with more on the way) showing some configuration tasks.

Now to preface the videos below-- the VNX 5300 we have is running BETA code. What awesomeness the GA code has in it, I don't know-- but can't wait to see it. So with that said, please keep in mind that what you see here may not be what you see when you buy yours :)

The first video shows the difference of the hardware from within the “new Unisphere”. You’ll see what the 25 drive DAE looks like (in our case, it’s the DPE), and see how responsive the GUI is. One of the first differences you’ll notice if you’ve spent time in the FLARE 30 Unisphere interface is that the menu options are now on the right side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syJjRncbKcA

This next video shows how to enable FAST CACHE-- very simple stuff. EMC's done a great job delivering on their message of "SIMPLE AND EFFICIENT" as you will see in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrrQH4Se7FU