Dell PowerFlex Appliance with PowerFlex 4.x Architecture Overview

PowerFlex software-defined storage architecture

PowerFlex applies the principles of server virtualization to standard x86 servers with local disks, creating high-performance, sharable pools of block storage. PowerFlex abstracts the local storage contained within each server.

PowerFlex pools all the storage resources together. In the following figure, there is a global pool of 1 million IOPS and 100 terabytes, instead of having 100K IOPS and 10 terabytes available in each server. The applications are not constrained by what is within the local server, these resources are shared across the entire cluster.

PowerFlex automatically maintains balance across all resources, supporting application needs. Storage and/or compute can be added dynamically with no downtime or impact to applications because PowerFlex seamlessly balances the available resources. This enables data center operation in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible, regardless of organization size.