EMC's new CX4

I have recently been some reading on EMC's new CX4 line and thought I should share a little background information. So what all is new???
Bigger, Faster, Better...
Here is a basic breakdown of the models.
Click on the image for a clearer picture.



The CX4 line introduces a new naming convention, that coincides with the number of drives that are supported. Finally, a simple approach to the most popular question regarding the different Clariion models. The only exception is the AX4, which probably should have been named the Ax4-60

There are now modular ports for customizable connectivity.

• Number of front-end FC ports and front-end iSCSI ports are configurable for each model
• Number of back-end FC ports is fixed for CX4-120,CX4-240,CX4-480
• Number of back-end FC ports is configurable for CX4-960
  (choose between 8 or 4 back-end ports per SP)
• Front-end connectivity options: FC (4Gbps), iSCSI (1GbE)

There is much more memory for better cache performance.

• CX4-120 has 6Gb
• CX4-240 has 8Gb
• CX4-480 has 16Gb
• CX4-960 has 32Gb

The CX4-120 is rated as the entry level device, but when compared to its little brother, the CX3-10, it is quite the upgrade. Take a look at the basic break down for a better comparison. Click on the image for a clearer picture.



CX4 & CX3 DAE and Disk Considerations:

• DAE's are the same for the CX3 & CX4 arrays

CX4 disk drives qualified

• 400GB 10k rpm disk with 4Gbps Fibre Channel interface
• 146GB 15k rpm disk with 4Gbps Fibre Channel interface
• 300GB 15k rpm disk with 4Gbps Fibre Channel interface
• 1TB 5400 rpm SATA drive with 3Gbps SATA II interface
  (low power)- New Tier 3 storage
• 1TB 7200 rpm SATA drive with 3Gbps SATA II interface
• Disk qualifications carry over from CX3
• SATA-II drives can act as Vault drives on the CX4-120 model only

CX4-960 offers flash drives !!!
NOTE: currently they are only offerred for the CX4-960

• Support for customized Flash SSD (Solid State Drive)
  for high-performance Tier 0 applications
• EMC optimized Solid State Drive technology
• Internal SDRAM buffers and pipelining provide maximum performance
• No rotational latency or seek overheads provides incredible response time
• Ideal for low-latency, high-transaction workloads
• Native Fibre Channel interface
• 3.5” form factor for use with existing DAEs
• Flash drives need a separate DAE from traditional disks.
  

CX4 Disk Placement Best Practices

• Configure SATA and FC drives in separate DAEs
• 1TB 5400 rpm low power SATA drive will only be sold as a “15 drives per tray” package (fully populated DAE)
• This prevents mixing with 7200 rpm SATA drives within one DAE

Only the CX4-120 model supports:

• 1TB 7200 rpm SATA drive as Vault drives
• 1TB 5400 rpm low power SATA drive cannot be used as a Vault drives