Dell EqualLogic PS6100S Array
Install the solution to your most challenging storage tasks
The Dell EqualLogic PS6100S is an enterprise-class iSCSI SAN array ideal for organisations looking for an affordable and easy means to bring the low latency performance benefits of SSD technology to your demanding applications.
The PS6100S provides higher IOPS and as little as 1/3rd the latency of 15K RPM disk arrays for challenging applications, such as Oracle or SQL tempdb databases or virtual desktop implementations such as VMware View with linked clone technology.
With a 24 drive chassis full of 400GB1 2.5” SSD drives, the PS6100S array delivers a 9.6TB iSCSI storage array in a 2/U rack, providing optimal IOPS/U. Built on fully-redundant, hot-swappable enterprise hardware and a front-loading rack, drive changes can be made without disruption.
Scale out with other PS6100s arrays for additional SSD performance or with other PS6100 and PS4100 series arrays for a tiered SAN. Built-in software functionality includes SAN Headquarters (SAN HQ) multi-SAN historical performance monitoring, automated load balancing, Microsoft and VMware application integration, SAsnapshots and replication, multi-path I/O, consistency sets, and much more.
Seamlessly integrated with all other EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays, the PS6100S with SSD drives is the ideal choice for organisations looking for affordable access to low latency and high-I/O storage. And with online data movement between tiers, you gain flexibility to adjust without disruption as your business evolves.
Dell EqualLogic PS6100S Array – Great for:
- Reducing the storage footprint by optimising performance per rack U
- Latency-sensitive applications
- Providing as little as to 1/3 the latency of 15K rpm array
- Intense workloads with moderate capacity
- SQL or Oracle tempdb databases
- Consolidated virtual desktop environments like VMware View with linked clones
Designed to scale with your business:
Experience the low-latency advantage of solid-state storage with the Dell EqualLogic PS6100S iSCSI array, a Dell Fluid Data™ solution with a virtualised scale-out architecture that delivers enhanced storage performance and reliability that is easy to manage.
- Help eliminate downtime and performance penalties with smooth, incremental SAN expansion.
- Grow your virtual storage alongside your virtual server growth.
- Change hardware without disruption.
- Add or remove arrays at will, according to policy, age, application or business needs.
- Easily mix new disk or network technologies in the SAN.
- Move volumes (databases/VMs) online between any pool or disk resources.
- Avoid forklift upgrades or data-in-place migrations that cost time and money.
- Automatically balance loads across disks and multiple arrays in a pool.
- Help eliminate manual re-distributing of capacity or application workloads (downtime and services costs).

Choose your array
Build new levels of performance in your enterprise storage needs using PS6100S arrays.
With up to 24 high-speed 200GB or 400GB SSDs and up to 9.6 terabytes of capacity, the PS6100S GbE iSCSI array offers the highest random-read IOPS performance and lowest latency in the EqualLogic PS6100 line.
The Dell EqualLogic PS6100 Series family features:
- Dual controllers designed for built-in redundancy
- Four GbE ports per controller
- Dedicated 10/100 management port per controller
- 6G SAS backplane
- Options for 12 or 24 hot-swappable drives
- 7.2K NL-SAS, 10K SAS, or 15K SAS drives or solid state drives (SSDs)
- Cache-to-flash memory de-staging
- Peer-scaling architecture that scales performance linearly
- Vertical Port Failover, designed to enable you to maintain full bandwidth if a networking port fails
- Group Manager, which integrates all management into one console for both file- and block-storage protocols
- Array firmware and host software with no additional licenses or fees
Grow confidently with advanced Array Software features
Meet your current storage needs and future data management requirements with EqualLogic™ Array Software.
- Synchronous Replication: Maintain two identical copies of a volume across two different storage pools in the same PS Series for real-time data protection.
- Volume Unmap: Recover unused space previously allocated to thin-provisioned volumes for better storage capacity utilisation and cost-effectiveness.
- Snapshot Space Borrowing: Temporarily increase the available snapshot space for a volume by borrowing from the snapshot reserve of other volumes and pool-free space, improving your capacity management.
Product Configurations
Storage Controllers
Dual controllers, each with 4GB memory for PS-series firmware. Each controller provides cache to flash for data protection.
Hard Disk Drives
Twenty-four (24) SSD hot-pluggable hard disk drives (Twelve (12) drive configuration available. Please contact your Dell Sales Representative for details).
Drive Capacities
2.5″ SSD drives available in 200 GB2 and 400 GB2
System Capacities
4.8 TB2 using twenty-four (24) 200 GB2 SSD drives
9.6 TB2 using twenty-four (24) 400 GB2 SSD drives
Technical Highlights
Volumes
Up to 1,024
Snapshots
512 per volume / up to 10,000 total per group
Volume Connections
Up to 1,024
Host Protocol
Any standards-compliant iSCSI initiator
Operating Systems Supported
Windows® 2000 Server, Windows Server® 2003, Windows Server® 2008, including Hyper-V™, Windows Vista®, Windows Server® 2008 R2 including Hyper-V™, Windows XP®, Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®, SUSE® Linux® Enterprise, Sun™ Solaris™, IBM® AIX®, HP-UX, Mac OS® X, VMware® ESX Server 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.1 / 5, ESXi 3.5 / 4 / 4.1 / 5, Citrix® XenServer™, Novell® NetWare®
RAID Support
RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10, and RAID 50
Network Interfaces
Four (4) copper per controller + One (1) dedicated management port
TCP Network Support
IPv4, IPv6 core support
Expansion Option
Can be combined with other EqualLogic PS Series arrays in the same SAN group, online. Up to 16 total members per group
Reliability
Vertical port sharing
Redundant hot-swappable controllers, power supplies / cooling fans, and hot-swappable disks
Individual disk drive slot power control
Cache-to-flash
Enclosure Monitoring System
Automatic spare configuration and utilisation
SMART
Automatic bad block replacement
Auto-Stat Disk Monitoring System (ADMS) to monitor health of data on disk drive
Management
SAN Headquarters multi-group performance and event monitoring tool
Serial console
Ability to configure a separate management network
SNMP, telnet, SSH, HTTP, Web (SSL), host scripting
Multi-administrator support
Security
CHAP authentication
Access control for iSCSI
Access control for management interfaces including Active Directory, LDAP, or RADIUS support
Notification Methods
SNMP traps, e-mail, syslog
Power
AC voltage: 100-240 VAC ±10% single phase, 700 W (max, total), +5V up to 155W; +12V up to 624W; +5Vsb up to 10W
Frequency: 50/60 Hz
Power factor: 0.98 (minimum)
Power supplies: Dual 700 W
Chassis
Height: 2U / 8.68 cm (3.41 inches)
Width: 44.63 cm (17.57 inches)
Depth: 54.1 cm (21.3 inches)
Weight: 24.49 kg (54 lbs)
Packaged physical: Length: 851 cm (33.50 inches) Width: 629 cm (24.75 inches) Depth: 395 cm (15.56 inches)
Packaged weight: 36.2873 kg (80lbs)
Rack Support
Dell ReadyRails™ sliding rails for square-hole 4-post and 2-post racks 1U/2U Rail Attachment Brackets, designed to enable PS Arrays to snap into place with screws or other hardware
Dell VersaRails sliding rails for 4-post and 2-post racks 1U/2U Rail Attachment Brackets, designed to enable PS Arrays to be mounted in racks whose posts have round holes
Environmental Operating Conditions
Temperature range: 5° to 40°C (41° to 104°F)
Storage temperature: –40° to 65°C (–40° to 149°F)
Altitude: For altitudes above 2950 feet, the maximum operating temperature is derated 1ºF/550 ft.
Operating Relative humidity: 20% to 80% (noncondensing) with a maximum humidity gradation
of 10% per hour
Operational shock: Half-sine shock 31G +/- 5% with a pulse duration of 2.6ms +/- 10% in operational orientations only
Operating Vibration: 0.26 Grms (5 to 350 Hz) for 5 minutes in operational orientations
Acoustics Category 4: <=7.2 bels at 23C +/- 2C
Air Quality: Airborne contaminant level of G1 or lower as defined by ISA-S71.04-1985
EqualLogic Array Software
Dell delivers comprehensive end-to-end solutions to help you store and manage your data so you can efficiently move the right data to the right place at the right time for the right cost. EqualLogic™ array software and host software are part of these solutions and are included with your EqualLogic array purchase, providing all the tools your organisation needs for a complete storage area network (SAN) solution.
Each Dell EqualLogic array ships with a powerful set of features that help you manage, protect and optimise your data. The EqualLogic Group Manager helps streamline storage and data management while the EqualLogic Manual Transfer Utility helps minimise downtime when transferring large amounts of data. EqualLogic PS Series Firmware is the foundation of the EqualLogic software family.
Integrated across the entire family of EqualLogic PS arrays, the EqualLogic Firmware is a SAN operating system based on a unique peer storage architecture that:
- Virtualises SAN resources
- Enables peer scalability of up to 16 arrays
- Provides intelligent data management functionality
- Automatically adjusts system resources
- Optimises performance
- Reduces human intervention
EqualLogic Host Integration Tools
This family of host-based software provides tight integration between the EqualLogic array and the host. Dell provides host integration tools for Microsoft®, VMware® and Linux® environments, providing customers with the following benefits:
- Comprehensive data protection and availability
- Integrated storage management
- Reliable performance
- Streamlined array configuration
EqualLogic SAN Headquarters
Dell EqualLogic SAN Headquarters (SAN HQ) is a centralised monitoring and reporting tool that gathers and provides in-depth information on performance, capacity and alerts across multiple groups of EqualLogic PS arrays, helping improve performance and effective allocation of group resources.