Support Matrix

ME4 Series storage system rules
This section contains both general and model-specific connectivity and consideration rules for ME4 Series storage systems.
The rules that are listed in the following table apply to all ME4 Series storage system models. For rules applying to specific
ME4 storage system models, see Rules for ME4012 and ME4024 storage systems on page 9 and Rules for ME4084 storage
systems on page 10.
NOTE: The ME4084 storage system is supported in dual-controller module configurations only.
Table 2. Rules for all ME4 Series storage systems
Rule SAS 10GBase-T
iSCSI
CNC
Maximum number of host servers that a single storage system can connect to with
one RAID controller module installed
4 256 256
Maximum number of host servers that a single storage system can connect to with
two RAID controller modules installed
8 (4, if
using high
availability
or
redundancy
)
256 256
Maximum number of Dell 12 Gbps SAS HBA cards that are supported in a single host
server that is attached to single storage system. Dell recommends that you use two
Dell 12 Gb SAS HBA cards for all redundant cabling configurations.
2 (each
card has
two ports)
N/A N/A
Unused ports on a Dell 12 Gbps SAS HBA card already connected to an ME4 SAS
storage system cannot connect to another device (such as a tape drive or other
model storage system)
N/A N/A
Maximum number ME4 Series storage system to which a host server can connect 2 (HA) 4 4
A hot spare for a disk group must be a drive of equal or greater size than any of the
member disks
On Linux systems, Device Mapper multipath is required for multipath support
Coexistence of several Linux multipath drivers is not supported. For an ME4 series
storage system with Linux host servers, only the Linux Device Mapper failover driver is
supported
Virtual disks on ME4 Series storage system cannot be used for booting
Disk Groups can be migrated between a ME4 Series storage systems by following the
appropriate disk pool migration procedure
Maximum SSD cache size that is allowed is two SSDs
All iSCSI host ports on a controller must have the same port speed N/A
Maximum 12 Gbps SAS cable length that is supported is 4 m
iSCSI network rules:
● If the iSCSI initiators are connected to ME4 Series storage systems through the
network switches, ensure that your switches support IEEE 802.3x flow control,
and the flow control is enabled for both sending and receiving on all switch ports
and server NIC ports
N/A
3
6 ME4 Series storage system rules