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8 BP1038| Best Practices and Guidelines for Integrating the Dell EqualLogic FS7600 and FS7610 into an Existing SAN
3 Benefits of NAS
The Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage is a leader in the iSCSI SAN market. With the addition of the FS Series
NAS Appliance, EqualLogic SANs can also support NFS and CIFS based file access. Management of file
access has been integrated into the EqualLogic Group Admin user interface transforming the EqualLogic
platform into a robust unified storage platform.
The EqualLogic FS Series NAS Appliance is built on the foundation of the Dell FluidFS. FluidFS is a
distributed, scale out file system that provides a single name space across multiple NAS controllers.
One general advantage of a NAS file system is the ability to enable multiprotocol access, the simultaneous
access by both Windows (CIFS/SMB) and Unix/Linux (NFS) file clients.
Because of the unique architecture of the Dell FS7600 and FS7610 NAS Appliance, additional benefits are
achieved with FluidFS:
• Expansion of NAS volumes without requiring downtime
• Automated load balancing across NAS controllers
• Unified block (iSCSI) and file (CIFS/NFS) access
• Global name space that can scale up to .5 PB today
• Robust, built-in data protection features such as snapshots, replication, and NDMP backup
• Integrated user interface for easily managing both block and file access