Abstract

Dell’s PowerStore 32G Enterprise Storage Solution combines Dell PowerEdge 17G servers, a Marvell QLogic QLE2772C 32G Fibre Channel HBA, Dell Connectrix MDS 9148V and 9396V switches manufactured by Cisco, and the Dell PowerStore 3200T array into an integrated storage architecture designed for modern, mission-critical data centers. Tolly’s evaluation focused on whether these multi-vendor components function as a seamless 32G FC platform for interoperability, resilience, and congestion control. 

Testing showed end-to-end interoperability with automatic link-speed negotiation at 32G, automatic LUN discovery, and correct multipath configuration without manual intervention. The environment used a Dell PowerEdge R760 server running RHEL 9.6 with multipath enabled, Dell Connectrix MDS switches running NX-OS 9.4(3b), a dual-port Marvell QLogic 2772C HBA with Virtual Lanes enabled, and a PowerStore 3200T array with dual 32G FC ports. Although the switches are 64G-capable, they automatically sensed down to 32G to match the HBA and storage array, demonstrating backward-compatible integration across the full SAN path.   

The report also highlights fault tolerance across host, fabric, and storage layers. Tolly verified HBA port failover, adapter-level port isolation, inter-switch fabric resilience, redundant power supply protection, and storage-port failover. In the storage resilience test, Dell PowerStore’s Asymmetric Logical Unit Access (ALUA) architecture shifted traffic from the active path to the standby path in about five seconds, with the traffic generation process continuing without interruption. These results indicate that the solution is built for high availability under real fault scenarios.   

A key technical capability is congestion management. Using Fabric Performance Impact Notification frames, Marvell QLogic Universal SAN Congestion Management can detect congestion, classify traffic into fast, normal, or slow virtual lanes, and throttle traffic when necessary. In testing, bandwidth was reduced to less than 50% of wire speed until congestion cleared, then automatically restored. The solution also supports Cisco Dynamic Ingress Rate Limiting, SAN telemetry, analytics, secure boot, wire-speed encryption, and end-to-end visibility for proactive SAN operations.