Gain a strong understanding of Dell Unity XT and PowerStore midrange storage arrays — covering best practices, planning, sizing, and design for customer solution engagements using industry-standard tools.
Master Dell Unity XT and PowerStore solution design — from best practice recommendations and planning through sizing methodology and tool-based deliverables for real customer engagements.
Module 01
Dell Midrange Storage Solutions Best Practice
›System configuration and upgrade best practices — hardware capacity guidelines, supported deployment models, clustering options, and OS upgrade procedures for Unity XT and PowerStore
›Backend connectivity best practices — drive configuration guidelines, enclosure cabling, RAID group sizing, and backend I/O path redundancy recommendations
›Networking performance best practices — front-end switch configuration (DCB/FCoE, iSCSI VLAN segmentation), link aggregation, and jumbo frame settings
›Storage configuration best practices — storage pool design, RAID level selection (RAID-5/6/10), capacity thresholds, and storage resource utilisation guidelines
›Data services best practices — Data Reduction (deduplication + compression) policy settings, Snapshot schedules, Thin Clone refresh workflows, and Replication RPO targets
›Host and application best practices — vSphere VAAI/VASA integration, AppsON containerised application deployment, and application-consistent snapshot configuration
Module 02
Midrange Storage Solutions Planning, Sizing and Design
›Site evaluation and remediation — rack space assessment, power/cooling audit, network readiness review, and pre-installation checklist completion
›Sizing and design considerations — performance parameters (IOPS/throughput/latency targets), environmental limits (temperature/humidity), and workload characterisation (sequential vs random, read/write ratio)
›Migration planning — data migration strategy selection (host-based, array-based, or third-party tool), cutover window planning, and rollback contingency
›Data protection planning — backup integration (Dell PowerProtect DD targets), replication topology (active-passive vs active-active), RPO/RTO requirements, and DR site sizing
Module 03
Dell Midrange Sizing Solutions
›Midrange Sizer for Unity — tool overview, input data requirements (workload profiles, capacity needs, performance SLAs), sizing methodology, and deliverable report generation
›Unity sizer output interpretation — recommended model (Unity 300F/400F/600F/900), drive configuration, cache sizing, and licensing recommendations
›PowerSizer for PowerStore — tool overview, workload classification inputs (VMs, databases, files), AI-driven sizing algorithm, and multi-workload consolidation analysis
›PowerStore sizer output — recommended appliance count and model tier, NVMe drive mix, and projected Data Reduction Ratio (DRR) based on workload type
›Design deliverables — Bill of Materials (BoM) generation, architecture design document structure, customer presentation format, and handover to deployment team
Technologies You Will Master
Dell Unity XT
Dell PowerStore
Midrange Sizer
PowerSizer
Data Reduction
Snapshots
Thin Clones
Replication
Storage Pools
AppsON
RAID Design
Front-end Networking
VMware Integration
Migration Planning
BoM Generation
PowerProtect
Dell Unity XT
Dell PowerStore
Midrange Sizer
PowerSizer
Data Reduction
Snapshots
Thin Clones
Replication
Storage Pools
AppsON
RAID Design
Front-end Networking
VMware Integration
Migration Planning
BoM Generation
PowerProtect
Full Curriculum
3-Module D-MSS-DS-23 Programme
Complete midrange storage design curriculum — from best practice application through planning and sizing methodology to tool-based deliverable generation.
›Hardware best practices — capacity planning guidelines for Unity XT (300F to 900F) and PowerStore (500T to 9200T), supported deployment models (single-SP, dual-SP, stretched cluster), and upgrade sequencing procedures
›Networking performance — switch DCB/PFC configuration for FCoE, iSCSI MPIO with VLAN separation, front-end port bonding/LAG, and jumbo frames (MTU 9000) for IP-based storage traffic
›Storage configuration — storage pool RAID strategy (RAID-5 for capacity, RAID-10 for performance), pool expansion triggers, volume thick vs thin provisioning, and QoS policy assignment
›Data services — Data Reduction inline dedup+compression policy (Savings Estimator usage), Snapshot schedule design (hourly/daily/weekly retention), Thin Clone use cases, and async replication RPO configuration
›Host and application best practices — VMware VAAI primitives, VASA provider registration, AppsON resource allocation for containerised workloads, and application-consistent snapshot via VSS/VCO
›Site evaluation — rack unit availability, PDU power draw calculation, airflow direction (front-to-back), network port audit (10/25/100GbE availability), and data centre environmental compliance check
›Workload characterisation — IOPS profiling (peak vs average), throughput (sequential MB/s for databases vs random IOPS for VMs), block size distribution, and latency sensitivity classification
›Sizing considerations — performance modelling (IOPS per drive tier, controller throughput ceiling), capacity modelling (usable vs raw, Data Reduction savings estimate), and growth planning (3-year forecast)
›Data protection integration — PowerProtect DD series as replication target, VPLEX/Metro Node integration options, RPO/RTO SLA mapping, and DR site capacity sizing
›Midrange Sizer for Unity — launching the tool, entering workload inputs (VM count, IOPS/VM, capacity/VM), selecting Unity model range, and generating the sizing output report
Earn the D-MSS-DS-23 Dell Proven Professional certification and demonstrate your ability to design, size, and deliver Unity XT and PowerStore solutions for enterprise customers.