Dell Technologies Named Leader in GigaOm Kubernetes Storage Radar

Dell Technologies has announced it was named a Leader in the 2022 GigaOm Radar Report for Enterprise Kubernetes Data Storage. Focused on persistent enterprise storage solutions for Kubernetes, the GigaOm Radar provides a forward-looking analysis that measures the relative value and progression of vendor solutions based on strategy and execution. Recognized as a Leader, Dell Technologies was able to overcome limitations in CSI and deliver a mature set of features to Kubernetes-based environments.

According to the GigaOm report, “Dell offers a rich Kubernetes storage portfolio, optimized for many types of workloads, with an extensive list of enterprise features.”

Across the majority of GigaOm’s Key Criteria and Evaluation Metrics, Dell Technologies was given the highest possible grade of exceptional (outstanding focus and execution). This includes the Key Criteria of advanced (CSI) integrations, deployment models and data footprint optimization, as well as the Evaluation Metrics of architecture, scalability, efficiency and manageability.

“Dell’s Container Storage Modules are industry-leading extensions to CSI enabling advanced data services for Kubernetes-based environments,” the report states. “The effort and speed that Dell is putting into adding capabilities to its portfolio is notable.”

Leading Innovation in Kubernetes Storage

Dell’s Container Storage Modules (CSM) amplify the benefits of our primary storage arrays, providing a simple, consistent, integrated and automated experience for enterprise storage and cloud-native stateful applications. By utilizing our modules, your organization can bridge gaps between developers and IT teams through provisioning, snapshotting, replication, observability, authorization and resiliency for containerized workloads. As a result, DevOps teams accelerate the adoption of cloud-native workloads, improve productivity and scale operations.

Available in tech preview today as part of the latest CSM release, Dell is introducing two new modules into the portfolio: CSM App Mobility and CSM Secure. These modules are available upon customer request and offer a unique set of capabilities for enterprises looking to enhance their Kubernetes storage operations.

CSM App Mobility

CSM App Mobility allows Kubernetes administrators to clone stateful application workloads and metadata to other Kubernetes clusters using a single command. It leverages native storage array capabilities and open-source technologies to copy both application data and metadata to the desired object storage.

CSM App Mobility can be utilized in private and public cloud environments, helping enterprises streamline projects such as bug triage, blue-green deployments, new platform migration, dev/test envrionment set-up and more. For tech preview, CSM App Mobility is available upon customer request and supported for all compatible Dell storage arrays.

CSM Secure

Protecting Kubernetes data is critical, and Dell is dedicated to providing capabilities that can further strengthen our customers’ security posture. CSM Secure accomplishes this by transparently adding host-side encryption to a volume. Through CSM Secure, enterprises can implement encryption both at rest and in motion for the data in their Dell primary storage using familiar external key managers such as Vault by HashiCorp.

For tech preview, CSM Secure is available upon request for customers using Dell PowerScale.

Continuous Innovation

Dell’s strategy is to drive a steady stream of innovation for our Kubernetes storage support. In addition to the two new modules available in tech preview, here are some examples of recent enhancements to our CSM modules and CSI plugins:

◉ Data lineage visibility: When using Dell’s CSM Observability module, end users can now set their PV/PVC namespaces, allowing for a deeper understanding of how the data is mapped to their applications

◉ Simplified deployment: Dell’s CSM Authorization module can now be seamlessly deployed via Helm

◉ Filesystem size flexibility: Dell’s CSI driver for PowerStore now handles small requests for filesystems <3GB

◉ Streamlined deployment: CSM Operator provides a one-stop shop to deploy CSI plugins and CSM on Dell PowerScale, with additional capabilities coming in the future

◉ New platform support: Dell’s CSM Observability module is now supported for PowerScale

◉ New OS support: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Support has been added for CSI/CSM

Source: dell.com