This IBM® Redbooks® Product Guide publication describes the IBM FlashSystem® 5200 solution, which is a next-generation IBM FlashSystem control enclosure. It is an NVMe end-to-end platform that is targeted at the entry and midrange market and delivers the full capabilities of IBM FlashCore® technology.

It also provides a rich set of software-defined storage (SDS) features that are delivered by IBM Spectrum® Virtualize, including the following features:

Data reduction and deduplication
Dynamic tiering
Thin provisioning
Snapshots
Cloning
Replication
Data copy services
Transparent Cloud Tiering
IBM HyperSwap® including 3-site replication for high availability (HA)

Scale-out and scale-up configurations further enhance capacity and throughput for better availability.

The IBM FlashSystem 5200 is a high-performance storage solution that is based on a revolutionary 1U form factor. It consists of 12 NVMe Flash Devices in a 1U storage enclosure drawer with full redundant canister components and no single point of failure.

It is designed for businesses of all sizes, including small, remote, branch offices and regional clients. It is a smarter, self-optimizing solution that requires less management, which enables organizations to overcome their storage challenges.

Flash has come of age and price point reductions mean that lower parts of the storage market are seeing the value of moving over to flash and NVMe--based solutions. The IBM FlashSystem 5200 advances this transition by providing incredibly dense tiers of flash in a more affordable package. With the benefit of IBM FlashCore Module compression and new QLC flash-based technology becoming available, a compelling argument exists to move away from Nearline SAS storage and on to NVMe.

With the release of IBM FlashSystem 5200 Software V8.4, extra functions and features are available, including support for new Distributed RAID1 (DRAID1) features, GUI enhancements, Redirect-on-write for Data Reduction Pool (DRP) snapshots, and 3-site replication capabilities.

This book is aimed at pre-sales and post-sales technical support and marketing and storage administrators.

Sandro De Santis