ActiveCluster provides a true active-active, stretched storage solution with synchronous replication and automated failover. This delivers a zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and a near-zero Recovery Time Objective (RTO), which is the highest level of data protection and availability Pure offers, perfectly aligning with the customer’s stated top priority of protection and rapid recovery.

The FlashArray uses host personality settings to tailor presentation and queue depth behavior for specific operating systems and hypervisors. If a host is set to the default or an incorrect personality (like ‘Linux’ instead of ‘VMware’), the necessary SCSI identifiers and behaviors for VMware to recognize the LUN may not be set correctly, preventing it from appearing as an available device.

Pure’s metrics clearly separate ‘Host Latency’ (the time the array spends waiting for the host to process I/O) from ‘Array Latency’ (the time the array spends servicing the I/O). If ‘Host Latency’ is high, the bottleneck is likely on the host side (e.g., SQL Server workload, insufficient CPU, or queueing). If ‘Array Latency’ is high, the issue is more likely contention or load on the array itself. This is the crucial first step in triage.

This describes the use of a writable snapshot or ‘clone’. On a FlashArray, creating a snapshot is instantaneous and space-efficient (uses metadata pointers). Presenting a writable copy of that snapshot to another host gives the developer an independent, instantly available volume for testing without duplicating the physical data upfront (copy-on-write) and with minimal performance impact on the source.

Pods are logical storage partitions within a FlashArray that provide namespace and connectivity isolation. By creating a Pod for each department, you can present storage from that Pod only to the specific hosts (or host groups) assigned to it, even if those hosts are physically connected to the same SAN. This prevents any host in Pod B from seeing or accessing volumes belonging to Pod A, enforcing logical multi-tenancy.

The recommended practice is to create an individual host object for each physical server (cluster node) to accurately track individual host connections and performance. Then, a host group is created containing all the host objects for that specific cluster. Volumes are presented to the host group, ensuring all required nodes have equal access, which is essential for proper Windows Failover Cluster (WSFC) operation.

SafeMode is designed as a ransomware and administrative error recovery feature. When enabled on a snapshot schedule or protection group, it imposes a mandatory, immutable retention period (e.g., 24 hours, 7 days). During this lock period, no one—not even a storage administrator—can delete those protected snapshots. This ensures a known-good recovery point exists beyond the reach of most malicious or accidental deletion events.

The FlashArray’s native block services (Purity//FA) are always active. To provide unified file services (NFS and SMB) on the same array, the Purity//FB (File Services) software module must be licensed. Once licensed, you create and manage file systems and shares directly on the array, which store data efficiently on the same flash media as the block volumes.

Pure Storage employs always-on, inline data reduction using dedicated hardware acceleration (via the DirectFlash modules and SPU). Because data is deduplicated and compressed as it is written, it reduces the amount of physical data that must be written to flash, often decreasing write amplification and improving effective throughput and latency. It is not a post-process or a configurable option for this reason.

ActiveCluster provides a true active-active, stretched storage solution with synchronous replication and automated failover. This delivers a zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and a near-zero Recovery Time Objective (RTO), which is the highest level of data protection and availability Pure offers, perfectly aligning with the customer’s stated top priority of protection and rapid recovery.0