Migrate Dell EMC Isilon / PowerScale
to or from any cloud.
Isilon and PowerScale clusters serve large unstructured datasets over NFS and SMB. The Agent mounts those exports like any other share and bridges them to the cloud.
Mover is the one-time cloud migration tool from Files.com — built for moving data between 20+ cloud providers and any on-prem storage reachable through the Files.com Agent. For Dell EMC, that means installing the Agent on a host that can reach the Dell EMC share, then pointing Mover at any of the supported cloud destinations on the other side.
When teams migrate Dell EMC
The common situations.
Three or four real triggers below. Decommissioning aging hardware, consolidating into a cloud, tiering cold data to discount storage, or running hybrid setups where both sides need to stay in sync — the Dell EMCside runs through the Agent; the cloud side runs through Mover's native connectors.
Cloud migration of an Isilon-resident dataset
Large unstructured datasets — media archives, scientific data, design files — moved to S3, Azure Blob, or GCS as part of a cloud-first strategy or data center exit.
Tiering inactive Isilon data to discount storage
Cold portions of the Isilon namespace tiered to Wasabi or B2. The Agent provides the read path; the active dataset stays on the cluster.
Hybrid: cloud-resident master, Isilon for high-throughput render or compute
Workflows where the cloud is the master copy but compute or render farms need Isilon-local access. The Agent gives Mover bidirectional sync between the two.
Setup
4 steps to first dry run.
The Agent installs and configures the same way regardless of the source — what changes is the mount or share path it reads from. For the full Agent install reference, see the Files.com Agent page.
Mount the Isilon export on the Agent host.
For NFS: mount the cluster's NFS export from a Linux or macOS host. For SMB: connect from any of Windows (built-in SMB), Linux (cifs-utils), or macOS (mount_smbfs / Finder). Authenticate with appropriate Active Directory or local credentials.
Install the Files.com Agent on the same host.
Download the Agent for the host OS from your Mover account. Install as a system service.
Configure the Agent root.
Point the Agent's root path at the mounted Isilon share. Set permission_set based on direction (read_only for source-only, read_write for bidirectional).
Dry run, launch, monitor.
Create a Files.com Agent connection in Mover, select the Agent, run a dry run. For multi-hundred-TB datasets, consider running the migration in batches scoped by include/exclude patterns.
Common Questions
Frequently asked.
Specific to Dell EMC. For the broader Agent FAQ (auto-update, logging, bandwidth limits, etc.), see the Files.com Agent page.
Does this scale to multi-PB Isilon clusters?
The Agent itself scales as long as the host running it can handle the throughput. For PB-scale migrations consider running multiple Agents on different hosts, each scoped to a different portion of the namespace via the Agent's root path setting. Migrate in parallel.
What about Isilon SmartLock retention or WORM data?
WORM-locked files can be READ by the Agent if the host has read access. They cannot be modified or deleted at the source, which is the whole point of WORM. Migration to a cloud destination preserves the file content; cloud-side immutability would be configured on the destination separately (S3 Object Lock, Azure Blob immutable policies).
Can the Agent leverage OneFS features like SyncIQ or SnapshotIQ?
No — the Agent reads via the NFS or SMB protocol, the same way any client would. OneFS-internal features stay on the cluster. For cloud destinations that need point-in-time snapshots, use the destination's versioning feature.
How do I avoid impacting cluster performance during the migration?
Run the Agent during off-hours, throttle via the Agent's transfer_rate_limit, or use Isilon's access zones and impact policies to cap the Agent's I/O load. For active production clusters, an off-cluster compute node running the Agent is typical.
Reached through the Files.com Agent
Dell EMC Isilon / PowerScale migrations run the same way as every other Agent setup.
The Agent is the same component across every on-prem or network-share source. Install once, point at a path, migrate to any of the 20+ Mover destinations.
Run a dry run before any data moves.
Connect Dell EMC via the Agent, run a free dry run, see the exact size, file count, and price.