Entry level SAN

howler · 29 Jul 2010 at 09:12

We are looking at getting our first SAN device, our storage requirements at this stage are not massive, probably 1TB to start with tops

What sort of price are we looking at for something that is reliable

All of servers are HP and it would be nice to stick with HP but their solutions seem to be very expensive!

brainchylde · 29 Jul 2010 at 15:44

Any reason you want a SAN in particular? 1TB isn't massive in the grand scheme of things...

howler · 29 Jul 2010 at 15:56

We would like to use it in the future for VM storage, it doesn't have to be a SAN I guess

Ev0 · 29 Jul 2010 at 18:09

Some NAS devices like the netgear Readynas can be used for VM stuff.

What's the budget?

daz · 29 Jul 2010 at 18:13

What sort of virtualization requirements do you have? If you're using virtualization extensively, SANs have their benefits - but generally only when you go high-end. It's also always recommended to get two (for obvious reasons...).

In most cases, you're better off going for VM nodes with local storage (e.g. 8 x SAS drives in RAID10). Lower initial capital outlay, that's for sure...

#Chri5# · 29 Jul 2010 at 20:14

The weakness (IMHO) of the ReadyNAS 3100/3200 is that they only have 2 x GB ports, so if you want to bond them for performance / resliance, you can't have a dedicated management port. The 4200 can take 10Gb interfaces to give more options but is still SATA only (I understand SAS models are under development).

I've been looking at the Promise VessRAID 1000i recently for a project with a tight budget. iSCSI models have 8, 12 or 16 disks in 2 or 3U. SAS & SATA support, with 4 x GB + 1 dedicated management port.

2U, 8 bay, diskless - £1127+VAT
3U, 12 bay, diskless - £1305+VAT
3U, 16 day, diskless - £1406+VAT

If you're on a tight budget, then I would say you can rule out the big boys like Dell or HP as they charge silly money for disks. A HP 1TB 7.2k SAS drive for a MSA 2000i G2 is £375+VAT trade. The bare enclosures aren't badly priced, you just need to sell a kidney to populate them

howler · 30 Jul 2010 at 08:34

I think we are looking in the region of £3k

Using Netgear kit sends shivers down my spine

As for the VM requirement, it is small. Probably a max of 5 machines within the next 6 months or so

We have been looking at a Dell NX3000, are they any good?

brainchylde · 30 Jul 2010 at 15:52

howler said:
I think we are looking in the region of £3k

Yea you won't be getting a SAN for that price, but to be honest it doesn't sound like you need one.

I like Dell kit but don't have any experience of NAS boxes unfortunately. I can speak highly of their Equallogic SAN solutions though.

oddjob62 · 30 Jul 2010 at 16:11

We have a few Dell MD3000i units that we use for VMs. No frills but seem to work pretty well for our requirements.

mrbios · 31 Jul 2010 at 23:18

http://www.infortrend.com/main/2_product/es_a12e-g2121.asp

Got the 16 drive version and an older 12 drive version, there very reliable and stable, easy to configure, can't fault them really, not really got anything to compare them to though. You can get one + 12 drives for £3k or under depending on the size of the drives you choose. have about 1200 users hammering it constantly throughout a normal day, it copes well.

#Chri5# · 3 Aug 2010 at 13:10

What's support like on the Infortrend kit (if you've had to use it) mrbios?

Do you use OEM drives or Infortrend ones? They offer a free support upgrade if you take their drives (which are Hitachi).

mrbios · 3 Aug 2010 at 18:14

Never had to use the support but i believe the guy who worked here before me had to and they were very good, the reliability of our old SCSI one was what made us decide to stick with them and go for the iSCSI one, we use OEM drives, how much are they asking per drive for their drives?

#Chri5# · 3 Aug 2010 at 21:21

Interestingly, their "own" disks are SATA at 7.2k or SAS for 15k.

1TB SATA is within £10 of an OE Hitachi drive, but 2TB SATA is about 75% more than OEM!

15k SAS are £20 to £30 more than OEM models. I'm basing all this on pricing from trade distributors BTW.

Buying the unit 50% populated with Infrotrend's drives gets a warranty upgrade which is around £560, so swings and roundabouts as to what works out cheaper.