Best SAN Storage Option

[RGS3]

I'm looking for some guidance choosing storage and getting the "best bang for the buck". I have done some research but dont feel like I'm making any progress and wanted to get the opinion of the VMware user community since this will primarily be used for VMFS volumes.

Budget:$25k - Its all I could get. I want to stay away from HP MSA's and would like to get a real SAN

We will need Initially about 6TB minimum- need to be able to expand to at least 20TB in the future. I would like at least 2TB-3TB of it to be on fast disk, either SAS or FC. I'm heavily leaning towards iSCSI due to price and leveraging some new Ethernet switches we already have. Plus with vSphere's much improved iSCSI stack and 10Gb ethernet on the uprise, iSCSI has now become a viable option.

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[DSTAVERT]

What will the rest of your infrastructure look like? VMs database servers, exchange, etc etc.

[RGS3]

Sorry should have stated the environment.

We will be hosting Exchange 2010 on it with about 200 mailboxes. I would like to put some of our development SQL boxes on there aswell, virtualized. I plan on having about 30 Windows VM's p2v'd with a handful of Red Hat thrown in, with the capability of hosting up to double that figure. I plan on only having an HP C7000 Blade chassis connecting directly to it with about 3 or 4 loaded blades.

[mcowger]

For that range, you aren't in Tier1/Tier2 range, so take a look at the Sun Openstorage line (7210, 7410) or also the Equallogic line.

--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek

[RGS3]

Yes Matt, I realize were not in Tier 1 storage territory for 25k. Also, the 7210 states on Sun's webpage that it starts at $35k. Its actually refreshing though to see some prices on Sun's website.

I'm mainly looking for first hand experience/likes/dislikes and actual (or at least ball park) pricing.

Thanks

[RGS3]

Does this change if we can get 45k? I can reallocate some budge dollars and put it towards storage. Can we get closer to tier 1/2?

Any big name options available NetApp/EMC?

[mcowger]

45K still doesn't get you Tier2 or Tier1 storage.

maybe an extremely lowend CX4, but I'd prefer anything EQL makes over a CX series.

--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek

[DSTAVERT]

I don't know how hungry resellers and manufacturers are but you may be able to get demo hardware and do some hands on. $45 is a little more interesting to resellers.

[bwaldon]

Keep an eye out for the snapshotting software that you need.

Some of the vendors include it and with some of the vendors you have to buy it seperate.

I think it could mean some major savings or some major dissapointment.

savings if you avoid purchasing it, dissapointment if you think you are going to do something with it and find out you can't because you don't have the right snapshooting software.

I have just been down that road.

[RGS3]

We have narrowed it down to the EMC CX4 and NetApp FAS2040.

They are similar in price, the big differences that I have seen so far is that the NetApp will do data dedup built in with no extra charge, and EMC will not. Also, the NetApp might perform rights faster with their write anywhere file system (WAFS?), but reads could have the potential to be not as efficient depending on utilization.

[raadek]

We have narrowed it down to the EMC CX4 and NetApp FAS2040.

OK, I will admit upfront - I am huge fan of NetApp (although I do not work for them :smileywink: ), so actually I see more reasons to pick FAS2040.

First & foremost it is truly multi-protocol platform with native capability of provisioning storage via FC, iSCSI, NFS & CIFS. Two first protocols (both included in base price) gives just a choice, whilst NFS is massively interesting alternative for provisioning storage to ESX hosts. Last, but not least, having CIFS means you don't need Windows file servers any more, be it physical or virtual.

So, in my opinion, in terms of flexibility NetApp wins! :smileyhappy:

If you want any additional reading:

Landing page:

http://www.netapp.com/us/solutions/infrastructure/virtualization/server/server-vmware.html

Top Reasons to Choose NetApp with VMware :

http://www.netapp.com/us/library/top-docs/ds-2803.html

NetApp and VMware Storage Best Practices for VI3:

http://www.netapp.com/us/library/technical-reports/tr-3428.html

NetApp and VMware vSphere Storage Best Practices:

http://www.netapp.com/us/library/technical-reports/tr-3749.html

Regards,

Radek

[wwcusa]

Have you looked into Xiotech? Their Emprise 5000 is a great entry level SAN with self healing drive technology and a 5 year warranty. We resell Xiotech, Netapp, and EMC, and the Emprise 5000 is my recommendation.

Xiotech Emprise 5000 product page.

Our product page

[dnetz]

I wouldn't recommend the Sun Storage 7000 series to anyone based on my experiences, we're running four 7410's and one 7110 in a soon-to-be production environment and their software has proven to be very unreliable. We've been hit with several bugs in the CIFS implementation, major problems with NFS traffic to ESX machines and hanging IPMP interfaces, it feels like we're QA'ing their software for them and the support isn't at all helpful. We're looking at returning these boxes and going with Netapp, I really wanted them to work out but they're just not production ready in my opinion. Maybe in a year...

[AntonVZhbankov]

Take a look at NetApp FAS 20xx

---

MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[RGS3]

Thanks for the responses!

it is SOOO frustrating going to all these websites and not getting ANY pricing information.

NetApp looks like a solid solution by looking at their website, i just have no idea what they cost. Do I have to contact a VAR or reseller EVERY time I have a price inquiry? Very frustrating..what do you guys generally do?

Can anyone ballpark a NetApp FAS2000 or FAS3100 please?

If you guys recommend a solution can you at least explain why you like it?

Thanks

[admin]

I totally agree that NetApp is the way to go. Can not be beat as far as functionality, flexibility, and end to end integration options such as integrated Exchange backup, VMware backups, etc. Not to mention Deduplication is free and built in to the platform which in VMware environments typically results in 50-80% reduction in primary storage consumed. (based on actual experience not marketing).

You are lucky that the new products are on their way out 2040 and Data OnTap 8. As a result some very nice entry level models such as 2020 and 2050 have dropped dramatically and been totally repriced in bundle format (similar to Equalogic). Depending on your initial storage needs, and the protocol you choose (Netapp supports FC, iSCSI, NFS., FCoe, and CIFS) you may be able to fit in the 2020. This box just dropped dramatically and should be well within your budget.

I know a great VAR in the NYC area if interested.

[vmroyale]

Hello.

You can check out price lists over at StorageMojo, although the pricing can be a bit confusing as you need to know all of the pieces/parts. Its still pretty good for getting "no way I can/can't afford that" type information. Talk to several vendors (and let them know you are shopping), once you narrow it down to what you want.

Good Luck!

[DSTAVERT]

http://www.macmall.com/s?rch&q=Netapp&includeImage=true

Please report back with what you end up and why YOU chose it. (However wrong you might be :smileywink: )