New SAN Netapp, Equallogic, Compellent, or EMC

[othercents]

I am doing a virtualization project and I just received a quote from NetApp for a FAS2020 12x600GB and 14TB SATA Shelf for more than half of what the other vendors are quoting.  Purely on price it is a great deal, but I also want to make sure I'm starting off this virtualization project with the right SAN.

Is there a reason I shouldn't use the FAS2020 solution over Equallogic, Compellent, or EMC especially when the solution will cost half as much?

[ldelloca]

You only told us about the specs of the NetApp, not about the other storage you placed in the subject. We can't do any comparison without knowing the specs of the others.

At first sight, I find hard to say a FAS2020 is in the same category of a Compellent machine, so the price difference is right. about EQL and EMC we need to know the model. Also, there are differences about the optional software modules that comes with those storage appliances.

Regards,

Luca.

--

Luca Dell'Oca

http://www.vuemuer.it

@dellock6

vExpert 2011

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[othercents]

I haven't recieved the quotes on the other options, so I don't have a direct comparison nor model numbers.  I am only trying to get 12TB for my fileshare and 6TB for my VMs.  The Compellent rep says $55k and the NetApp rep says $25k.  Just choose a comparable model or in reference to Compellent is it $30k better than NetApp?

[ldelloca]

You can't really compare a NetApp 2020 with a Compellent machine, they are really two different kind, based on features, power, and of course price. You can consider Compellent if you need auto-tiering, multi-protocol block storage, and other features it has.

When you say "for my fileshare", you mean you need NAS features from the SAN you are choosing? Or the share are going to stay in a VM data disk?

Also, what kind of connectivity you need? For example, Equallogic is an iscsi-only SAN, so if you need for example fc, this take away equallogic from the comparison.

Do you also need replica between two separate SAN?

Sorry about adding other questions instead of giving answers, but you first need to understand the features you need, and then let the different vendors translate them into an offer...

Regards.

--

Luca Dell'Oca

http://www.vuemuer.it

@dellock6

vExpert 2011

[Assign points to a useful answer is a way to say thanks]

[othercents]

The FAS2020 is configured with NAS, CIFS, iSCSI, ASIS (DeDupe), NearStore, HTTP, SyncMirror, Ops Manager, FCP, and FlexCache with 3 year SW Subscription and dual controllers.

I don't need an integrated NAS (even though the FAS2020 has it), I am only looking at iSCSI solutions with dual controllers, and replication would be a plus, but not immediately required (might be a backup solution in the future).  DeDupe is also a nice to have feature, but I think we are sized large enough to not worry about it at this point.  Might be a benefit on NetApp's side since we would utilize less storage.

[chriswahl]

I run two NetApp SANs currently (3140 and 3270) and can say that they work very well for virtualization. I have about 30 TB of SAS disk for VMs and another 60 or so for file storage. It's a solid technology that I have chosen for virtualization for all environments in my enterprise.

The biggest challenge with NetApp is that they are pretty different from the competition in how they handle their storage. Things like WAFL, Raid-DP, and FlashCache are some of their distinguishing technologies. It would be wise to learn about these technologies and how they are going to affect your raid groups, aggregates, and LUNs. However, there is a lot of documentation on the NOW site, they have a virtual simulator you can load to play with OnTAP, and there is an entire library of PowerShell cmdlets for download.

Enjoy.

[othercents]

I guess the only thing I'm concerned about NetApp vs EqualLogic is the licensing fees after the 3 year software licensing is up with the NetApp.  I want to be able to continue to use the product without any major licensing fees, or requiring a replacement of the system I get.  However I did notice that the NetApp product has some nifty backup options with snapshots especially with SQL and Exchange.  I'm not sure how that corrilates to the EquaLogic product.

At this point I'm trying to get a FAS2040 quote since the FAS2020 is coming to end of life.  I also believe that both products will do a great job, but I need to decide based on 5 year life of the SAN in our environment which will be best in the long run which also includes performance if I need to double the data size and IOPs.

[EdWilts]

We're a big NetApp shop.  Personally, I would not buy a 2020 today - get a 2040 if you can.  The 2020 will never run OnTap 8.x and the cost delta from a 2020 to a 2040 should not be that large - it's a card swap.

NetApp filers are good but you need to VERY careful and follow their alignment best practices.  If you fail to do, your performance could really suffer.  This is likely true on all of the other products as well but the NetApp filers appear to be particularly sensitive (even larger models like the 31xx line).