I have no way of knowing the LSI might be the OEM for any of these products, most SAN vendors put a significant amount of IP into all of their units. Most sans won't allow you to take just any old drive and install it. There's custom firmware involved, ya know.
If you want to go really cheap, buy a server with a lot of disk capability and multiple NICs, configure the RAID card for whatever RAID level you want and then install OpenFiler on top of it. In your environment, if you aren't virtualizing, OpenFiler's price is right, support is available and it works well. However, it does not like multiple initiators accessing one target. I used OpenFiler for 8 months and thought it was good for what it did, but I wanted more and I wanted more comfort with the equipment/support. On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 1:47 PM, John Aldrich <[email protected]>wrote: > So, would you guys say it’s the old saying of “You get what you pay for” > or can you find a smaller company (say LSI, who is the OEM for a lot of > these) that would be just as good at a fraction of the price? > > > > [image: John-Aldrich][image: Tile-Tools] > > > > *From:* John Cook [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Friday, October 09, 2009 1:37 PM > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* Re: NAS/SAN > > > > +1 on the EMC, stellar reliability although there was a steep learning > curve on the fiber management side. ISCI is definitly easier IMHO. > John W. Cook > Systems Administrator > Partnership For Strong Families > Sent to you from my Blackberry in the Cloud > ------------------------------ > > *From*: Mayo, Bill > *To*: NT System Admin Issues > *Sent*: Fri Oct 09 13:30:58 2009 > *Subject*: RE: NAS/SAN > > +1 > > > > My semi-sarcastic thought when I read the quote below (ask what they think > about StoneFly) was that the answer would be, "Who?" EMC, in particular, > are in the big leagues. I've never heard any other vendor say that their > hardware wasn't up to snuff. The knocks are generally "too expensive" and > "too complicated". As someone has mentioned before (in regards to the > rebranded Dell versions), EMC will negotiate on price. As for the "too > complicated", if you can't figure out how to use it, you probably don't need > to be administering the SAN anyway. > > > > My personal opinion is that when you are putting all your storage eggs in > one basket, you want to be sure that the hardware is reliable and that the > support is top notch. In my experience, that is definitely the case with > EMC. > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* Martin Blackstone [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Friday, October 09, 2009 12:39 PM > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* RE: NAS/SAN > > Ive never even heard of them. > > > > *From:* Rene de Haas [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Friday, October 09, 2009 9:07 AM > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* Re: NAS/SAN > > > > Maybe ask the other guys (Lefthand, Dell, ...) what they think about > StoneFly. > > On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 6:01 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > They all like to point out the deficiencies of their competitors. Just tell > him to focus on his products values and get a demo or at least a > walk-through. > > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry > ------------------------------ > > *From: *"John Aldrich" <[email protected]> > > *Date: *Fri, 9 Oct 2009 11:56:01 -0400 > > *To: *NT System Admin Issues<[email protected]> > > *Subject: *RE: NAS/SAN > > > > Thanks. That sort of talk made me suspicious that he was blowing smoke, but > it seems like a good product, nonetheless, and if it comes in cheaper than > thbig boy I may go with that, especially since ASB recommendsem. J > > > > [image: John-Aldrich][image: Tile-Tools] > > > > *From:* Sean Martin [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Friday, October 09, 2009 11:52 AM > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* Re: NAS/SAN > > > > That sounds like nonsense to me. > > > > Have you looked into Dell/EMCs CX4-120? Its the entry level CX unit that > provides both fiber channel and iscsi connectivity via "UltraFlex I/O > Modules". It supports 4GB/s and 8GB/s Fiber Channel and 1 GB/s and 10GB/s > iSCSI. > > > > -Sean > > On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 7:39 AM, John Aldrich <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Ok, I just got off the phone with a StoneFly sales engineerHe had some > interesting things to say about EMC/Dell/Equallogic/NetApp and LSI. I need > some fact-checking from people who know more than I about this sort of thin > he said that those are dum ISCSI devices that ct handle a lot of > connections at once and that I ought to buy their product because that > hardware can handle a lot more connections and a lot higher throughput than > the competition. > > > > Was he just blowing smoke up my rear or is that stuff true? > > > > Thanks! > > [image: John-Aldrich][image: Tile-Tools] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: The information transmitted, or contained or > attached to or with this Notice is intended only for the person or entity to > which it is addressed and may contain Protected Health Information (PHI), > confidential and/or privileged material. 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