I have to say from personal experience that if you are going to err, do it on the side of too much storage up front. I purchased a SAN not too long ago thinking it would last for years, only to find it filled to capacity in under 2 years. At this point, we also found out that their solution to adding more space was to dump the original and buy a "bigger better" system to replace it. I did in fact have to buy a new system to replace the old SAN, but this time went with EqualLogic which costs a little more up front, but gives me the peace of mind that I can just add more disk to it for years and years to come. I am willing, and able, to pay for that peace of mind as I find it to be worth more than the actual hardware over time. Tim
From: Andrew S. Baker [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 2:01 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: SAN solutions The problem being solved is not merely the replication of 150GB of data. The problem, as I understand it, it to provide a stand-alone, but robust and redundant storage solution that can support current and future growth, where current needs are ~150GB and future needs are estimated at 3-5TB. The replication will be across the WAN. There are a number of ways to achieve this goal. One of the things we've been recommending is to not overstate the storage needs of the next few years. If growth is unpredictable, then spend more for a highly expandable chassis now. If growth is more modest (and I believe that it will be, given the current needs), then get an appliance with some growth ability, but at a better price point. When you need to get something else, the technology and pricing will be much better anyway. Some people will roll their own solution, and some will obtain the largest solution with expandability that money can by today. And there are viable options in between. ASB (My XeeSM Profile)<http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker> Providing Competitive Advantage through Effective IT Leadership On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 2:23 PM, Mike Gill <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: I'm very small time, but I like to think that after a little reading and pondering I can at least have a basic understanding around enterprise concepts, and why some things cost more. Sometimes, a lot more. But here I cannot. Can someone please enlighten me as to why there is a consideration to spend up to forty thousand dollars on replicating 150GB of data to two locations? This seems like such a completely small amount of data for such a price, even with having space for growth. -- Mike Gill From: John Aldrich [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 10:27 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: SAN solutions Well, I'm looking to off-load our storage to a dedicated storage appliance from our mirrored Dell servers. Currently we are using about 150 Gigs of drive space on the servers (again...mirrored for D/R purposes.) I am looking at using iSCSI to connect the servers to the storage appliance to share the files out as if they were on the local drive. My estimated budget for this is about $30-40K for a pair of mirrored storage appliances. I would like to have one of the devices at a remote location for D/R purposes. Pretty much everyone has said that they think that can be done, even over a 5 Mbit VPN. [cid:[email protected]][cid:[email protected]] From: Andrew S. Baker [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:11 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: SAN solutions What is the budget you working with (or you believe you'll be constrained to?) That might help your selection process. You basically need to indicate the desired functionality, and the extent of your budget. If they are in sync, then that will be better. If not, then a recalibration in one direction or another will be necessary, and then the solutions will come from that. ASB (My XeeSM Profile)<http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker> Providing Competitive Advantage through Effective IT Leadership On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 1:04 PM, John Aldrich <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Yeah... but I have a feeling that the Compellent solution may be lower cost. :) I got an MSRP on an Equallogic system... $42K for a 5 Tb useable system... No way I'm going to be able to afford two of those to do D/R. :( [cid:[email protected]][cid:[email protected]] From: Brian Desmond [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:53 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: SAN solutions Lefthand (Bought by HP) and Equalogic (bought by Dell) play in this space as well. Thanks, Brian Desmond [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> c - 312.731.3132 From: John Aldrich [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 11:28 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: SAN solutions Anyone know anything about a SAN manufacturer called Compellent? I just had a webinar with them and they seem like they're pretty good. They have separate drive chassis and controllers, with the controller being essentially a server class machine. Anyway, just thought I'd ask in here if anyone had any experience with them. [cid:[email protected]][cid:[email protected]] No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com<http://www.avg.com> Version: 8.5.423 / Virus Database: 270.14.34/2462 - Release Date: 10/27/09 07:38:00 No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com<http://www.avg.com> Version: 8.5.423 / Virus Database: 270.14.34/2462 - Release Date: 10/27/09 07:38:00 ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
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