Nice overview, Bob. Thanks
*ASB *(My XeeSM Profile) <http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker> *Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage...* * * On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 12:28 PM, Bob Hartung <[email protected]> wrote: > We've been using a Drobo Elite for about 6 months. It has seven 2 TB WD > drives in it with dual redundant disks yielding 8.36 TB of available > storage. I use it for Acronis backup images. > > One of the drives failed about a week after we installed them. The Drobo > alerted me which drive had failed and I got a replacement and stuffed it in > and it automatically rebuilt the array without any interruptions. > > Someone mentioned that the smallest drive somehow define capacity. That not > true. If you go to the Data Robotics website, they have a space calculator > app that tells you the usable storage space with any combination of drive > sizes and redundancy settings. > > One of the biggest benefits I see with the Beyond RAID is volume size > flexibility. On a typical RAID, if you specify a 500 MB volume and you reach > that limit and need more you have to backup the data, destroy the volume and > recreate it with a larger size and restore the data. > > With Beyond RAID, you can either specify a 500 MB volume and have the same > situation as a conventional RAID. But you can also elect to make the Volume > size 16 TB. Then you can let the volume grow as large as there is free space > available on the installed drives. I make all my volumes 16 TB. If I start > running out of room, I'll add another 2 TB drive. When that's full, I'll > pull one of the 2 TB drives out and stick in a 4 TB drive (or whatever the > current big drive available is). > > Other benefits... > > - No trays. You just stick the bare drive in. > - Drive order is unimportant. If you shutdown the Drobo, pulled all the > drives and stuck them back in randomly and fired it up, there'd be no > problem. > > It's more expensive than a NAS but it's worth it for the Beyond RAID. It's > also a lot less expensive than a typical SAN. > > I think it great technology. > > ---------------------- > > Bob Hartung > Wisco Industries, Inc. > 736 Janesville St. > Oregon, WI 53575 > Tel: (608) 835-3106 x215 > Fax: (608) 835-7399 > e-mail: bhartung(at)wiscoind.com > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Raper, Jonathan - Eagle [mailto:[email protected]] > *To:* NT System Admin Issues [mailto:[email protected] > ] > *Sent:* Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:47:39 -0500 > *Subject:* RE: Speaking of Drobo ... (was: SAN question) > > Ok, so lemme get this straight – you put in 7 TB of disk and only get 3 > TB usable? Lovely. > > > > With traditional RAID, if you pulled the 1 TB drive out of that same > equation, you’d have, ummmm 4 TB… > > > > Jonathan L. Raper, A+, MCSA, MCSE > > Technology Coordinator > Eagle Physicians & Associates, PA > * > *[email protected]* > *www.eaglemds.com > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* N Parr [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Thursday, September 23, 2010 11:44 AM > > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* RE: Speaking of Drobo ... (was: SAN question) > > > > Pretty sure raid on the Drobo defined by the smallest drive in the array. > So if you have 3 2TB drive and 1 1TB drive you will only get around 3TB of > storage. > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* Raper, Jonathan - Eagle [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Thursday, September 23, 2010 10:36 AM > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* Speaking of Drobo ... (was: SAN question) > > Ok, so it SEEMS like a really cool device, but I honestly haven’t looked at > it seriously since the device first came out a couple of years ago. When I > first looked at it, I was like, ok, now THAT’s COOL. > > > > However, after thinking about it some, it just seemed like some black magic > under the covers to get their “BeyondRAID” to work. When I originally > looked at it, I couldn’t find any technical detail on how the product ** > really** worked, as that was “proprietary” (understandably so, but still, > how am I going to get comfortable with it as a sysadmin, especially at the > price if I’m on a budget – it would be an expensive toy. Traditional RAID is > just much more comforting to me. If you have a big issue with multiple > drives of different sizes on a drobo unit, how is data recovery going to go > for you? If the controller fails, and you don’t have a support agreement, > you can’t just go on serversuply.com and get parts… > > > > Does anyone here have any experience with data recovery on a failed drobo, > or for that matter, simply a failed drive within a drobo where you had > drives of different sizes in the configuration? > > > > I know “backup, backup, backup”, but what if the backup doesn’t work (or > the customer/end user didn’t heed your advice)? > > Jonathan L. Raper, A+, MCSA, MCSE > Technology Coordinator > Eagle Physicians & Associates, PA* > *[email protected]* > *www.eaglemds.com > ------------------------------ > > *From:* Jonathan Link [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Thursday, September 23, 2010 11:16 AM > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* Re: SAN question > > > > +1 > > Going back to a previous comment of mine in another thread you started. > Have you messed with OpenFiler, yet? You'll learn a lot. > > Also, based on your pretty low requirements, have you looked at the > DroboElite? If it had been available when I started looking, I very well > could've gone in this direction. As it is, I'm seriously considering it for > backup duty. Storage for a backup server, and the ability to use it in a > pinch if my EqualLogic goes down. > > On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 10:59 AM, Raper, Jonathan - Eagle < > [email protected]> wrote: > > John - I do not believe that we can help you significantly with this > question. In the end, it really doesn't matter what any of us think, because > our environments are all different and unique. What works well and may be > appropriate for any of us, may be a horrible fit for you and cause you > nothing but heartburn and stress. > > However, I would tend to agree with Niles. If you're not ready for a SAN, > don't spend the money on it now. > > You really need to have a serious sit-down with the vendors/sales engineers > (notice I said ENGINEER, not REP) of the different hardware, learn as much > as you can from THEM, and ask LOTS of questions. Then ask them why you > should choose their product over x, y, or z product. Take lots of notes, and > then do the same thing all over again, no more than a few days apart so > everything is still fresh in your head. > > Many times, some of the best education I've gotten has been from the > manufacturers themselves. I've actually been to the EMC manufacturing > facility in North Carolina - I spent two days there, on THEIR DIME to learn > about their products (I had to get there & back, but after that, everything > was on them). If you say to them, "I'd like an education on how your product > works and whether or not it would be suitable for my needs and my > applications.", you'll generally get plenty of intelligent people that will > be happy to answer your questions. If they don't ask lots of questions about > your environment and what your needs are, you're talking to the wrong > people. > > I believe that the purpose of this list is really a, "I'm having trouble > with x, has anyone seen this before?" or "why do you guys think x > specification/technology is better than y", or "I'm having trouble getting > this ADSIedit script working, what am I doing wrong?". > > I believe that if you sit down with the various manufacturers/reps, even if > only on a webex session where they can whiteboard for you one on one, will > answer many of your questions and make your original question about > intelligence/disks seem trivial. > > Regards, > > > Jonathan L. Raper, A+, MCSA, MCSE > Technology Coordinator > Eagle Physicians & Associates, PA > [email protected] > www.eaglemds.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: N Parr [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 10:26 AM > To: NT System Admin Issues > > Subject: RE: SAN question > > I think you just need to give up on your SAN dreams and go buy a decent > NAS for a couple grand and call it good. You just said it's going to be > a file server for the time being so why spend the money for a SAN now if > you don't need it. I bet if I look back through the archives you first > brought this up at least 18 months ago. When, if , you do need a SAN > down the road you won't have already spent a ton of $$ on what will then > be old tech and you can start looking at what will then be new. > > -----Original Message----- > From: John Aldrich [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 9:17 AM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: SAN question > > Ok, guys. I'm trying to narrow down my many choices with regards to our > on-going search for a SAN manufacturer. I'd like your thoughts on the > whole question of adding more intelligence vs just adding more disks. > i.e. the EQ vs LeftHand models. > > I can see arguments to be made for both models. I'll tell you that, > initially, the SAN is going to be a glorified file server, however, we > plan on hosting our email data store on the SAN when we bring email > in-house later on. I've already verified with the email vendor that I > hope to use that this is not a problem, so that's a non-issue. Other > than that, the only database we would store on the SAN would possibly be > the database from our Vipre install, although initially that would stay > on the local storage. > > So, I'd like to see some discussions of the benefits of just adding a > tray of "dumb drives" or adding a complete controller along with the > drives (a la > LeftHand.) > > I just don't know enough about the benefits of each model to know what > would work best for us. I'm hoping that you guys who are more > experienced would give me the benefit of your knowledge. > > > > Thanks, > John Aldrich > IT Manager, > Blueridge Carpet > 706-276-2001, Ext. 2233 > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
