So now that you have your SLA, you'll want to consider part availability in your research. If you decide to go with a lesser-known solution because they offer some of the other features "you'd like to have" within your price range, can they guarantee replacement parts in 3-4 days?
It seems like you want a SAN, because you recognize the capabilities, but you really don't seem to have a justified business need for one. Rather than focus on something that fits within your price range, pick 2-3 solutions that meet some or all of your requirements, and let the people with the money decide. Ex: 1) A good robust server with the appropriate capacity, hardware RAID, maintenance contract (for parts replacement). If it provides the space you're after, meets your performance requirements (I noticed you don't know your IOPS requirements yet) and can meet your SLA, then you're golden. 2) A small/mid level NAS/SAN, possibly off-brand, that also meets the same requirements as option 1, but adds other capabilities (i.e. Centralized Storage, Dynamic Growth, etc. etc.) 3) A mid range NAS/SAN, meets all of the above, but possibly includes other features such as replication, thin provisioning, deduplication, additional hardware redundancy, etc. You may find that the company is interested in additional capabilities. Once their benefits are presented, they may be more willing to increase your budget. Or, they may recognize that a simple file server meets your immediate needs and then you have an easy implementation ahead of you. Just food for thought... - Sean On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 12:13 PM, John Aldrich <[email protected] > wrote: > Well, I'd like to have RAID, plus redundant RAID controllers (if possible) > and redundant power supplies, network, etc. That's one reason I was looking > at a SAN was I can get redundant everything. I guess it's not as critical > to > have redundant controllers, since the CEO has said that as long as we get > the CIFS files back online within 3-4 days, we'll be good. > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Don Ely - sc thinks I am a good man... [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 3:30 PM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: Re: SAN question > > What kind of redundancy are you looking for I'm regards to file shares? > Just RAID or is there more to it that I'm missing? > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry > > -----Original Message----- > From: "John Aldrich" <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:28:15 > To: NT System Admin Issues<[email protected]> > Reply-To: "NT System Admin Issues" <[email protected]> > Subject: RE: SAN question > > Well, I *would* like to get the storage off the domain controllers and have > it set up in some way that there's lots of redundancy. I suppose I could > buy > a Microsoft Storage Server with a couple terabytes of disk space and use > that. > > > > From: Bill Humphries [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 3:14 PM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: Re: SAN question > > Yeah, my vote is for DAS. You have a simple network that doesn't have to be > complex. A carpet company isn't some startup or tech company that will > change radically in a short period of time. The only way things radically > change there is if Shaw or Mohawk come knocking at the door...then you have > different problems. > > Bill > > > Jeff Steward wrote: > I'm bored, I'll bite. > > Like others here, I'm not convinced you even need a SAN or even NAS. You > can probably make use of DAS. > > To even begin to make an attempt to give you more guidance we need: > > How many users will be hitting the file server. > What type of file i/o are we talking about? Have you benchmarked your > current performance? How much storage do you currently have and how much > do > you think you will need to meet anticipated growth over the next 24 to 36 > months. > > If you move to providing in-house Exchange, how many users will you be > hosting? How many are heavy duty users versus light duty? > > That's a start, answers to those questions will help us help you further. > > -Jeff Steward > On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 10:16 AM, John Aldrich > <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > > ~ 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 > > ~ 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 > > > ~ 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 > > > ~ 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 > > > ~ 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 > > ~ 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
