> I'm looking into replacing our aging EMC SAN installation with > something else, and I thought I'd ping the list for suggestions. > Basically I'm looking for, preferably, one box that can do NFS really > well and also do fibre channel really well (mostly for ESX LUNs). I've > used NetApp gear in the past for both these purposes to great success, > and I'd happily try them again, but I suspect there might be some > newer, more agile companies out there with competitive alternatives > and better pricing. >
Have you looked at Pillar Data Systems? They have a very compelling product that offers everything you are asking for here as well as the ability to seamlessly migrate less used or less IO needy data from expensive high performance FC drives to more cost targeted lower performance but hight data density SATA drives. > The management interface counts for a lot too: I hate EMC's with a > fiery passion. Something web based is much, much better than a java > app that only works well on Windows. > This is where they may fall down as the only interface I have seen is a gooey one. That is not to say they do not offer it I just do not remember seeing it in thier lab we played in. > Aside from excelling at NFS and fc, and being "officially supported" > by VMware, Inc., flexibility in terms of being able to use both SATA > and FC/SAS disks where I like is a good plus too. Easy storage > expansion by adding more drive shelves is important. Enough > controllers with sufficient horsepower such that they can be slammed > by NFS but still serve up fibre channel without a hitch is important. > In terms of capacity, I'd probably need around 16TB usable to start, > and growing quickly from there. > Pillar also has good growth options from what I have seen. As stated above they can use FC and SATA drives in the same array (different trays needed if I remember correctly) all managed by the same head end unit/s. You can have a dedicated NAS head serving up NFS independant of the FC raw storage controller. > Cost is a consideration, but I should probably put this in > perspective: I know how much top-tier stuff from NetApp and EMC costs, > and I'm prepared to pay that, but if there's another company out there > that is just as good or better for a bit less, then I should consider > their products too. I'm not expecting 30TB for $8k or anything like > that! But I don't want to spend money I don't have to just because I > haven't heard of an alternative. > Cost was very competative with most every other vendor we looked at and they were one the final two list when we made our last purchase of new storage infrastructure. Unfortunately for them HP already had a foot in the door with a lower end unit that we were quickly outgrowing and we were not yet in need of many of the more compelling features they were offering us. In the end HP also did some VERY aggresive price cuts on the hardware including new 4Gb fiber switches at VERY good pricing. We spent a good deal of time looking at Pillar Data products and were very impressed with what they were capable of and the engineers we were dealing with were quite good at storage. Their "founder" likes to play around in quite expensive boats a lot these days. He wanted them to design a good backend for his other pet company, Oracle. I was really rooting for Pillar but the really cool features that we really could have made good use of two years later were not enough to push them ahead of HP's EVA line that was already in house and hence had the support and management experience already in house as well. Factor in the whole package pricing with the 4Gb switches practically free, we just could not make the case with management. Were I in a position today to make a case for a new storage vendor (and I REALLY wish I were), they would be high on the list of vendors I would be courting. I would also like to go back and try just a little bit harder to get them over HP now that we really could use the other features that HP did not offer or are now charging significantly more for. Odd how fast those discounts shrink when you have already made the big purchase. HP is far from alone in that though. MPC Corp rebranded a Lefthand Networks iSCSI device for a while and our "all inclusive" licensing was found to be wanting when we started looking at snapshots and replication. Got to love sales criminals. > So, any companies / products you can recommend along those lines, I'd > love to hear about. Thanks! > > Dan Charlie _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list [email protected] http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
