ict_support Posted June 28, 2011 Posted June 28, 2011 Okay do I go EMC or NETApp for my SAN which will be the heart of my new VMWARE installation? I am looking at the EMC VNXe3300 and VNX5300 or the Netapp FAS2020HA. When you think of a SAN for VMware you think of NETapp but EMC own VMware and the new VNX range does look good. Thoughts please
Soulfish Posted June 28, 2011 Posted June 28, 2011 The VNX5300 is in a different league to the FAS2020. It's more onpar with the FAS3170. I'd even say the the VNXe3300 is a more powerful unit than the FAS2020. The FAS2020 is a pretty underpowered box and if that's the only Netapp you can afford I'd avoid it. The new EMC range is pretty good, but I'd look at playing Netapp and EMC off against each other and make sure they know that they're competing against each other. There are massive discounts available if they think they can displace each other 1
Psymon Posted June 28, 2011 Posted June 28, 2011 Have you looked at HP? We have a P4300G2 at current, fantastic piece of kit. Running about 14 Virtuals from 3 Physicals (+ a DC outside the cluster as its Hyper-V). Simon 1
Duke Posted June 28, 2011 Posted June 28, 2011 Check out this thread: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/thin-client-virtual-machines/78461-san-advice.html I'd avoid NetApp, my FAS2020 hasn't performed well for anything other than as a low speed D2D backup device, licensing is overpriced, etc. Check out the Oracle S7000 stuff, failing that I'd probably look at EMC. 1
gshaw Posted June 29, 2011 Posted June 29, 2011 Iirc the 2020 is being phased out, very slow CPU in the controllers that there's complaints about if you read around...
Duke Posted June 29, 2011 Posted June 29, 2011 Iirc the 2020 is being phased out, very slow CPU in the controllers that there's complaints about if you read around... I think they've been saying that for a while but resellers keep finding them to sell. As I said in another thread, it does what it does if you need low-performance storage but with (technically) enterprise features and unified storage protocols, but there's better value for money stuff out there.
linescanner Posted June 29, 2011 Posted June 29, 2011 I have a customer that has just bought the VNXe 3300 and seems very happy, I also know of a 5300 customer who is also a happy bunny. PM me if you want some more info. I am aware that the Oracle S7000 has had a bit of a bashing recently, but still think that is worth looking at.
Sylv3r Posted June 29, 2011 Posted June 29, 2011 We've bought the EMC VNXe3300 and have only unboxed it and stuck into our cabinet this week, but haven't turned it on yet. I can let you know ovr the next week or two when we get going with it. If it earns marks for being shiny, it's a good start.
riffleman Posted June 29, 2011 Posted June 29, 2011 Our VMware storage is based on Symantec branded Huwaei OceanStor SAN. iSCSI based SAN with 8Gbps throughput, good IOPS rating runs 15 VMs without breaking a sweat. Mixes SATA with SAS drives too if more throughput required. Half the price of a NetApp.
RTFM Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 If the FAS2020 isnt going to be upto the job, what about a FAS2040? Maybe someone would be able to give you some feedback on that model?
Duke Posted July 1, 2011 Posted July 1, 2011 If the FAS2020 isnt going to be upto the job, what about a FAS2040? Maybe someone would be able to give you some feedback on that model? I looked at a FAS2050 a while back and it came to £120,000 for 19.2TB of disks (not including RAID/spares/formatting, just disk capacity). To me that just didn't seem like good value for money. For comparison's sake, I got 22TB of disk from Sun for £37,500, and I could get 22TB from Oracle right now for well under £25,000. Some of that NetApp cost was licensing and they've got a lot better at throwing licenses in for free, but my concern would be that I'd buy the box and get a good deal on it, then when one year down the line I need another licence it's going to cost me £10,000. I've never personally used a 2040 or 2050 though so can't comment on performance, sorry.
linescanner Posted July 1, 2011 Posted July 1, 2011 You say this is for VMWare: 1. How many servers ? 2. What is their current space requirement ? 3. Are you looking at CIFS shares 4. What is your current data requirement if yes to 3 5. What will be the number of connected clients if yes to 3 and many more things to ask Give us a shout if you want to bounce some ideas around.
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