LoJac
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SAN or Beefy Server
We are currently running 7 physical servers. I am looking to virtualize them into a vmware environment. None of the servers (4 Poweredge 2900, 2 Poweredge 1900, 1 HP Proliant ML350) are being taxed at all. One of the 2900's is running exchange 2007 and the HP is running our accounting software. Overall approx. 25GB of memory is being used and 2.7TB of data. I am trying to figure out if I need to invest in a SAN. I know this is the perferrable way to go in order to do HA. However, I wonder if I could get the same results from a beefy server with a mirroring software such as Heroware. I don't necessarily need zero downtime but as close to it as possible. If I did go this route I think I could save somewhere around $20k. I know we will grow into a SAN eventually but I'm wondering if I can hold off a little longer. I figured I would ask the Experts! Any input would be greatly appreciated!
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I would also take a look at your budget, depedning on how much you're spending on a beefy SAN you could get a base SAN/NAS with min. amount of drives and you'll have room to grow. There are a lot of options these days, for instance you may want to look at getting 2 base servers and installing VMWAre Storage Appliance which will give you all the benefits of a SAN without the additional hardware.