bsip828
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SAN recommendation for VSPhere Essentials Plus
I got quotes for new server hardware (2 hosts and 1 SAN array for VSphere Essentials Plus) and I would like to get some opinion on the SAN’s I am being quoted as price wise they are all very close to each other (each quote is based on the results of a Dell DPACK analysis). The main requirement that everyone got was that our ERP system requires a separate RAID 10 array with at least 15k drives.
1. HP MSA 2040 (iSCSI) with 16x600GB 10K drives 4x200GB SSD drives. One thing to note here is that the vendor is ordering the array without disks. They are ordering Western Digital SAS and Samsung SSD Disks so the HP warranty/support will not cover those.
2. EMC VNXe3200 (iSCSI) with 24x300GB 15k drives. They are not guaranteeing that our switches (Dell Powerconnect 5548) will work.
3. Dell PowerVault MD3420 (SAS Connected) with 16x600GB 10k drives, 4x300GB 15k drives and 1x800GB SSD for cache.
The performance on all 3 should be more than enough as we currently run everything (except our ERP) on a NAS with 7.2k drives.
So far I prefer the Dell Quote as it has the SSD Cache and uses a SAS connection so I don’t have to worry about our switches supporting the SAN.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
1. HP MSA 2040 (iSCSI) with 16x600GB 10K drives 4x200GB SSD drives. One thing to note here is that the vendor is ordering the array without disks. They are ordering Western Digital SAS and Samsung SSD Disks so the HP warranty/support will not cover those.
2. EMC VNXe3200 (iSCSI) with 24x300GB 15k drives. They are not guaranteeing that our switches (Dell Powerconnect 5548) will work.
3. Dell PowerVault MD3420 (SAS Connected) with 16x600GB 10k drives, 4x300GB 15k drives and 1x800GB SSD for cache.
The performance on all 3 should be more than enough as we currently run everything (except our ERP) on a NAS with 7.2k drives.
So far I prefer the Dell Quote as it has the SSD Cache and uses a SAS connection so I don’t have to worry about our switches supporting the SAN.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
ASKER
1. That's how I feel about it, it is a production environment
2. Currently there are no issues but we are also not using iSCSI right now. Dell said that their iSCSI array's do not support the 5548's, that's why they quoted the SAS connection.
Currently I do not see a need to expand beyond the 2 servers, but with HA configured I can have to up 4 connected to the MD3420. Currently we have 3 hosts with quad-core cpu's and 48GB of Ram each with no issues, the new hosts that Dell quoted have dual 6 core cpu's and 96GB of memory each.
2. Currently there are no issues but we are also not using iSCSI right now. Dell said that their iSCSI array's do not support the 5548's, that's why they quoted the SAS connection.
Currently I do not see a need to expand beyond the 2 servers, but with HA configured I can have to up 4 connected to the MD3420. Currently we have 3 hosts with quad-core cpu's and 48GB of Ram each with no issues, the new hosts that Dell quoted have dual 6 core cpu's and 96GB of memory each.
No reasons to purchase a SAN then!
Do not buy not supported HP drives, HP drives have HP specific firmware and you'll only have issues, not sure why any vendor would purchase a solution that can cause possible instability. If you need shared storage purchase a SAN, otherwise let it run on local hosts. The HP model is not bad but both all 3 snapshot technology is not efficient, (although the VNXe supports NFS/CIFS) if you would still consider a SAN take a look at Netapp or Nimble for rapid Business Continuity options with their snapshot technology.
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I was referring to the filer (ontap 7 mode or c-dot) although the Engenio gear is pretty good as it was rebranded by Dell, IBM, etc before Netapp bought them for their block gear if I remember.
Have you checked out Dell Compellent SAN. They are very good, cost effective SAN and works great with VMware
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ASKER
The Compellent SAN did not come up when I talked with Dell, we only looked at MD and EqualLogic. The Compellent looks like a more expensive solution though.
The VMware VSAN was actually my first plan but when I started talking with the Vendors it came up that 2 hosts and a san is actually cheaper.
The VMware VSAN was actually my first plan but when I started talking with the Vendors it came up that 2 hosts and a san is actually cheaper.
2. I'm not sure what the issues with your switches are?
3. If you want the best performance of the three you have highlighted SAS connected....
Also easiest to setup, for two servers, are you going to expand at all beyond two servers ?