[AusNOG] SAN - NetApp vs EMC vs EqualLogic (kinda off topic)

[Jay Mitchell]

Dell own EqualLogic, hence their ability to aggressively price ;)

I'm running several EMC Clariions which have been rock solid, but they're
running pure FC.

I've just purchased an EqualLogic PS6000X for a branch office, on paper they
look solid and you get pretty good bang for your buck feature wise. I can't
comment personally on performance yet as I haven't taken delivery, but
looking forward to getting my hands dirty :) There's also a 10gE option now.

--jay

-----Original Message-----
From: ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net
[mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net] On Behalf Of Jonathan Thorpe
Sent: Thursday, 15 July 2010 8:45 AM
To: James Braunegg; ausnog at ausnog.net
Subject: Re: [AusNOG] SAN - NetApp vs EMC vs EqualLogic (kinda off topic)

Hi James,

It might help if you tell us what kind of storage capacity and what you'll
be using it with. Do you have any existing iSCSI infrastructure - any
problems with it?

I've worked with all of the ones you mentioned on various projects when I
worked for Citrix (XenServer) and all had their own positives and negatives,
but it largely depends on what you intend on using it with.

A few comments on each (anyone please feel free to disagree):
	NetApp: Highly versatile - can be used as a NFS/CIFS appliance as
well as an iSCSI SAN (although you pay for licensing). NetApp claim that
RAID-DP's (proprietary form of RAID similar to RAID-6) performance is
comparable to RAID-10, but with the RAID overhead efficiency of RAID-6. I've
never put the performance to the test though.

	Equallogic: I've found Dell to be the most common reseller of these
and this appears to allow them to offer reasonable pricing. One thing to be
very careful of is to see if they can do active/active multipathing. When I
worked with them about 6 months ago, it was strictly active/passive (i.e.
you couldn't configure different LUNs to different controllers to spread the
load).

	EMC: Generally very solid, but there's licensing for just about
every component (PowerPath, drive expansion etc). Make sure these costs are
understood upfront.

Other options are the Dell MD3000i and IBM DS3000 and DS4000 series - these
are all based on LSI controllers and are widely supported as well.

Kind Regards,
Jonathan


-----Original Message-----
From: ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net
[mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net] On Behalf Of James Braunegg
Sent: Wednesday, 14 July 2010 8:51 PM
To: ausnog at ausnog.net
Subject: [AusNOG] SAN - NetApp vs EMC vs EqualLogic (kinda off topic)

Hey guys were in the market for a new iSCSI SAN, I know this list is mainly
about networking but we are looking at acquiring another SAN (network
storage) Does anyone have any suggestions or know any good Melbourne based
sales rep from NetApp, EMC or EqualLogic.

I'm currently only looking at iSCSI not FC for this application.

Kindest Regards

James Braunegg
W:  1300 769 972  |  M:  0488 997 207 |  D:  (03) 9751 7616
E:   james.braunegg at micron21.com  |  ABN:  85 126 029 203   


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