anyone using Netapp

Posted in 2012

John Adamski — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:06:53 — source: IIUG Forums & Mailing Lists

HPUX 11.31 on BL870c Integrity server IDS 11.70.FC4 Five years ago when we refreshed our ERP HPUX server due to the limited number of hard drives on the server we moved our Informix DB to a HP EVA4400 SAN on a RAID10 lun. We are starting to look at new refresh and at this time the HPUX server refresh will be postponed due to ERP software but the SAM refresh might happen. Which means I either have to find a new place for the Informix DB or find a SAN that will play nice with my Informix DB. One vender's has proposed replacing our EVA440 is a NetApp SAN which only has RAID-DP (proprietary RAID6 I think). I have pushed back on this and they are still pushing this solution. I know Art's view on RAID-whatever and agree that RAID10 is the only way to go for databases. My question is, does anyone out there have a NetApp SAN for their Informix DB and if so how's that going? I just trying to get a better understanding of Netapp so when I write up the pros-cons of each proposal for my boss I have more than my gut backing up my words. John David Adamski, Sr. Network Specialist Graceland University, 1 University Place, Lamoni, IA 50140 adamski@graceland.edu 641.784.5267

↪ replying to John Adamski

Art Kagel — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:59:26 — source: IIUG Forums & Mailing Lists

You do know my position. No RAID5/6/51/61/Z so no Netapp. I posted a new document on why not for managers on the BAARF site www.baarf.com. <http://www.baarf.com>; That can be ammunition for you. Art On Oct 26, 2012 11:07 AM, "John Adamski" <adamski@graceland.edu> wrote: > HPUX 11.31 on BL870c Integrity server > IDS 11.70.FC4 > > Five years ago when we refreshed our ERP HPUX server due to the limited > number > of hard drives on the server we moved our Informix DB to a HP EVA4400 SAN > on a > RAID10 lun. We are starting to look at new refresh and at this time the > HPUX > server refresh will be postponed due to ERP software but the SAM refresh > might > happen. Which means I either have to find a new place for the Informix DB > or > find a SAN that will play nice with my Informix DB. > > One vender's has proposed replacing our EVA440 is a NetApp SAN which only > has > RAID-DP (proprietary RAID6 I think). I have pushed back on this and they > are > still pushing this solution. > > I know Art's view on RAID-whatever and agree that RAID10 is the only way > to go > for databases. > > My question is, does anyone out there have a NetApp SAN for their Informix > DB > and if so how's that going? I just trying to get a better understanding of > Netapp so when I write up the pros-cons of each proposal for my boss I have > more than my gut backing up my words. > > John David Adamski, Sr. Network Specialist > Graceland University, 1 University Place, Lamoni, IA 50140 > adamski@graceland.edu > 641.784.5267 > > > > ******************************************************************************* > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. > > --14dae93406d7f425a704ccfaeaa7

↪ replying to John Adamski

Habichtsberg, Reinhard — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:07:22 — source: IIUG Forums & Mailing Lists

We are using Netapp with Solaris 10 and Informix 11.70.FC5 since April. The Netapp Storage is a part of the SAN. Each Informix Server instance has it's own volume which is splitted in a couple of luns. Important attributs: Big Flash Cache (1 TB), Stretched Metrocluster. Metrocluster allows you to use syncmirror which is a synchronized mirroring on a second identical system on second location. If one controller crashes the other will take over. If one storage (Raid, shelve) crashes the controller will work on the mirror. If one location crashes the other will take over (the last admin controlled, the first two transparent). For security you will need a distributed SAN fabric, all redundant designed. We have 8 pathes per lun (resp.: disk in Solaris, chunk in Informix) into the storage. The aggregates as highest organizational unit are rather big to contain as much as possible turning spindles. Together with the Flash Cache and the very powerful controllers IO-throughput and access time are excellent. I know about the discussion about Raid. However with Stretched Metrocluster and SyncMirror the risk of data loss is minimal. We were happy to meet other Informix-Netapp users. Reinhard > -----Original Message----- > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of John > Adamski > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 5:07 PM > To: ids@iiug.org > Subject: anyone using Netapp [28652] > > HPUX 11.31 on BL870c Integrity server > IDS 11.70.FC4 > > Five years ago when we refreshed our ERP HPUX server due to the limited > number of hard drives on the server we moved our Informix DB to a HP EVA4400 > SAN on a RAID10 lun. We are starting to look at new refresh and at this time the > HPUX server refresh will be postponed due to ERP software but the SAM refresh > might happen. Which means I either have to find a new place for the Informix DB > or find a SAN that will play nice with my Informix DB. > > One vender's has proposed replacing our EVA440 is a NetApp SAN which only > has RAID-DP (proprietary RAID6 I think). I have pushed back on this and they are > still pushing this solution. > > I know Art's view on RAID-whatever and agree that RAID10 is the only way to go > for databases. > > My question is, does anyone out there have a NetApp SAN for their Informix DB > and if so how's that going? I just trying to get a better understanding of Netapp so > when I write up the pros-cons of each proposal for my boss I have more than my > gut backing up my words. > > John David Adamski, Sr. Network Specialist Graceland University, 1 University > Place, Lamoni, IA 50140 adamski@graceland.edu > 641.784.5267 > > > ************************************************************************ ******* > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.