Re: Disk Storage

Hello, Steve. We are currently in a situation very similar to yours. We're using a Sun ES6000 as our data server, running Solaris 2.5.1 and Veritas 2.6 as a volume manager. Our current disk array is a Sun RSM-2000 (aka A3000), and it's full. We're trying to find a better, more enterprise-wide solution, and Sun and EMC are the key players. See my answers to your questions below. - Tom Girsch Database Systems Manager Arch Communications Group, Inc. Steve Romankiw wrote in message <71skmt$cs9$1@news.xmission.com>... > >Early next year, I will begin a project of evaluating disk storage >solutions. This includes solutions from Sun, EMC, and IBM to name a >few. > >My current environment consists of 3 Sun Ultra E4000's (Solaris 2.5.1) >connected to 3 Sun SSA model 1xx series. We use Veritas Volume 2.4 as >our volume manager. > >To get a discussion started, I have a few questions: > >o What storage solution are using? We haven't yet made a decision on vendor for a new solution. Currently RSM-2000's, as indicated above, but these don't scale very well and can't redundantly connect to multiple hosts. (Can redundantly connect to one host, or can non-redundantly connect to each of two hosts). >o How did you evaluate each vendor? Cost, features, and performance are our big keys. We've done quite a bit of requirements gathering, and are trying to find the solution that best meets the requirements we came up with. Of key import is the ability to redundantly connect to several different hosts on heterogeneous platforms. >o Why did you choose one vendor over the other? Technical Reasons or >company synergy? While we have not yet made a decision, however our biggest concerns are reliability, performance, support, and price. >o How do you provide for high-availability? e.g, what happens when >your storge unit fails. This will depend on the solution. Any unit we buy will have to be internally redundant (power supplies, cabling, controllers, etc). Also, we'll have a hot-standby site with comparable hardware once we're in full implementation. >o Does your storage system require proprietary drives or can you use >"off-the-shelf" drives? Proprietary drives appear to be the norm. (Actually, the drives themselves are standard, like the ones you could by out of a catalog, but they come in proprietary hot-pluggable encasements which you can't get without buying the drive from the vendor). This has been true of all the major solutions we've looked at. And in any case, even if you could buy the off-the-shelf drives third-party, most array vendors would refuse to support that. >o Was Host-based vs. Controller-based RAID important to your >decision? Absolutely vital. I will settle for nothing less than hardware-based RAID inside the enclosure. Host-based RAID is slower and less reliable, and I'm not willing to accept either risk. >o Does your storage unit connect to UNIX, NT, or Netware? > The Sun and EMC arrays we're evaluating can connect to several UNIX platforms as well as NT; I can't confirm or deny Netware connectivity in either case. >Thanks for your input... > No problem.