E-guide Enterprise Storage Area Networks Buyer’s...

E-guide

Enterprise Storage Area Networks Buyer’s Guide Your expert guide to enterprise storage area networks

of 43

In this e-guide

SAN system buying guide: The

fundamentals

How to create a SAN array

request for proposal

HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000

Fujitsu Storage Eternus

DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals

Jacob Gsoedl

Use this guide to determine if a SAN is right for your environment, or

if you should go with DAS or NAS.

Even with the continuous use of DAS and increased use of NAS, SANs

continue to provide medium- and large-sized enterprise organizations with

reliable shared storage over high-speed Fibre Channel, iSCSI and Fibre

Channel over Ethernet protocols.

And if you've ever had the pleasure of purchasing a SAN system, you know

slogging through the marketing and sales speak can make getting the right

system tough.

This article is the first in a series that will guide you through the SAN buying

process and give you the information you need to make an educated purchase

decision. This article will help you to decide if a SAN system is right for your

organization, or if another storage architecture like DAS or NAS would be a

better fit.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

The second article will describe the critical features, performance metrics and

purchasing criteria you should consider when preparing a vendor request for

proposal.

The third article will compare market-leading SAN systems against purchasing

criteria, as well as against each other, to give you an expert opinion to ensure

your ultimate purchase is the right system for your organization.

Storage platform architectures: The basics

SAN is a highly scalable, high-performance network that connects hosts, usually

servers, with a shared pool of block-level storage over SCSI-based protocols,

including Fibre Channel (FC), iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).

DAS is attached to and managed by a single host. DAS storage consists of

disks in a host and/or external disk enclosures that are directly connected to

storage controllers in the host.

NAS is another shared-storage option that is commonly used to store and share

files via standard file-system protocols -- mainly the Network File System and

Server Message Block protocols -- over IP networks.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Arrays are the essence of a SAN system because they provide the physical

storage resources. They are available as iSCSI arrays that communicate over

IP networks and as FC arrays that require an FC network.

For a long time, SAN was equated with FC, but in the last decade, Ethernet-

based iSCSI arrays have emerged and quickly encroached on the lucrative SAN

market, first in the small- to medium-sized business space, and, with the

emergence of 10 Gigabit Ethernet, in the enterprise space. An iSCSI SAN runs

over IP networks and Ethernet-based network components that can be

managed by traditional network administrators, significantly lowering price and

complexity. In general, FC still surpasses iSCSI in reliability and robustness.

The ability to scale capacity and performance is one of the primary reasons for

deploying a SAN. The SAN architecture and network, as well as the SAN arrays

themselves, are designed to be highly scalable. Other reasons to deploy a SAN

rather than DAS include high availability, resilience, efficiency and centralized

management.

FC SANs are more complex and costly to operate than DAS and NAS systems.

They require specialized knowledge, and are typically run by dedicated

administrators to manage FC switches and directors, and deal with the various

FC-specific configurations, including zoning, logical unit number (LUN) masking,

virtual SANs and ISL-trunking to FC host bus adapter configurations.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Although iSCSI SANs have narrowed the gap, and DAS and NAS systems have

become more popular with the rise of remote computing, big data analytics and

unstructured data, FC SANs are usually still the technology of choice for very

large and demanding networks.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Examining the scale, capacity and performance of the SAN

An FC SAN's ability to scale capacity and performance is a primary driver for its

continued popularity, and that starts with the SAN architecture and network. An

FC SAN can be as simple as attaching servers directly to multi-port SAN arrays,

or it can consist of multiple director-level FC switches that connect servers and

SAN arrays in high-availability configurations. SAN arrays can be scaled-up

(vertically) by adding additional processing power, memory, ports and disk

drives.

Many contemporary SAN arrays support solid-state storage, which performs at

an order of magnitude better than mechanical disk drives. Some SAN arrays

leverage solid-state drives (SSD) as cache to front-end disk drives, others allow

substituting mechanical disk drives with SSD and some support both.

Multiple tiers of storage, such as the combination of a fast solid-state tier and

slower disk tiers, and the ability to automatically move data between different

tiers of storage enable SAN arrays to scale cost efficiently.

Some SAN arrays support quality of service (QoS) features that allow some

LUNs and data to have a higher priority than others, enabling oversubscription

without jeopardizing critical applications. Like the support of multiple storage

tiers, QoS enables cost-efficient scaling of a SAN.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Scaling a SAN array vertically has its limits; it requires moving to a higher

performance array or having to add multiple arrays once the scale-up limit is

reached. To avoid this, a growing list of SAN arrays support scaling-out

(horizontally) by adding additional storage nodes to scale both capacity and

performance at the same time.

SAN system availability and resilience

Continuous availability and resilience are other reasons for deploying SANs.

Highly available SANs are designed to have no single points of failure, starting

with highly available SAN arrays and switches with redundant critical

components and redundant connections to the SAN network.

One of the strategies in designing redundant SANs is to connect each storage

node via dual or multiple paths with the next node. To protect against

unsolicited interferences, isolation techniques like zoning and LUN masking

provide isolation within a SAN fabric; Cisco Systems' Virtual SAN and Brocade's

Logical SAN protocols enable isolation across multiple SAN fabrics.

Finally, robust error handling and error management, and the ability to self-

correct are critical capabilities to ensure continuous storage services.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Lowering costs with storage efficiency

Reducing total cost of ownership of storage is yet another reason for deploying

SANs. The total cost of SAN storage decreases as the number of servers and

amount of managed storage grow.

To start with, SANs enable high storage utilization and treat unused storage as

spare capacity to support storage growth. Furthermore, most contemporary

SAN systems support one or more of the following storage efficiency features to

help maximize utilization of the available physical storage:

Thin provisioning allows storage to be assigned to hosts beyond available

physical capacity, and physical storage resources are allocated to a thin-

provisioned LUN on an as-needed basis. The cost savings of thin

provisioning can be tremendous and it enables storage utilization beyond

90%.

Efficient clones enable LUN cloning by referencing blocks in the source

LUN, and as a result, the cloned LUN uses a very small amount of physical

storage. Also called zero-cost clones, they aid in reducing deployment

times and required storage capacity.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Data deduplication reclaims storage by identifying duplicate blocks of data

and replacing them with a reference, usually a unique hash code, to unique

data blocks.

Data compression reduces the amount of required storage by applying

compression algorithms while data is written and decompressing data when

it is read.

Centralized storage improves management

Unlike DAS, where storage is managed separately on each server, a SAN

provides for a centralized mechanism and place to provision storage, analyze

storage usage and performance, and perform storage configurations. Central

management also simplifies the governance of storage infrastructure and

enables compliance with service-level agreements and regulatory requirements.

Some contemporary SAN arrays support heterogeneous storage virtualization

to combine smaller storage arrays into larger virtual storage pools that are

managed under the same SAN umbrella. Last but not least, SANs simplify data

protection of storage with features like snapshots that enable restores to prior

points in time, and data replication to copy data to other arrays and sites.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

SAN vs. DAS

Without a question, shared storage that's accessed over a network is appealing,

but does it justify the additional expenditure and complexity inherent to SANs?

After all, servers ship with storage and, with the availability of very large disk

drives, a server can be stuffed with tens and even hundreds of terabytes of DAS

at a very reasonable cost.

One of the big challenges of DAS is that it's only accessible by a single host,

and as a result only a fraction of the available storage is usually in use. The

larger the number of servers, the more unused DAS storage capacity you'll end

up with, resulting in dismal overall storage utilization. While 70% to more than

90% storage utilization is very common in SAN storage, DAS storage utilization

is usually a fraction of that.

The other challenge with DAS is storage management. From provisioning,

monitoring and backup to reporting, storage directly attached to servers is

managed individually. The larger the number of servers, the more difficult DAS

becomes to effectively manage.

In environments without shared storage, the quality of storage management is

typically in direct relation to the relevance of servers and applications on those

servers. Besides the challenge of having to manage each server's storage

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

individually, DAS lacks advanced storage management features that are

common in SAN arrays, such as snapshots, replication and thin provisioning.

SAN vs. NAS

NAS systems share many of the storage management features of a SAN,

including snapshots, replication and thin provisioning, and NAS systems are

usually simpler to manage than SANs. If you primarily store and share

unstructured data, a NAS system would be a better storage platform than a

SAN.

But pure NAS systems are ill-suited for applications that require block-level

storage access. In an attempt to get a piece of the lucrative SAN market, some

NAS vendors, most noticeably NetApp, have added block-level protocol support

to their NAS filers.

Likewise, SAN vendors have been adding file-system protocol support to their

SAN platforms either natively or via NAS gateways. Today, an increasing

number of shared storage platforms support both block- and file-level protocols.

In general, a SAN is more versatile than NAS. While it's relatively easy to share

block-level storage as a file share, it's significantly more challenging to add

block-level protocol support to a pure NAS.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Conclusion

SANs, especially FC SANs, are more complex than DAS and NAS, and should

be deployed for the right reasons. They are used for applications that require

shared block-level storage, such as certain clustered applications and

databases, but their main use is for storage consolidation.

Storage consolidated in a SAN enables more efficient use and management of

storage, especially in environments with a large number of nodes. Consolidation

demands scale and robustness, and this is where a SAN system excels. Better

storage utilization and improved storage management result in substantial cost

savings. Additionally, a SAN creates a clean separation between storage and

other IT services. Even though this may create an additional management layer,

the resulting focus yields better storage services -- increased security, improved

performance and higher availability.

Next article

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

How to create a SAN array request for proposal

Jacob Gsoedl

This article outlines the areas to consider when comparing products

in the SAN market so you can choose the best system for your

organization.

If you've completed a business case for purchasing a SAN, the next step is to

determine which criteria to include in your vendor request for proposal (RFP) to

ensure you evaluate systems that fit your environment, use cases, budget and

business needs.

With a relatively large list of SAN array vendors and products, this can be a

somewhat overwhelming task. Without a structured approach, you may end up

with an inadequate product that will most likely cause some adverse financial

impact due to workarounds, reduced efficiency, or having to supplement or

replace a product misfit.

This article is the second in a series that guides users through the SAN buying

process, and outlines the important information needed to make an educated

buying decision. The first article outlined SAN fundamentals to help you

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

determine whether a SAN -- or a storage architecture such as DAS or NAS --

would be the best fit for your environment.

This article digs deeper into SAN essentials to describe the critical features,

performance metrics and other purchasing criteria to consider when preparing a

vendor RFP. A well-structured RFP that considers relevant evaluation aspects

is a key factor in compiling a short list of SAN arrays and, eventually, your

product of choice.

The third article will compare SAN arrays against these purchasing criteria to

make sure your ultimate purchase is the right system for your organization.

Hardware: Architecting the SAN array

SAN array hardware architecture is an essential evaluation criterion, since it

greatly impacts your system's availability and ability to scale. There are two

main ways to architect a SAN array:

As a monolithic single-system, multi-controller array with each controller

accessing a single shared pool of storage.

As a multi-node array that consists of loosely coupled independent nodes,

each with its own processors, storage and ports.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Single-system multi-controller arrays have been around since shared storage

systems came into existence and most storage systems are still architected this

way.

Midrange to high-end, single-system SAN arrays typically provide two storage

controllers. Some are offered as active-passive controller arrays, where one

storage controller does all the work and the second only comes into the picture

when the primary controller fails. Other systems on the market are architected

as active-active controller arrays, where both controllers are used for data

processing.

The maximum number of controllers supported directly relates to scalability and

performance. High-end and very high-end SAN arrays typically offer more than

two controllers; as the maximum number of supported controllers grows, the

more high-end the SAN array.

Multi-node SAN arrays consist of independent storage nodes, each with its own

storage controllers, disks and ports. Multiple nodes are coupled to form a single

scale-out SAN array. As nodes are added, performance and capacity scale.

While some multi-node SAN arrays stripe data across all nodes to maximize

performance, others work with smaller stripe sets. Similar to their single-system

counterparts, the number of nodes and maximum number of supported nodes

determines performance and scalability.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Disk subsystem: Drive types and features

Disk subsystem and disk options are another essential evaluation aspect. SAN

arrays range from all-flash solid-state arrays, to hybrid arrays with both solid-

state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs), to arrays with no SSD

support.

A hybrid SAN array with mechanical disk drives and SSD drives usually

provides the best price/performance ratio. A mix of high-capacity HDDs and a

small percentage of SSDs is able to outperform traditional high-performance all-

disk arrays at a better cost and with a smaller form factor while requiring less

power and cooling.

You'll need to correctly size the amount of solid-state storage to optimize both

price and performance. As far as large-capacity HDDs are concerned, near-line

serial-attached SCSI (SAS) drives are preferred over SATA drives because

SAS is becoming the preferred back-end protocol to connect to disk

subsystems.

Even though SSDs are reducing the need for high-performance HDDs, 10,000

rpm or 15,000 rpm SAS drives are becoming the norm. As SAS-3 becomes

more prevalent, look for 12 gigabit per second (Gbps) SAS drive support.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

All-flash arrays come into play when very high performance is required. SSDs

are still significantly more expensive than high-end HDDs. However, if

architected correctly, an all-flash SAN array embraces writing data randomly

rather than trying to get data in sequence to accommodate mechanical HDDs.

As a result, these arrays can support real-time compression, deduplication,

clones and snapshots, which can somewhat offset the high cost of NAND flash.

An increasingly relevant consideration is the ability to encrypt the data stored on

drives. Encryption can be performed in the array back end, usually combined

with an integrated encryption key manager, or via self-encrypting drives. Having

the SAN array capable of performing encryption is preferable in most use cases.

For SAN arrays with multiple tiers of storage, such as hybrid SSD/HDD arrays,

the ability to automatically move active data to a faster tier and inactive data to a

slower tier is a factor. SAN arrays vary in how granularly data can be moved,

and the more granular your data can be moved, the better.

As part of the disk subsystem evaluation, you need to review the RAID options

supported by the SAN array and how data is distributed across disks and

nodes. As a rule of thumb, wider stripe sets result in better performance and

higher resilience.

Does the SAN array have a RAID 6 or equivalent option that enables more than

one simultaneous drive failure? And what's the performance impact while a

RAID is rebuilt? With increasingly larger drives, RAID rebuild times get longer

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

and longer, and the ability of the SAN array to survive two concurrent drive

failures becomes more relevant.

Solid-state storage cache

Supporting NAND flash as cache rather than, or in addition to, SSD drives is a

worthwhile consideration. Using NAND flash as a cache benefits all data

traversing the SAN array, not just what resides on a NAND flash tier. It also

automatically keeps active data in NAND flash without additional mechanisms to

shuffle data between the flash and slower disk tiers.

Some arrays offer NAND flash cache in the form of SSDs, others as PCI

Express add-in cards. In some arrays, NAND flash cache only supports read

transactions, while both reads and writes are supported in others. Ideally, the

NAND flash cache should support reads and writes.

Performance: Benchmarking is key

Although SAN array performance is difficult to gauge as a result of workload

dependency and array configuration, your evaluation wouldn't be complete

without discussing IOPS, latency and throughput. To get some level of

objectivity, request independent third-party performance benchmarks and, if

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

available, understand what configurations and type of workloads the test results

were obtained from.

Find out if the vendor has submitted the SAN array to the Storage Performance

Council (SPC) and compare SPC-1 and SPC-2 test results if available. SPC

benchmarking is one of very few independent benchmarks where you can

compare arrays tested the same way.

Like any benchmark, SPC results need to be viewed with the hardware

configuration in mind. To give some level of specificity to performance numbers,

IOPS over 1 million and latency below 1 millisecond rank at the top of the

performance spectrum.

Protocol support

Fibre Channel (FC) was the original SAN protocol, and 16 Gbps or 8 Gbps FC

is still the top choice for high-end networks.

ISCSI emerged in the SAN space about a decade ago, first in the small and

medium-sized business space. With the emergence of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10

GbE), SANs began encroaching on the high-end storage space where it now

competes with FC.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Support of FC over Ethernet (FCoE) enables running FC protocols over

Ethernet networks, which reduces the need to deploy and run FC networks and

switches. FCoE also reduces the complexity associated with attaching FC

arrays to an otherwise Ethernet-based storage infrastructure.

Fiber Connectivity support is important if you need to connect computers based

on the IBM z/Architecture, the latest offspring of IBM's System/360, System/370

and System/390 series mainframes. The z/Architecture has historically been

supported by very high-end SAN arrays, and is not only important for

companies that run mainframes, but a good indication as to how high end a

SAN array is.

Besides block-level protocol support, you should look at file system protocols

such as the Microsoft-supported Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and

Network File System (NFS). While some SAN arrays provide native file-system

protocol support, others depend on NAS gateways for SMB and NFS access to

SAN storage.

Front-end and back-end ports

Front-end ports enable servers, switches and other arrays to connect with the

SAN array over supported protocols. You should look at the type of ports

supported by the array -- such as 16 Gbps and 8 Gbps FC, 10 GbE and 1 GbE,

and 10 FCoE -- and the maximum number of available ports.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Back-end ports connect to the disk subsystem and disk shelves. The number of

ports and type of ports, such as 12 Gbps SAS, determines the maximum

throughput an array can handle and directly impacts its scalability.

Availability and reliability

Besides performance, availability and reliability of the storage system should be

at the top of your list. A service-level agreement (SLA) is a good indicator for

how robust a SAN array is.

While 99.99% (also referred to as "four nines") availability relates to

approximately 1 hour of downtime during the year, 99.999% (five nines) relates

to a mere 5 minutes and 99.9999% (six nines) to 31 seconds.

You should look for at least 99.99% availability; 99.999% availability or higher is

best for high-end enterprise arrays.

Determine how the vendor arrived at its SLA and, if possible, have them provide

documentation. Inquire about all single points of failure and determine what

hardware component replacements require downtime.

Understand if firmware upgrades can be done in a non-disruptive manner and

the rollback options of firmware and software upgrades. You should aim for a

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

SAN array with no single points of failure and where all maintenance tasks can

be performed while online.

Robust error detection and system health checks should also be assessed. For

instance, the array should run frequent system diagnoses and be able to repair

common repairable drive issues. If there is an issue, the storage system should

report back to the vendor, who should proactively take actions such as sending

replacement drives. Look for a SAN array that pushes the limits on self-

correcting and self-healing capabilities.

Data efficiency features

Capabilities that help to maximize the use of storage resources result in

significant cost savings and should be an important aspect of your evaluation. In

addition to looking at how your hybrid and all-flash arrays use data efficiency

features to maximize your solid-state investment, these features should be

available for all-HDD arrays.

Thin provisioning and efficient clones are widely supported and should be on

your must-have list. Increasingly, primary storage systems support data

deduplication and compression, and although they are not yet must-have

features, both are big pluses. Regarding data deduplication, storage systems

with real-time data deduplication capabilities rather than post-process

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

deduplication are preferable. Real-time data deduplication and compression are

must-haves in state-of-the-art all-flash arrays.

Quality of service (QoS) enables storage efficiency by allowing oversubscription

of storage resources without impacting critical applications and data. Since SAN

arrays consolidate a wide range of workloads, QoS should be on your must-

have list. However, QoS capabilities vary greatly in contemporary SAN arrays.

Data protection

Data protection capabilities are another critical aspect. Make sure the SAN

array supports snapshots efficiently, since they can be disk-fillers.

Understand how much disk space a snapshot/subsequent snapshots use and

the maximum number of snapshots supported. A SAN array should support

asynchronous replication for long-distance replication, and synchronous

replication to support high-availability storage area networks.

Storage management capabilities

Storage management and the ability to automate storage management tasks

are an important aspect of any SAN RFP. You should be able to manage the

SAN array via a command line interface that enables scripting of certain storage

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

management tasks, and through a user-friendly management console that's

preferably browser-based.

Integration with hypervisor management tools such as VMware vCenter is a big

plus. Analytics tools and reporting capabilities that can comment on various

storage metrics, including performance and issues, are pertinent. The ability to

configure alerts and policies that trigger actions if certain thresholds or

conditions are met are critical capabilities.

Integration capabilities

Integration is another crucial aspect. Request all supported VMware vSphere

and vCenter integrations and supported application programming interfaces

(APIs), such as vStorage APIs for Array Integration and vStorage APIs for

Storage Awareness, as well as supported Microsoft Hyper-V integrations and

APIs, such as Operation Data Store and Volume Shadow Copy Service.

Determine which application integrations are relevant for your environment and

use cases, and include those requirements in your RFP.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Conclusion

SAN arrays are purchased for a wide range of use cases, and those use cases

and specific requirements determine how relevant certain features and RFP

aspects are. While this article comments on relevant aspects, focus on what

matters for the problems you are trying to solve. A good RFP should ask very

specific, non-confusing questions, include all relevant aspects, and be vendor

agnostic so you can arrive at an objective SAN array decision.

About the author

Jacob Gsoedl is an IT and Technology Leader with 20+ years of experience

managing and leading all aspects of information technology, software

development and security. He writes frequently for TechTarget's Storage media

group sites on a variety of data storage topics, including storage array

architectures, software-defined storage and storage for virtual environments.

Next article

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

HUS VM SAN array platform

Aditya Gune

The Hitachi Unified Storage VM is a storage array designed for

enterprise SAN environments requiring high storage capacities.

The Hitachi Unified Storage virtual machine (HUS VM) is a SAN platform

designed for heavily virtualized data centers with large storage requirements. It

comes with a large feature set, such as support for block- and file-level storage,

automated data tiering and multi-tenant readiness. The HUS VM also supports

a hybrid flash configuration, which combines the performance of flash storage

with higher-capacity and less expensive hard disk drives (HDDs).

The HUS VM array supports a maximum of 1,152 small or large form-factor

HDDs, 576 flash module drives (FMDs) and 128 solid-state drives (SSDs). It

has a maximum raw capacity of 64 petabytes (PB), including all internal and

external virtualized capacity, but the internal storage capacity depends on the

type of storage medium used. The unit can support up to 4.608 PB of raw

storage when using 4 TB HDDs with a rotational speed of 7,200 rpm. It can

support up to 1.382 PB if used with 1.2 TB 10,000 rpm drives; 2.206 PB with 3.2

TB FMDs; and 51 TB with 400 GB SSDs. The array supports HDDs using SAS

drives in sizes from 300 GB to 4 TB, and supports 3.5- and 2.5-inch drives. It

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

also supports SAS FMDs in 1.6 TB and 3.2 TB capacities, and multi-level cell

2.5 inch SSDs in 200 GB and 400 GB capacities. The unit supports RAID 1,

RAID 5 and RAID 6.

The HUS VM uses the same storage virtualization controller as the higher-end

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP), but lacks features for the largest

enterprises. The HUS VM has less memory than the VSP G1000, and lacks

FICON ports for mainframes.

The HUS VM array supports a wide range of external storage, including almost

the entire range of Hitachi external storage modules. It also supports EMC VNX,

Fujitsu Eternus, HP 3PAR, IBM System Storage, Generic Profile and others.

The array supports up to 48 8 Gbps Fibre Channel (FC) ports per file module,

delivering 38.4 GBps of bandwidth to hosts. It supports up to 256 hosts per FC

port, and a queue depth of 2,048 per FC port. In addition, the HUS VM supports

iSCSI, but not FICON.

The array uses Hitachi Command Suite management software and Hitachi

Universal Volume Manager for storage virtualization. It uses Hitachi Dynamic

Tiering for its automated tiering system, which automatically moves data

between arrays for better performance and storage management. The HUS VM

supports most major operating systems, including Windows, HP-UX, Hyper V,

Red Hat and Enterprise Linux, and VMware.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Hitachi does not publish HUS VM pricing, but a fully configured unit with storage

may cost more than $200,000. Hitachi's list price for the controller, base

software and maintenance contract is approximately $156,000. This does not

include storage capacity or additional features like tiering and replication, which

must be purchased separately. However, the base software does support thin

provisioning.

Next article

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

IBM Storwize V7000 storage array platform

Aditya Gune

IBM's Storwize V7000 SAN array platform supports hard disk drives

and flash drives, and is marketed to high-capacity enterprises.

The IBM Storwize V7000 is for large and highly virtualized data centers. The

IBM SAN array comes with a range of features, such as FlashCopy, and

supports a number of IBM storage management applications. Block- and file-

level storage are supported, as well as hard disk drives and 2.5-inch flash

drives. Flash-based storage does not use mechanical drives, reducing latency

and increasing read/write speeds at a higher cost.

The V7000 supports a maximum of 504 drives per control enclosure, or 1,056

per clustered system, for a maximum capacity of approximately 6 petabytes

(PB). The array supports SAS and near-line SAS (NL-SAS) interconnects, and

can fit 3.5-inch NL-SAS disk drives in capacities of 2 TB, 3 TB, 4 TB and 6 TB,

with rotational speeds of 7,200 rpm. It can also fit 15,000 rpm 2.5-inch SAS

drives in capacities of 300 GB and 600 GB, and 10,000 rpm 2.5-inch SAS drives

in capacities of 600 GB, 900 GB and 1.8 TB. The Storwize array supports 2.5-

inch flash drives in capacities of 200 GB, 400 GB and 800 GB.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

The V7000 integrates with IBM's Tivoli suite of storage management, including

Tivoli Storage FlashCopy, Tivoli Storage Manager, Storage Manager FastBack

and more.

The IBM Storwize V7000 is organized by control enclosures. Each enclosure

contains dual redundant controllers, running on an 8-core 1.9 GHz Intel Xeon

processor with 32 GB or 64 GB of cache. Each control enclosure supports up to

20 expansion enclosures, which attach with a 12 Gbps SAS interconnect,

providing approximately 1 PB of capacity. The Storwize V7000 can also be

organized by scalable clustered systems, which are essentially four control

enclosures and any associated expansion enclosures acting as one storage

system. The clustered system layout supports a maximum of 1,056 drives and a

maximum of 6 PB of capacity. The V7000 has a variety of host interfaces,

including 8 Gbps/16 Gbps Fibre Channel, 1 Gbps iSCSI, 10 Gbps iSCSI or 10

Gbps Fibre Channel over Ethernet. It also supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5,

RAID 6 and RAID 10.

The Storwize V7000 comes with a list of features for data center management.

The array supports thin provisioning and comes with IBM Easy Tier software, an

auto-tiering function that responds to the presence of a hybrid flash

configuration by placing the most frequently used data in the fastest tier of

storage. The V7000 integrates with IBM's Tivoli suite of storage management,

including Tivoli Storage FlashCopy, Tivoli Storage Manager, Storage Manager

FastBack and more. The array also supports remote file-based replication.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

IBM does not publish pricing for the Storwize V7000, but various sources

provide a list price for a configured hardware and software bundle ranging from

$375,000 to $600,000, depending on the configuration. In addition to the

included features, IBM has a three-year limited warranty on hardware, including

customer-replaceable units, on-site service and next business day response. A

software maintenance agreement is available, and IBM provides an online

support service.

Next article

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 storage array platform

Aditya Gune

The Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 SAN array offers a number

of features to help organizations manage large amounts of storage.

The Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 is a large enterprise SAN array for

highly virtualized environments. It has a modular architecture that allows users

to add components as requirements increase.

The DX8700 S3 array supports up to 64 drive enclosures, fitting a maximum of

1,536 hard disk drives (HDDs). It has a maximum storage capacity of 4.608

petabytes (PB). The unit supports 2.5-inch SAS HDDs in capacities of 300 GB,

400 GB, 600 GB, 800 GB, 900 GB, 1.2 TB and 1.6 TB. In addition, the Fujitsu

Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 supports 3.5-inch near-line SAS HDDs in

capacities of 2 TB, 4 TB and 6 TB. It can fit 3.5-inch solid-state drives in

capacities of 400 GB, 800 GB and 1.6 TB. The unit has up to 1.024 TB of cache

memory.

The Eternus DX8700 S3 supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1+0, RAID+5, RAID 5

0 and RAID 6.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

The Fujitsu Storage Eternus array's main drive interface is 6 Gbps SAS. Multiple

external host interfaces -- such as 16 Gbps Fibre Channel (FC), 10 Gbps Fibre

Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and RAID 1 Gbps/10 Gbps iSCSI -- are also

supported. The unit can have up to 128 FC ports or 64 iSCSI/FCoE ports,

connect to up to 8,192 hosts and support up to eight controllers.

The Eternus DX8700 S3 supports RAID 0, 1, RAID 1+0, RAID 5, RAID 5+0 and

RAID 6. Features include thin provisioning and automated storage tiering to

automatically move data between arrays for better performance and storage

management. The array supports remote replication and has a data safety

feature that uses self-encrypting drives. It also uses a non-RAID array called

massive array of idle disks, which saves power by spinning down disks that are

not in active use. Fujitsu's Eternus SF storage management software is

included. The size of the array depends on the number of drive or controller

enclosures added.

Vendor pricing for the Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 is not published and

varies based on the configuration chosen. A fully configured offering will likely

cost approximately $200,000. In addition, software license prices for the Eternus

DX8700 S3 depend on the number of controllers used, and customers can add

controllers at any time. The array comes with a global base three-year warranty.

Fujitsu offers a series of support packs, including 24/7 support with a four-hour

on-site response time, 9-5 support with a four-hour on-site response time and 9-

5 support with next business day on-site response time.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Next article

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Oracle FS1-2 storage array system

Aditya Gune

Oracle FS1-2 SAN arrays can scale to petabytes and ship complete

with data storage features, such as replication and auto-tiering.

Oracle FS1-2 is a SAN array designed for large enterprise data centers with

high levels of virtualization. The array supports both all-flash and hybrid flash

configurations. All-flash configurations use solid-state drives (SSDs) instead of

mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs) to reduce latency and increase read and

write speeds. Hybrid configurations combine the performance of flash with

higher-capacity and less expensive HDDs. In addition, Oracle FS1-2 arrays

come with high-availability support and other features, such as Oracle's Data

Protection Manager, Quality of Service (QoS) Plus and more.

Oracle FS1-2 has a maximum of 30 drive enclosures, and supports up to 2.88

PB of storage in disk drives or 912 TB of storage in SSDs. It supports

performance- and capacity-focused enclosures for both SSDs and HDDs. The

SSD enclosures fit 2.5-inch drives with a SAS-2 interface. The HDD enclosures

fit both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives, connecting with SAS-2. The array supports

HDDs running at rotational speeds of 10,000 rpm and 7,200 rpm.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

The array supports up to 12 host ports in either 16 gigabit Fibre Channel (FC),

10 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) or 10 gigabit iSCSI. It supports RAID 5, RAID 6 and

RAID 10. It also supports thin provisioning. The FS1-2 array supports two types

of controllers: Base Controller and Performance Controller. The Base Controller

has 64 GB of memory cache and 4 SAS-2 storage ports. The Performance

Controller has 384 GB of memory cache and 12 storage ports.

FS1-2 includes software and additional features for redundancy and storage

management.

FS1-2 includes software and additional features for redundancy and storage

management. Oracle FS Data Protection Manager is a tool that allows

administrators to back up and restore applications using clones. Data Protection

Manager has operating system support for Oracle Solaris and Linux, and

application-consistent support for Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint or any

Windows application running Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service.

Oracle QoS Plus is a virtualization, auto-tiering software that collects detailed

information regarding storage use profiles, and then performs automated tiering

and movement based on the usage analysis.

Oracle MaxRep is a replication engine that supports synchronous and

asynchronous replication to local and remote locations. The software allows for

many-to-one, one-to-many and multi-hop replication.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

Oracle FS1-2 pricing is confidential, and is dependent upon configuration.

However, a fully configured FS1-2 array is estimated to cost between $100,000

and $200,000. Oracle offers a one-year standard warranty, which categorizes

issues in three tiers: a Severity 1 issue warrants a phone or Web callback

response time of four hours, a Severity 2 issue warrants a time of eight hours

and a Severity 3 issue has a next business day response time. The warranty

also includes 24/7/365 Web coverage.

Next article

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

HP XP7 storage enterprise SAN array

Aditya Gune

The HP XP7 Storage SAN array offers high-availability and disaster

recovery features for highly virtualized data centers with large

storage requirements.

The HP XP7 Storage enterprise storage SAN array has high-availability (HA)

and disaster recovery (DR) features to limit downtime, and employs the

Common/Consistent Command Line Interface. The XP7 offers a Disk Controller

Chassis rack and Drive Chassis rack, and each rack can be configured to

prioritize capacity, performance or a balance of the two.

The XP7 Storage unit fits up to 2,304 small form-factor (SFF) drives, 1,152 large

form-factor drives, 384 SFF solid-state drives or 192 flash module drives. All

drives use SAS interconnect, though the unit also supports near-line SAS

drives. A fully configured unit has a total usable capacity of 5.9 petabytes (PB)

and a raw capacity of 6.8 PB. The unit supports an additional 247 PB of external

storage. In addition, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 6 are supported with a variety of

data-to-parity ratios. The HP XP7 Storage array comes with 192 8 Gbps Fibre

Channel (FC) ports, 96 8 Gbps/16 Gbps FC ports, 176 8 Gbps Fibre Connection

ports or 176 10 Gbps Fibre Channel over Ethernet ports. It has a maximum

supported cache of 2 TB, with up to 80 GB of shared memory. A variety of

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

operating systems are supported, including HP NonStop, HP OpenVMS, HP-

UX, VMware, Linux, Oracle Solaris and Microsoft Windows.

The XP7 Storage shares the same basic hardware architecture as the Hitachi

Virtual Storage Platform because of Hewlett-Packard’s joint technology

relationship and OEM agreement with Hitachi Ltd. However, HP develops its

own software and firmware for the XP7 Storage.

HP XP7 Storage array features include dedicated High Availability Software, a

Data Replication Solution Service and Critical Service software called HP C-

Track. The High Availability Software uses an active-active configuration,

allowing two XP7 Storage arrays to provide simultaneous read-write access to

multiple hosts or a cluster. This means if one half of the cluster fails, the data

load will be passed to the remaining half with no downtime or service

interruption.

HP XP7 Storage array features include dedicated High Availability Software, a

Data Replication Solution Service and Critical Service software called HP C-

Track.

HP's Critical Service software provides 24/7 monitoring of the environment.

Outages are addressed with a dedicated critical support helpline, with a six-hour

timeline from call to repair. The Data Replication Service comes in one of two

forms: Business Copy software or the Continuous Access suite, which are both

data redundancy tools. Business Copy is a local replication software that

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

provides data copies within a single XP7 Storage unit and its attached storage,

using array-based mirroring and snapshot technology. Continuous Access is a

family of HA and DR tools that perform data mirroring between XP7 Storage

units, including remote mirroring in high workload environments.

The HP XP7 Storage array has a starting price of $462,000, though this may

change based on the configuration chosen. It comes with a series of dedicated

helplines for support bundled with the Critical Service software, as well as a

three-year warranty for parts, labor and on-site maintenance.

Next article

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

NetApp FAS8000 storage array platform

Aditya Gune

The NetApp FAS8000 is a series of enterprise SAN arrays marketed

toward high-capacity environments that support multiple flash

configurations.

The NetApp FAS8000 line of SAN arrays are used in highly virtualized data

centers that require large amounts of storage space. The array comes in four

models -- FAS8080EX, FAS8060, FAS8040 and FAS8020 -- that are available

in all-flash and hybrid flash configurations. All-flash configurations do not use

hard disk drives (HDDs), reducing latency and increasing read/write speeds.

Hybrid configurations combine the performance of flash with higher-capacity

and less expensive HDDs. All of the array models come with high-availability

support.

The FAS8080EX is the flagship array in the NetApp FAS8000 lineup. In a SAN

environment, it can support eight nodes and up to 5,760 drives for a maximum

capacity of 34 petabytes (PB). It has a maximum flash pool capacity of 576 TB,

a maximum all-flash capacity of 1.5 PB and a maximum memory of 1,024 TB.

The FAS8080EX can also be used in a NAS environment. In this type of setup,

it can fit a maximum of 17,280 drives for a maximum raw capacity of 103 PB. A

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

NAS setup can have up to 24 nodes, a maximum flash pool capacity of 1,728

TB and a maximum all-flash capacity of 4.6 PB. A NAS setup has a maximum

memory of 1.024 TB. The FAS8080EX has up to 64 Fibre Channel (FC) ports at

4 gigabits per second (Gbps), 8 Gbps or 16 Gbps; 32 Fibre Channel over

Ethernet (FCoE) ports; 64 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) ports; 72 1 GigE ports;

and 56 SAS ports at 6 Gbps. The array also comes with a wide range of

additional connectivity, such as NetApp's Unified Target Adapter 2, which

provides additional FC support.

The FAS8060 can support 4,800 drives in a SAN environment, with up to 28 PB

of capacity, 288 TB of flash pool capacity and 1.5 PB of all-flash capacity. It also

has a maximum memory of 512 GB. In a NAS environment, the FAS8060 can

have up to 14,400 drives, for a total capacity of 86 PB, a maximum flash pool

capacity of 864 TB and a maximum all-flash capacity of 4.6 PB. The FAS8060

has up to 24 16 Gbps FC ports, 40 4 Gbps/8 Gbps FC ports, 24 FCoE ports, 32

10 GigE ports, 40 1 GigE ports and 40 6 Gbps SAS ports.

The FAS8040 can support 2,880 drives in a SAN setup, with a maximum

capacity of 17 PB and a maximum memory of 256 GB. In a NAS setup, the

FAS8040 supports up to 8,640 drives, with a maximum capacity of 51 PB. The

array has a maximum memory of 768 GB. The FAS8040 has a maximum of 24

16 Gbps FC ports, 40 4 Gbps/8 Gbps FC ports, 24 FCoE ports, 32 10 GigE

ports, 40 1 GigE ports and 40 6 Gbps SAS ports.

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

All NetApp FAS8000 models support high-availability and RAID 4, RAID 6,

RAID 4 1 and RAID 6 1.

The FAS8020 can support 1,920 drives in a SAN setup, with a maximum

capacity of 11.5 PB and a maximum memory of 576 GB. The array supports

NAS configurations of up to 5,760 drives yielding a maximum capacity of 34 PB.

The FAS8020 has 12 16 Gbps FC ports, 20 4 Gbps/8 Gbps FC ports, 12 FCoE

ports, 16 10 GigE ports, 20 1 GigE ports, and 20 6 Gbps SAS ports.

The All-Flash FAS 8000 series scales to 2,880 solid-state drives and 4.6 PB of

solid-state capacity per cluster. The all-flash versions use clustered Data Ontap,

which includes FlashEssentials software that optimizes reads and writes, and

handles inline compression and data deduplication.

All NetApp FAS arrays are built on the Data Ontap and clustered Data Ontap

operating system software.

All NetApp FAS8000 models support high-availability and RAID 4, RAID 6,

RAID 4 + 1 and RAID 6 + 1. The series supports most OSes such as Windows

2000/XP, Windows Server versions 2003/2008/2012, Linux, Oracle Solaris, HP-

UX, Mac OS and VMware ESX.

The vendor does not publish pricing for the FAS8000 series, but based on

prices for equivalent products, units may cost upward of $100,000, depending

of 43

In this e-guide


fundamentals



HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000


DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

E-guide

on configuration. NetApp also has a series of support tools, including a support

line and online technical assistance.

About the author

Aditya covers IT hardware and software solutions, focusing on infrastructure

from a purchasing perspective. Prior to joining TechTarget, he spent four years

covering the consumer technology market, including semiconductors,

smartphones and tablets. He received his bachelor's degree from the University

of California in 2013.

E-guide Enterprise Storage Area Networks Buyer’s...

Documents

Transcript of E-guide Enterprise Storage Area Networks Buyer’s...