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

E-guide

In this e-guide SAN system buying guide: The SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals fundamentals Jacob Gsoedl How to create a SAN array request for proposal Use this guide to determine if a SAN is right for your environment, or if you should go with DAS or NAS. HUS VM SAN Even with the continuous use of DAS and increased use of NAS, SANs continue to provide medium- and large-sized enterprise organizations with IBM Storwize V7000 reliable shared storage over high-speed Fibre Channel, iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Ethernet protocols. Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 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 Oracle FS1-2 system tough.

This article is the first in a series that will guide you through the SAN buying HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 organization, or if another storage architecture like DAS or NAS would be a better fit.

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The second article will describe the critical features, performance metrics and In this e-guide purchasing criteria you should consider when preparing a vendor request for proposal. SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array your ultimate purchase is the right system for your organization. request for proposal

HUS VM SAN Storage platform architectures: The basics

SAN is a highly scalable, high-performance network that connects hosts, usually IBM Storwize V7000 servers, with a shared pool of block-level storage over SCSI-based protocols, including Fibre Channel (FC), iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 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 Oracle FS1-2 storage controllers in the host.

NAS is another shared-storage option that is commonly used to store and share HP XP7 Storage files via standard file-system protocols -- mainly the Network File System and Server Message Block protocols -- over IP networks. NetApp FAS8000

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Arrays are the essence of a SAN system because they provide the physical In this e-guide storage resources. They are available as iSCSI arrays that communicate over IP networks and as FC arrays that require an FC network. SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array market, first in the small- to medium-sized business space, and, with the request for proposal emergence of 10 Gigabit Ethernet, in the enterprise space. An iSCSI SAN runs over IP networks and Ethernet-based network components that can be HUS VM SAN managed by traditional network administrators, significantly lowering price and complexity. In general, FC still surpasses iSCSI in reliability and robustness.

IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus themselves, are designed to be highly scalable. Other reasons to deploy a SAN DX8700 S3 rather than DAS include high availability, resilience, efficiency and centralized management. Oracle FS1-2 FC SANs are more complex and costly to operate than DAS and NAS systems.

HP XP7 Storage 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, NetApp FAS8000 virtual SANs and ISL-trunking to FC host bus adapter configurations.

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Although iSCSI SANs have narrowed the gap, and DAS and NAS systems have In this e-guide 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 SAN system buying guide: The large and demanding networks. 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

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In this e-guide Examining the scale, capacity and performance of the SAN SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array FC SAN can be as simple as attaching servers directly to multi-port SAN arrays, request for proposal 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 HUS VM SAN (vertically) by adding additional processing power, memory, ports and disk drives. IBM Storwize V7000 Many contemporary SAN arrays support solid-state storage, which performs at

Fujitsu Storage Eternus an order of magnitude better than mechanical disk drives. Some SAN arrays DX8700 S3 leverage solid-state drives (SSD) as cache to front-end disk drives, others allow substituting mechanical disk drives with SSD and some support both.

Oracle FS1-2 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 HP XP7 Storage tiers of storage enable SAN arrays to scale cost efficiently.

NetApp FAS8000 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.

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Scaling a SAN array vertically has its limits; it requires moving to a higher In this e-guide 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 SAN system buying guide: The (horizontally) by adding additional storage nodes to scale both capacity and fundamentals performance at the same time.

How to create a SAN array request for proposal SAN system availability and resilience

HUS VM SAN 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 IBM Storwize V7000 components and redundant connections to the SAN network.

Fujitsu Storage Eternus One of the strategies in designing redundant SANs is to connect each storage DX8700 S3 node via dual or multiple paths with the next node. To protect against unsolicited interferences, isolation techniques like zoning and LUN masking Oracle FS1-2 provide isolation within a SAN fabric; Cisco Systems' Virtual SAN and Brocade's Logical SAN protocols enable isolation across multiple SAN fabrics. HP XP7 Storage Finally, robust error handling and error management, and the ability to self- correct are critical capabilities to ensure continuous storage services. NetApp FAS8000

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In this e-guide Lowering costs with storage efficiency

SAN system buying guide: The Reducing total cost of ownership of storage is yet another reason for deploying fundamentals SANs. The total cost of SAN storage decreases as the number of servers and amount of managed storage grow. How to create a SAN array request for proposal To start with, SANs enable high storage utilization and treat unused storage as spare capacity to support storage growth. Furthermore, most contemporary

HUS VM SAN SAN systems support one or more of the following storage efficiency features to help maximize utilization of the available physical storage:

IBM Storwize V7000  Thin provisioning allows storage to be assigned to hosts beyond available physical capacity, and physical storage resources are allocated to a thin- Fujitsu Storage Eternus provisioned LUN on an as-needed basis. The cost savings of thin DX8700 S3 provisioning can be tremendous and it enables storage utilization beyond 90%. Oracle FS1-2  Efficient clones enable LUN cloning by referencing blocks in the source

HP XP7 Storage 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. NetApp FAS8000

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 Data deduplication reclaims storage by identifying duplicate blocks of data In this e-guide and replacing them with a reference, usually a unique hash code, to unique data blocks. SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals  Data compression reduces the amount of required storage by applying compression algorithms while data is written and decompressing data when How to create a SAN array it is read. request for proposal

HUS VM SAN Centralized storage improves management

Unlike DAS, where storage is managed separately on each server, a SAN IBM Storwize V7000 provides for a centralized mechanism and place to provision storage, analyze storage usage and performance, and perform storage configurations. Central Fujitsu Storage Eternus management also simplifies the governance of storage infrastructure and DX8700 S3 enables compliance with service-level agreements and regulatory requirements.

Oracle FS1-2 Some contemporary SAN arrays support heterogeneous storage virtualization to combine smaller storage arrays into larger virtual storage pools that are

HP XP7 Storage 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. NetApp FAS8000

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In this e-guide SAN vs. DAS

SAN system buying guide: The Without a question, shared storage that's accessed over a network is appealing, fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array drives, a server can be stuffed with tens and even hundreds of terabytes of DAS request for proposal at a very reasonable cost.

HUS VM SAN 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 IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus is usually a fraction of that. DX8700 S3 The other challenge with DAS is storage management. From provisioning, Oracle FS1-2 monitoring and backup to reporting, storage directly attached to servers is managed individually. The larger the number of servers, the more difficult DAS HP XP7 Storage becomes to effectively manage.

In environments without shared storage, the quality of storage management is NetApp FAS8000 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

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individually, DAS lacks advanced storage management features that are In this e-guide common in SAN arrays, such as snapshots, replication and thin provisioning.

SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals SAN vs. NAS

How to create a SAN array NAS systems share many of the storage management features of a SAN, request for proposal including snapshots, replication and thin provisioning, and NAS systems are usually simpler to manage than SANs. If you primarily store and share

HUS VM SAN unstructured data, a NAS system would be a better storage platform than a SAN.

IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus NAS vendors, most noticeably NetApp, have added block-level protocol support DX8700 S3 to their NAS filers.

Oracle FS1-2 Likewise, SAN vendors have been adding file-system protocol support to their SAN platforms either natively or via NAS gateways. Today, an increasing

HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 block-level storage as a file share, it's significantly more challenging to add block-level protocol support to a pure NAS.

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In this e-guide Conclusion

SAN system buying guide: The SANs, especially FC SANs, are more complex than DAS and NAS, and should fundamentals be deployed for the right reasons. They are used for applications that require shared block-level storage, such as certain clustered applications and How to create a SAN array databases, but their main use is for storage consolidation. request for proposal Storage consolidated in a SAN enables more efficient use and management of

HUS VM SAN 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 IBM Storwize V7000 savings. Additionally, a SAN creates a clean separation between storage and other IT services. Even though this may create an additional management layer, Fujitsu Storage Eternus the resulting focus yields better storage services -- increased security, improved DX8700 S3 performance and higher availability.

Oracle FS1-2 Next article HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

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In this e-guide How to create a SAN array request for SAN system buying guide: The proposal fundamentals Jacob Gsoedl How to create a SAN array request for proposal This article outlines the areas to consider when comparing products in the SAN market so you can choose the best system for your HUS VM SAN organization.

If you've completed a business case for purchasing a SAN, the next step is to IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus business needs. DX8700 S3 With a relatively large list of SAN array vendors and products, this can be a Oracle FS1-2 somewhat overwhelming task. Without a structured approach, you may end up with an inadequate product that will most likely cause some adverse financial HP XP7 Storage impact due to workarounds, reduced efficiency, or having to supplement or replace a product misfit. NetApp FAS8000 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

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determine whether a SAN -- or a storage architecture such as DAS or NAS -- In this e-guide would be the best fit for your environment.

SAN system buying guide: The This article digs deeper into SAN essentials to describe the critical features, fundamentals performance metrics and other purchasing criteria to consider when preparing a vendor RFP. A well-structured RFP that considers relevant evaluation aspects How to create a SAN array is a key factor in compiling a short list of SAN arrays and, eventually, your request for proposal product of choice.

The third article will compare SAN arrays against these purchasing criteria to HUS VM SAN make sure your ultimate purchase is the right system for your organization.

IBM Storwize V7000 Hardware: Architecting the SAN array Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 SAN array hardware architecture is an essential evaluation criterion, since it greatly impacts your system's availability and ability to scale. There are two Oracle FS1-2 main ways to architect a SAN array:

 As a monolithic single-system, multi-controller array with each controller HP XP7 Storage accessing a single shared pool of storage.

NetApp FAS8000  As a multi-node array that consists of loosely coupled independent nodes, each with its own processors, storage and ports.

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Single-system multi-controller arrays have been around since shared storage In this e-guide systems came into existence and most storage systems are still architected this way. SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals Midrange to high-end, single-system SAN arrays typically provide two storage controllers. Some are offered as active-passive controller arrays, where one How to create a SAN array storage controller does all the work and the second only comes into the picture request for proposal when the primary controller fails. Other systems on the market are architected as active-active controller arrays, where both controllers are used for data HUS VM SAN processing.

The maximum number of controllers supported directly relates to scalability and IBM Storwize V7000 performance. High-end and very high-end SAN arrays typically offer more than two controllers; as the maximum number of supported controllers grows, the Fujitsu Storage Eternus more high-end the SAN array. DX8700 S3 Multi-node SAN arrays consist of independent storage nodes, each with its own Oracle FS1-2 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.

HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 counterparts, the number of nodes and maximum number of supported nodes determines performance and scalability.

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In this e-guide Disk subsystem: Drive types and features

SAN system buying guide: The Disk subsystem and disk options are another essential evaluation aspect. SAN fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array support. request for proposal A hybrid SAN array with mechanical disk drives and SSD drives usually

HUS VM SAN 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 IBM Storwize V7000 power and cooling.

Fujitsu Storage Eternus You'll need to correctly size the amount of solid-state storage to optimize both DX8700 S3 price and performance. As far as large-capacity HDDs are concerned, near-line serial-attached SCSI (SAS) drives are preferred over SATA drives because Oracle FS1-2 SAS is becoming the preferred back-end protocol to connect to disk subsystems. HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 more prevalent, look for 12 gigabit per second (Gbps) SAS drive support.

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All-flash arrays come into play when very high performance is required. SSDs In this e-guide are still significantly more expensive than high-end HDDs. However, if architected correctly, an all-flash SAN array embraces writing data randomly SAN system buying guide: The rather than trying to get data in sequence to accommodate mechanical HDDs. fundamentals As a result, these arrays can support real-time compression, deduplication, clones and snapshots, which can somewhat offset the high cost of NAND flash. How to create a SAN array request for proposal 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 HUS VM SAN 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.

IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus slower tier is a factor. SAN arrays vary in how granularly data can be moved, DX8700 S3 and the more granular your data can be moved, the better.

Oracle FS1-2 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

HP XP7 Storage nodes. As a rule of thumb, wider stripe sets result in better performance and higher resilience.

NetApp FAS8000 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

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and longer, and the ability of the SAN array to survive two concurrent drive In this e-guide failures becomes more relevant.

SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals Solid-state storage cache

How to create a SAN array Supporting NAND flash as cache rather than, or in addition to, SSD drives is a request for proposal 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

HUS VM SAN automatically keeps active data in NAND flash without additional mechanisms to shuffle data between the flash and slower disk tiers.

IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus transactions, while both reads and writes are supported in others. Ideally, the DX8700 S3 NAND flash cache should support reads and writes.

Oracle FS1-2 Performance: Benchmarking is key HP XP7 Storage Although SAN array performance is difficult to gauge as a result of workload dependency and array configuration, your evaluation wouldn't be complete NetApp FAS8000 without discussing IOPS, latency and throughput. To get some level of objectivity, request independent third-party performance benchmarks and, if

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available, understand what configurations and type of workloads the test results In this e-guide were obtained from.

SAN system buying guide: The Find out if the vendor has submitted the SAN array to the Storage Performance fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array compare arrays tested the same way. request for proposal Like any benchmark, SPC results need to be viewed with the hardware configuration in mind. To give some level of specificity to performance numbers, HUS VM SAN IOPS over 1 million and latency below 1 millisecond rank at the top of the performance spectrum. IBM Storwize V7000

Fujitsu Storage Eternus Protocol support DX8700 S3 Fibre Channel (FC) was the original SAN protocol, and 16 Gbps or 8 Gbps FC Oracle FS1-2 is still the top choice for high-end networks.

ISCSI emerged in the SAN space about a decade ago, first in the small and HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 competes with FC.

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Support of FC over Ethernet (FCoE) enables running FC protocols over In this e-guide Ethernet networks, which reduces the need to deploy and run FC networks and switches. FCoE also reduces the complexity associated with attaching FC SAN system buying guide: The arrays to an otherwise Ethernet-based storage infrastructure. fundamentals Fiber Connectivity support is important if you need to connect computers based How to create a SAN array on the IBM z/Architecture, the latest offspring of IBM's System/360, System/370 request for proposal and System/390 series mainframes. The z/Architecture has historically been supported by very high-end SAN arrays, and is not only important for HUS VM SAN companies that run mainframes, but a good indication as to how high end a SAN array is.

IBM Storwize V7000 Besides block-level protocol support, you should look at file system protocols such as the Microsoft-supported Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and Fujitsu Storage Eternus Network File System (NFS). While some SAN arrays provide native file-system DX8700 S3 protocol support, others depend on NAS gateways for SMB and NFS access to SAN storage. Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage Front-end and back-end ports

Front-end ports enable servers, switches and other arrays to connect with the NetApp FAS8000 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.

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In this e-guide Back-end ports connect to the disk subsystem and disk shelves. The number of SAN system buying guide: The ports and type of ports, such as 12 Gbps SAS, determines the maximum fundamentals throughput an array can handle and directly impacts its scalability.

How to create a SAN array request for proposal Availability and reliability

Besides performance, availability and reliability of the storage system should be HUS VM SAN at the top of your list. A service-level agreement (SLA) is a good indicator for how robust a SAN array is. IBM Storwize V7000 While 99.99% (also referred to as "four nines") availability relates to Fujitsu Storage Eternus approximately 1 hour of downtime during the year, 99.999% (five nines) relates DX8700 S3 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 Oracle FS1-2 best for high-end enterprise arrays.

HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 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

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SAN array with no single points of failure and where all maintenance tasks can In this e-guide be performed while online.

SAN system buying guide: The Robust error detection and system health checks should also be assessed. For fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array report back to the vendor, who should proactively take actions such as sending request for proposal replacement drives. Look for a SAN array that pushes the limits on self- correcting and self-healing capabilities. HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000 Data efficiency features Capabilities that help to maximize the use of storage resources result in Fujitsu Storage Eternus significant cost savings and should be an important aspect of your evaluation. In DX8700 S3 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 Oracle FS1-2 available for all-HDD arrays.

HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 features, both are big pluses. Regarding data deduplication, storage systems with real-time data deduplication capabilities rather than post-process

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deduplication are preferable. Real-time data deduplication and compression are In this e-guide must-haves in state-of-the-art all-flash arrays.

SAN system buying guide: The Quality of service (QoS) enables storage efficiency by allowing oversubscription fundamentals of storage resources without impacting critical applications and data. Since SAN arrays consolidate a wide range of workloads, QoS should be on your must- How to create a SAN array have list. However, QoS capabilities vary greatly in contemporary SAN arrays. request for proposal

HUS VM SAN Data protection

Data protection capabilities are another critical aspect. Make sure the SAN IBM Storwize V7000 array supports snapshots efficiently, since they can be disk-fillers.

Fujitsu Storage Eternus Understand how much disk space a snapshot/subsequent snapshots use and DX8700 S3 the maximum number of snapshots supported. A SAN array should support asynchronous replication for long-distance replication, and synchronous Oracle FS1-2 replication to support high-availability storage area networks.

HP XP7 Storage Storage management capabilities

NetApp FAS8000 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

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management tasks, and through a user-friendly management console that's In this e-guide preferably browser-based.

SAN system buying guide: The Integration with hypervisor management tools such as VMware vCenter is a big fundamentals plus. Analytics tools and reporting capabilities that can comment on various storage metrics, including performance and issues, are pertinent. The ability to How to create a SAN array configure alerts and policies that trigger actions if certain thresholds or request for proposal conditions are met are critical capabilities.

HUS VM SAN Integration capabilities

IBM Storwize V7000 Integration is another crucial aspect. Request all supported VMware vSphere and vCenter integrations and supported application programming interfaces Fujitsu Storage Eternus (APIs), such as vStorage APIs for Array Integration and vStorage APIs for DX8700 S3 Storage Awareness, as well as supported Microsoft Hyper-V integrations and APIs, such as Operation Data Store and Volume Shadow Copy Service. Oracle FS1-2 Determine which application integrations are relevant for your environment and use cases, and include those requirements in your RFP. HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

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In this e-guide Conclusion

SAN system buying guide: The SAN arrays are purchased for a wide range of use cases, and those use cases fundamentals and specific requirements determine how relevant certain features and RFP aspects are. While this article comments on relevant aspects, focus on what How to create a SAN array matters for the problems you are trying to solve. A good RFP should ask very request for proposal specific, non-confusing questions, include all relevant aspects, and be vendor agnostic so you can arrive at an objective SAN array decision. HUS VM SAN About the author

IBM Storwize V7000 Jacob Gsoedl is an IT and Technology Leader with 20+ years of experience managing and leading all aspects of information technology, software Fujitsu Storage Eternus development and security. He writes frequently for TechTarget's Storage media DX8700 S3 group sites on a variety of data storage topics, including storage array architectures, software-defined storage and storage for virtual environments. Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage Next article

NetApp FAS8000

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In this e-guide HUS VM SAN array platform SAN system buying guide: The Aditya Gune fundamentals The Hitachi Unified Storage VM is a storage array designed for How to create a SAN array enterprise SAN environments requiring high storage capacities. request for proposal The Hitachi Unified Storage virtual machine (HUS VM) is a SAN platform HUS VM SAN 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, IBM Storwize V7000 automated data tiering and multi-tenant readiness. The HUS VM also supports a hybrid flash configuration, which combines the performance of flash storage Fujitsu Storage Eternus with higher-capacity and less expensive hard disk drives (HDDs). DX8700 S3 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 Oracle FS1-2 has a maximum raw capacity of 64 petabytes (PB), including all internal and external virtualized capacity, but the internal storage capacity depends on the HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 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

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also supports SAS FMDs in 1.6 TB and 3.2 TB capacities, and multi-level cell In this e-guide 2.5 inch SSDs in 200 GB and 400 GB capacities. The unit supports RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 6. SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals The HUS VM uses the same storage virtualization controller as the higher-end Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP), but lacks features for the largest How to create a SAN array enterprises. The HUS VM has less memory than the VSP G1000, and lacks request for proposal FICON ports for mainframes.

The HUS VM array supports a wide range of external storage, including almost HUS VM SAN the entire range of Hitachi external storage modules. It also supports EMC VNX, Fujitsu Eternus, HP 3PAR, IBM System Storage, Generic Profile and others. IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus port, and a queue depth of 2,048 per FC port. In addition, the HUS VM supports DX8700 S3 iSCSI, but not FICON.

Oracle FS1-2 The array uses Hitachi Command Suite management software and Hitachi Universal Volume Manager for storage virtualization. It uses Hitachi Dynamic

HP XP7 Storage 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, NetApp FAS8000 Red Hat and Enterprise Linux, and VMware.

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Hitachi does not publish HUS VM pricing, but a fully configured unit with storage In this e-guide 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 SAN system buying guide: The include storage capacity or additional features like tiering and replication, which fundamentals must be purchased separately. However, the base software does support thin provisioning. How to create a SAN array

request for proposal Next article HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000

Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

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In this e-guide IBM Storwize V7000 storage array platform SAN system buying guide: The Aditya Gune fundamentals IBM's Storwize V7000 SAN array platform supports hard disk drives How to create a SAN array and flash drives, and is marketed to high-capacity enterprises. request for proposal The IBM Storwize V7000 is for large and highly virtualized data centers. The HUS VM SAN IBM SAN array comes with a range of features, such as FlashCopy, and supports a number of IBM storage management applications. Block- and file- IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus and increasing read/write speeds at a higher cost. DX8700 S3 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 Oracle FS1-2 (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, HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 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.

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The V7000 integrates with IBM's Tivoli suite of storage management, including In this e-guide Tivoli Storage FlashCopy, Tivoli Storage Manager, Storage Manager FastBack and more. SAN system buying guide: The fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array processor with 32 GB or 64 GB of cache. Each control enclosure supports up to request for proposal 20 expansion enclosures, which attach with a 12 Gbps SAS interconnect, providing approximately 1 PB of capacity. The Storwize V7000 can also be HUS VM SAN organized by scalable clustered systems, which are essentially four control enclosures and any associated expansion enclosures acting as one storage

IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus Gbps Fibre Channel over Ethernet. It also supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, DX8700 S3 RAID 6 and RAID 10.

Oracle FS1-2 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 HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 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.

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IBM does not publish pricing for the Storwize V7000, but various sources In this e-guide 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 SAN system buying guide: The included features, IBM has a three-year limited warranty on hardware, including fundamentals customer-replaceable units, on-site service and next business day response. A software maintenance agreement is available, and IBM provides an online How to create a SAN array support service. request for proposal

HUS VM SAN Next article

IBM Storwize V7000

Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

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In this e-guide Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 storage SAN system buying guide: The array platform fundamentals Aditya Gune How to create a SAN array request for proposal The Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 SAN array offers a number of features to help organizations manage large amounts of storage. HUS VM SAN The Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 is a large enterprise SAN array for highly virtualized environments. It has a modular architecture that allows users IBM Storwize V7000 to add components as requirements increase.

Fujitsu Storage Eternus The DX8700 S3 array supports up to 64 drive enclosures, fitting a maximum of DX8700 S3 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, Oracle FS1-2 400 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 HP XP7 Storage 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. NetApp FAS8000 The Eternus DX8700 S3 supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1+0, RAID+5, RAID 5 0 and RAID 6.

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The Fujitsu Storage Eternus array's main drive interface is 6 Gbps SAS. Multiple In this e-guide 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 SAN system buying guide: The supported. The unit can have up to 128 FC ports or 64 iSCSI/FCoE ports, fundamentals connect to up to 8,192 hosts and support up to eight controllers.

How to create a SAN array The Eternus DX8700 S3 supports RAID 0, 1, RAID 1+0, RAID 5, RAID 5+0 and request for proposal RAID 6. Features include thin provisioning and automated storage tiering to automatically move data between arrays for better performance and storage HUS VM SAN 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

IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus enclosures added. DX8700 S3 Vendor pricing for the Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 is not published and Oracle FS1-2 varies based on the configuration chosen. A fully configured offering will likely cost approximately $200,000. In addition, software license prices for the Eternus HP XP7 Storage 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. NetApp FAS8000 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.

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In this e-guide Next article

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

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In this e-guide Oracle FS1-2 storage array system SAN system buying guide: The Aditya Gune fundamentals Oracle FS1-2 SAN arrays can scale to petabytes and ship complete How to create a SAN array with data storage features, such as replication and auto-tiering. request for proposal Oracle FS1-2 is a SAN array designed for large enterprise data centers with HUS VM SAN high levels of virtualization. The array supports both all-flash and hybrid flash configurations. All-flash configurations use solid-state drives (SSDs) instead of IBM Storwize V7000 mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs) to reduce latency and increase read and write speeds. Hybrid configurations combine the performance of flash with Fujitsu Storage Eternus higher-capacity and less expensive HDDs. In addition, Oracle FS1-2 arrays DX8700 S3 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 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 HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 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.

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The array supports up to 12 host ports in either 16 gigabit Fibre Channel (FC), In this e-guide 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 SAN system buying guide: The of controllers: Base Controller and Performance Controller. The Base Controller fundamentals 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. How to create a SAN array request for proposal FS1-2 includes software and additional features for redundancy and storage management. HUS VM SAN FS1-2 includes software and additional features for redundancy and storage management. Oracle FS Data Protection Manager is a tool that allows IBM Storwize V7000 administrators to back up and restore applications using clones. Data Protection Manager has operating system support for Oracle Solaris and Linux, and Fujitsu Storage Eternus application-consistent support for Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint or any DX8700 S3 Windows application running Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service.

Oracle FS1-2 Oracle QoS Plus is a virtualization, auto-tiering software that collects detailed information regarding storage use profiles, and then performs automated tiering

HP XP7 Storage and movement based on the usage analysis.

Oracle MaxRep is a replication engine that supports synchronous and NetApp FAS8000 asynchronous replication to local and remote locations. The software allows for many-to-one, one-to-many and multi-hop replication.

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Oracle FS1-2 pricing is confidential, and is dependent upon configuration. In this e-guide 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 SAN system buying guide: The issues in three tiers: a Severity 1 issue warrants a phone or Web callback fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array also includes 24/7/365 Web coverage. request for proposal

HUS VM SAN Next article

IBM Storwize V7000

Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

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In this e-guide HP XP7 storage enterprise SAN array SAN system buying guide: The Aditya Gune fundamentals The HP XP7 Storage SAN array offers high-availability and disaster How to create a SAN array recovery features for highly virtualized data centers with large request for proposal storage requirements.

The HP XP7 Storage enterprise storage SAN array has high-availability (HA) HUS VM SAN and disaster recovery (DR) features to limit downtime, and employs the Common/Consistent Command Line Interface. The XP7 offers a Disk Controller IBM Storwize V7000 Chassis rack and Drive Chassis rack, and each rack can be configured to prioritize capacity, performance or a balance of the two. Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3 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 Oracle FS1-2 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) HP XP7 Storage 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

NetApp FAS8000 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

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operating systems are supported, including HP NonStop, HP OpenVMS, HP- In this e-guide UX, VMware, Linux, Oracle Solaris and Microsoft Windows.

SAN system buying guide: The The XP7 Storage shares the same basic hardware architecture as the Hitachi fundamentals Virtual Storage Platform because of Hewlett-Packard’s joint technology relationship and OEM agreement with Hitachi Ltd. However, HP develops its How to create a SAN array own software and firmware for the XP7 Storage. request for proposal HP XP7 Storage array features include dedicated High Availability Software, a Data Replication Solution Service and Critical Service software called HP C- HUS VM SAN Track. The High Availability Software uses an active-active configuration, allowing two XP7 Storage arrays to provide simultaneous read-write access to IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus interruption. DX8700 S3 HP XP7 Storage array features include dedicated High Availability Software, a Oracle FS1-2 Data Replication Solution Service and Critical Service software called HP C- Track.

HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 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

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provides data copies within a single XP7 Storage unit and its attached storage, In this e-guide using array-based mirroring and snapshot technology. Continuous Access is a family of HA and DR tools that perform data mirroring between XP7 Storage SAN system buying guide: The units, including remote mirroring in high workload environments. fundamentals The HP XP7 Storage array has a starting price of $462,000, though this may How to create a SAN array change based on the configuration chosen. It comes with a series of dedicated request for proposal helplines for support bundled with the Critical Service software, as well as a three-year warranty for parts, labor and on-site maintenance.

HUS VM SAN Next article IBM Storwize V7000

Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

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In this e-guide NetApp FAS8000 storage array platform SAN system buying guide: The Aditya Gune fundamentals The NetApp FAS8000 is a series of enterprise SAN arrays marketed How to create a SAN array toward high-capacity environments that support multiple flash request for proposal configurations.

HUS VM SAN 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 IBM Storwize V7000 models -- FAS8080EX, FAS8060, FAS8040 and FAS8020 -- that are available in all-flash and hybrid flash configurations. All-flash configurations do not use Fujitsu Storage Eternus hard disk drives (HDDs), reducing latency and increasing read/write speeds. DX8700 S3 Hybrid configurations combine the performance of flash with higher-capacity and less expensive HDDs. All of the array models come with high-availability Oracle FS1-2 support.

The FAS8080EX is the flagship array in the NetApp FAS8000 lineup. In a SAN HP XP7 Storage 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, NetApp FAS8000 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

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NAS setup can have up to 24 nodes, a maximum flash pool capacity of 1,728 In this e-guide 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 SAN system buying guide: The 4 gigabits per second (Gbps), 8 Gbps or 16 Gbps; 32 Fibre Channel over fundamentals 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 How to create a SAN array additional connectivity, such as NetApp's Unified Target Adapter 2, which request for proposal provides additional FC support.

HUS VM SAN 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

IBM Storwize V7000 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 Fujitsu Storage Eternus has up to 24 16 Gbps FC ports, 40 4 Gbps/8 Gbps FC ports, 24 FCoE ports, 32 DX8700 S3 10 GigE ports, 40 1 GigE ports and 40 6 Gbps SAS ports.

Oracle FS1-2 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 HP XP7 Storage 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 NetApp FAS8000 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.

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All NetApp FAS8000 models support high-availability and RAID 4, RAID 6, In this e-guide RAID 4 1 and RAID 6 1.

SAN system buying guide: The The FAS8020 can support 1,920 drives in a SAN setup, with a maximum fundamentals 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. How to create a SAN array The FAS8020 has 12 16 Gbps FC ports, 20 4 Gbps/8 Gbps FC ports, 12 FCoE request for proposal 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 HUS VM SAN solid-state capacity per cluster. The all-flash versions use clustered Data Ontap, which includes FlashEssentials software that optimizes reads and writes, and IBM Storwize V7000 handles inline compression and data deduplication.

Fujitsu Storage Eternus All NetApp FAS arrays are built on the Data Ontap and clustered Data Ontap DX8700 S3 operating system software.

All NetApp FAS8000 models support high-availability and RAID 4, RAID 6, Oracle FS1-2 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- HP XP7 Storage UX, Mac OS and VMware ESX.

NetApp FAS8000 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

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on configuration. NetApp also has a series of support tools, including a support In this e-guide line and online technical assistance.

SAN system buying guide: The About the author fundamentals Aditya covers IT hardware and software solutions, focusing on infrastructure from a purchasing perspective. Prior to joining TechTarget, he spent four years How to create a SAN array covering the consumer technology market, including semiconductors, request for proposal smartphones and tablets. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of California in 2013. HUS VM SAN

IBM Storwize V7000

Fujitsu Storage Eternus DX8700 S3

Oracle FS1-2

HP XP7 Storage

NetApp FAS8000

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