DELL MD3000i

[roundorange]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently looking at the DELL MD3000i iSCSI storage which has been certified to work under VI3.5. Has anyone tried it before or any information to share?

Many thanks in advance!

[balacs]

This document can help you get started:

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/solutions/md3000i_esx_deploy_guide.pdf

It is located with other Dell|VMware documents at www.dell.com/vmware > Support Documents

Bala

Dell Inc.

[rdpbn]

We are installing now, I will post how testing goes. 14 virtual servers. I dont expect

it to work due to overload but it was bought before I started.

[seveler1]

I have a friend who is using the MD for his virtual environment. It will work but, is limited like you or someone else mentioned. I can also say my friend wished he would have purchased one of the Equallogic SANs. I have one and run about 30 vm's and the SAN is barely being used as far as horse power is concerned. Also, the snap shots are a huge help.

Also, when you set up your vm's use the MS iscsi initiator for the non-OS drives.

if you have any questions about my environment feel free to ask.

[roundorange]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the info and doc. I've been doing some reading on the MD3000i and some further queries as follows:

1. Is there some means which we can monitor the MD3000i's processor load/utilisation? Or is there someway we can know if the MD3000i is 'overloaded" or "underloaded"?

2. How best should the MD3000i<->VI3.5 be configured to maximise iSCSI multi-pathing and failover?

(a) MD3000i with 1 storage processor. Should the 2 ports on the storage processor be configured in the same or different TCP/IP subnet? Does VI3.5 need additional configuration to be able to "failover" between these 2 MD3000i ports in the event of a MD3000i switch port or connection failure? Or do I just need to configure 1 IP address in VI3.5 (as per the doc in the URL which Bala provided) and VI3.5 will magically do the rest?

(b) MD3000i with 2 storage processors. Should the 4 ports on the 2 storage processors be configured in the same or different TCP/IP subnet? Does VI3.5 need additional configuration to be able to "failover" between these 4 MD3000i ports in the event of a MD3000i switch port or connection failure? Or do I just need to configure 1 IP address in VI3.5 (as per the doc in the URL which Bala provided) and VI3.5 will magically do the rest?

Many thanks in advance and best regards,

[roundorange]

Hi Seveler,

Are you able to share further on how's MD3000i's performance compare with the Equallogic?

I noticed DELL now sells Equallogic as well. But the cost is very high (1 x Equallogic ~= 5 x MD3000i). I'm wondering if it's worth the additional investment.

BTW, EMC also recently released their AX4-5 (successor to AX100/150* series), which DELL is also selling as well. The AX4-5 costs just slightly higher than the MD3000i. Do you guys know of or had any experience on the AX4-5 vs MD3000i/Equallogic?

TIA!

[seveler1]

I am very good friends with 2-3 Dell System Engineers. They all highly,

highly, highly, recommend the EQL box. The EQL box has snap shots,

replication, .....all included to where the EMC box does not. They sell

those seperatly. When you add them the costs go up to about the same as

the EQL.

As far as performance I can not say because I have the EQL. As far as

managing the EQL is light years ahead of every other SAN. I have a

friend at Luby's and they have an EMC. It took them about a week to get

space added or to extend a LUN. With the EQL I can extend a lun/volume

in about 15 seconds. I added another SAN to our current and was able to

use the new space in less that 5 minutes. This is huge and speaks

volumes about the EQL.

Who are you working with on the EQL as far as getting prices? I might

be able to help. I do a lot of demos with the Dell/EQL guys and I will

see what I can do.

Call me if you can. I would rather not discuss some of these things

online.

832-912-0657

[Fedde]

A week to add space and extend a lun on an Emc?!

What did they do wrong?

If You ask me, something is really wrong somewhere if it takes a week.

I can't say that I have extended a lun very often but it would never take me

more than 30 minutes including updating documentation on an Emc Cx400 or on an Emc Cx3-20.

And it only takes 30 minutes if I have a slooooow day.

/Fedde

[dfindlay]

Did you ever get answers to these questions? I'm working with a new MD3000i and have the same questions, especially #2.