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AsherN
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Which SAN?

I've narrowed down my choices to 3.

My setup will be 2 hosts in site A. 2 host in site B for DR.

I need replication and I'll be using SRM

I had to eliminate the Nexsan iSeries because they are just starting to work on a SRA.

The 3 quotes I have are:

DS4700 model 70, 8 X 750GB SATA $45K

EQL PS5000, 8 X 500GB SATA $49K

AX4-5F, 12 X 750GB SATA $38K

I need flexibility in expension.

Any thoughts?

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8 Replies
glynnd1
Expert
Expert

Do those quotes include your needed SAN replication?

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AsherN
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes they do.

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JohnADCO
Expert
Expert

I am all about spindle count. So the 12 drives makes the choice easy for me.

I'b beat my dell rep up some more and make that 12 SAS drives if at all possible due their smaller size availability. I realize with the replication license your already being quoted a decent price on the AX4.

The difference between SATA and SAS is a difference the users can feel there.

AsherN
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I'd love the SAS drives as well, but budget may not allow it. I just don't know how much wigle room Dell has.

OTOH, I'd swap FC for iSCSI if it meant also swapping SAS for SATA. However, the hardware compatibility for SRM only lists the AX4-5F, not the -5I. Any stab in the dark as to why?

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JohnADCO
Expert
Expert

Gotta link showing that?

I mean on the esx side they are version for version the same in the hardware guide.

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AsherN
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Page 5 shows AX4-5, under host attach it only shows FC

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JohnADCO
Expert
Expert

Thanks, I do see notes on other sans that state FC only. Interesting.

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bwiechman
Contributor
Contributor

Replication is not supported on the AX4-5i which is why it is not supported on the iSCSI model. It is supported on the fiber channel model (AX4-5F).

Primary reason I have been quoted is concerns with port saturation. The AX4-5i only has a pair of GigE ports per SP which can easily be saturated by data traffic alone with any number of trays.

Maybe EMC will release a 10G version of the SP and support replication on that....

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