My First SAN solution guide 3rd edition—now featuring IP SAN solutions With data doubling in size every year, companies are looking for new ways to manage their growth and control costs. My First SAN offers simple advice on how to implement affordable, reliable and easy networked storage solutions designed to give your business a competitive edge. Part 1: Understanding the SAN ..................................... 3 Part 2: Assessing your options .......................................
How can this guide help? This guide has been designed specifically to help you understand what a SAN does and choose the solution that’s right for your business. The main focus will be on the HP StorageWorks Modular Smart Array (MSA) family.
Part 1: Understanding the SAN What is a storage area network? The simplest way of understanding a storage area network is to compare it to an already popular type of IT infrastructure solution—the local area network (LAN), which enables multiple PCs to share key IT resources such as applications, servers, shared files and printers. SANs provide similar resource sharing, but are specifically designed for servers to share storage devices such as disk arrays or tape libraries.
SAN components A B C D E A-E Multiple servers SAN Infrastructure Consolidate Server Storage into Storage Array Disk storage Tape storage SAN management software SAN components Servers Multiple servers, from different vendors, running different operating systems can all be connected to a SAN. Servers with a fibre channel SAN connection require a special FC card called a host bus adapter (HBA) in each connected server. In an IP SAN, you can use a standard Ethernet NIC.
Tape storage Within a fibre channel SAN, any disk storage (whether it’s an external disk array or internal to the server) can be backed up directly to a tape library. This provides a fast and dedicated pathway for data backup, and frees the corporate LAN to perform its primary functions with greater efficiency. Due to their lower network speed, IP SANs should preferably pass data traffic through a backup server to a direct-attached tape library. Tape-based backup can be combined with disk-based backup—e.g.
A SAN makes it easy to increase availability Today’s IT environments require increasingly high levels of availability at all times. SANs can offer 24x7 availability thanks to a fully redundant architecture. The following elements are building blocks for increased SAN availability.
Primary storage FC/SCSI disk storage Secondary storage SATA/FATA disk storage Choose the appropriate disk technology for your environment Serial ATA versus SCSI and fibre channel disks SCSI disk technology is the right choice for entry-level networked storage, as it offers the same advantages that fibre channel disks provide to large enterprise disk arrays.
DAS-to-SAN migration with HP Smart Array technology HP ProLiant server with internal drives Option 1: direct migration into a SAN or Disk enclosure connected through Smart Array controller HP MSA1000 HP MSA1500 HP MSA1510i Option 2: simple storage consolidation without fibre-channel SAN or Further upgrade: optional conversion to a MSA1000 SAN by upgrading controller HP StorageWorks RA4100 HP MSA500 HP MSA1000 controller HP makes it easy to migrate data to a SAN DAS-to-SAN migration With HP’s un
Part 2: Assessing your options HP StorageWorks storage array systems The seamless portfolio for storage consolidation HP StorageWorks MSA1510i HP StorageWorks MSA1500 HP StorageWorks MSA1000 Description Flexible, scalable iSCSI SAN solution Flexible, scalable fibre channel SAN solution Affordable fibre channel SAN solution Drive count/maximum 0/96 0/96 14/42 Maximum storage 48 TB 48 TB 12 TB Expansion options MSA30, MSA20 MSA30, MSA20 MSA30 Host interface 1 GB iSCSI 2 GB/1 GB fibre cha
HP StorageWorks storage array systems (continued) HP StorageWorks MSA500 with packaged cluster HP StorageWorks MSA1000 with packaged cluster HP StorageWorks MSA1000 SMB bundle HP StorageWorks MSA1000 starter kit HP StorageWorks MSA1500 mini-bundles HP StorageWorks MSA1500 starter kit Description 2 ProLiant server cluster with shared storage 2 ProLiant server cluster with SAN connectivity Simple SAN solution Affordable fibre channel SAN solution Flexible, scalable fibre channel storage enclosures
Setting up a Microsoft Exchange data store is easy with HP Application Storage Manager 1) Select Exchange Server 2) Select Storage Groups 3) Specify Size Server-based solutions for storing data NAS gateway: the perfect SAN extension Storage arrays are usually perceived as devices that store the data of application servers. Network attached storage is seen as a solution for sharing files with end-user clients. The two are traditionally separate concepts.
Typical solutions for storage consolidation These examples show how customers have used storage solutions based on HP StorageWorks Modular Smart Arrays to solve their specific business challenges. Two-node cluster with MSA500 G2 The HP MSA500 G2 enables external storage to be configured within a four-node cluster, without having to invest in a fibre-channel network.
Typical solutions for storage consolidation (continued) Starter fibre channel SAN with the MSA1000 LAN HP ProLiant DL320 G3 Server used as DNS and DHCP server Oracle running on Windows 64-bit, configured as two-node cluster on HP Integrity servers HP ProLiant DL320 G3 Server used as a tier 2 application server Windows-based application server HP ProLiant DL380 G4 Server (file and print) When consolidating storage from multiple servers (clustered or non-clustered), a SAN solution based on the MSA1000 of
Typical solutions for storage consolidation (continued) Fully integrated high-availability SAN Wide Area Network (WAN) LAN HP ProLiant DL380 G4 running Windows Server 2003 HP ProLiant DL380 G4 running Windows Server 2003 110001001 Clustered HP ProLiant DL580 G3 Storage Servers (file and print) HP BladeSystem with redundant multi-node cluster In this scenario, the MSA1500 provides the option of low-cost near-online storage based on SATA disks. A second SAN at a remote site is also shown.
If you need increased performance and greater flexibility for demanding mission-critical applications, consider the HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) family. EVA—combine simple management with performance and availability Management efficiency With increases in storage capacity and continuous expansion of digital content, storage management is now a key issue for organizations today.
Part 3: Choosing your solution HP StorageWorks storage array systems The seamless portfolio for storage consolidation What if my file serving needs are growing rapidly or I need more scalability in my solution? HP has a complete product line to meet your needs from SMB to Enterprise level file serving. The HP Enterprise File Services Clustered Gateway product scales your file serving needs from two to 16 nodes, with a linear increase in file serving performance.
HP makes it simple to purchase a SAN Choose a pre-configured starter SAN solution With an MSA starter kit, you get a SAN solution at an excellent value, without the hassle of configuring it from scratch. The MSA SAN Starter Kit includes all the storage components you need for an entry-level SAN, while the Packaged Cluster gives you all this, plus two clusterable HP ProLiant DL380 servers. All you need to complete your solution is to add your choice of disk drives.
Choose your configuration This example shows how easy it is to configure a SAN using the MSA starter kits. For the equivalent MSA1500 configuration, choose the alternative MSA1500 SAN starter kit. MSA1000 SAN Starter Kit with High Availability Upgrade Kit and 2.
Part 4: Complete your knowledge HP Services Advanced services When business needs change over time, you may have different requirements for your SAN. HP Services provides a range of services to suit your IT environment and its life cycle, including design, integration, data migration and support.
Your questions answered What happens if I need to add more storage capacity? HP StorageWorks MSA systems are modular, so you can add capacity as your needs grow, internally or externally, with additional disk enclosures.
What if my file serving needs are growing rapidly or I need more scalability in my solution? HP has a complete product line to meet your needs from SMB to Enterprise level file serving. The Enterprise File Services Clustered Gateway product scales your file serving needs from 2 to 16 nodes with a linear increase in file serving performance.
Jargon buster Cascading The ability to connect switches to one another to create a larger SAN fabric. DAS (Direct Attached Storage) A deployment of dedicated storage devices for each server, usually using SCSI connections. Can be an inefficient use of storage. DAS-to-SAN migration An exclusive HP feature that provides a quick and easy way to migrate disks and stored data running on Smart Array or RA4100 storage solutions to an HP StorageWorks MSA disk array (see page 8).
SAN fabric The hardware that connects servers to storage devices in a SAN. The SAN infrastructure enables any-server-to-anystorage-device connectivity through fibre channel switching. SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) A protocol used to communicate with SCSI devices. Also used by fibre-channel technology to communicate with disk drives. SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) A next-generation SCSI interface that uses serial technology.
HP StorageWorks—Putting information to work. To learn more on My First SAN—and Simply StorageWorks solutions—visit: www.hp.com/go/myfirstsan © Copyright 2005 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.
