The bid due date has come and gone, and I have bids from 5 vendors, for 5 different manufacturers, and 4 software platforms. These are EqualLogic, Left Hand, MPC, Siafu, and D-Link. Actually I am waiting final pricing from 2 vendors but I pretty much know the general price range of their bids. Aside from the final pricing, I am now at T-minus 7 days for a decision.
I spent an hour with my Tech Depot reps, Dan Kalagher and several of his colleagues from Siafu Software. According to their company history, this a new company, with their first installation 9 months ago. It is based off of Windows Storage Server. Since it is a new platform, it looks like they are still building out the feature set but they have several features in the SAN that are interesting. The first is the ability to encrypt some or all of the volumes on the SAN. I can see this being useful in some scenarios but it brings about a 20% overhead. The next feature is the ability to backup snapshots directly to tape, this is possible since there is an accessible Windows OS running the SAN. Although, I would worry about the backup software crashing the SAN. Lastly, there is a PXE boot server available to boot your diskless servers directly from the SAN. As I pointed out my SAN Update 2 post, booting from a non-HBA adapter would require a separate PXE server with DAS. This adds a layer of complexity, but an integrated PXE boot server would reduce that complexity. The system Siafu and Tech Depot are quoting is a SWARM 3000-HA.
I also received the D-Link bid today. It is a combination of a D-Link DSN-3200 and Symantec VERITAS Storage Foundation Software. I don't really have much to say about this at this point. I think this might be an "old fashioned" iSCSI SAN and that would explain why it is a least $10K less expensive than the other bids. I am waiting on the vendor to provide an explanation of the bid, before further review.
Lastly, I talked with EqualLogic for a little while and followed up with them on a few details, about their system. I wanted to make sure that I had an accurate impression of the functionality, they provide.
Good luck with the SAN RFP. I'm curious whether you've considered products that can mix and match iSCSI and FC within the same enclosure? And therefore enable booting servers via either IP or FC interconnects? We launched enhanced, free software today that can automate the boot from SAN process from the Compellent Storage Center SAN. Let me know if I can put you in touch a Compellent specialist.
Posted by: LiemAtCompellent | March 26, 2007 at 11:42 PM
It is no use doing what you like,you have got to like what you do.Do you think so?
Posted by: new balance | July 26, 2010 at 08:00 PM
Why would it take FOUR hours on the phone with Microsoft. Why does it always take so long???
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