emc symmetrix for personal use....

[dumbfounder]

Hi, sorry if you saw this post before, I put it in a different thread and someone suggested I start my own thread, so here I am.

I am a bonafide novice when it comes to storage arrays, but I am in need of a lot of storage and I find the EMC Symmetrix a very intriguing proposition, especially since you can find them so cheap on ebay. Basically my lack of knowledge causes quite a bit of fear because it is a lot of money to spend. If I were to buy one of these arrays (Symmetrix 3830, 5700, or 8430 to be exact) are there other costs that I need to worry about when mounting to a regular linux server (besides fiber card or other interface card)? Do I need to buy storage management
software, or is that a nice-to-have? any insight anyone can give would be tremendously helpful, I am just a lowly programmer trying to start a search engine (all by myself) and I need a TON of space ultra-cheap. thanks!

 

[Chacalinc]

I responded to your question in the another thread, but as conclusion... this is not affordable for you.

Sorry.

 

[dumbfounder]

this is in response to Chacalinc's response seen here:

http://www.tek-tips.com/gviewthread.cfm/lev2/7/lev3/52/pid/511/qid/755756

thanks for your help, I will try to stay away from this solution, but I can't promise anything because my impulses to buy computer equipment are sometimes overwhelming. I already have 3 scsi-to-ide disk arrays (about 2 terabytes worth) as I thought this was the cheapest way to go, but lo-and-behold I found a 3.4 terabyte (raw capacity) array for $2800 on ebay. The cheapest I have found 300 gig drives is $254 dollars, and although 11 of those is the same price as the emc, they do not come with raid enclosures, and they aren't as freaking cool as having a huge mainframe-looking thing sitting in your dining room. I don't care how much noise they make!! They are sweet. I would be the envy of the geek community. Although I do need to factor in the shipping costs for a behemoth like that...

 

[Chacalinc]

wooooow, that's cheap!! quite cheap...
As you said, you can get all disk drives out and put them in a shelf, after all they are SCSI disks.

 

[dumbfounder]

funny you should say that, I actually have about 80 18gb scsi drives sitting on my shelf right now (bought 100 for $400 on ebay). Any more and I think the shelf will break...

 

[dumbfounder]

well, there goes my bubble, I found out it won't even fit through my front door. It's 36.4 inches deep and like 6 feet wide and my door is only 32 inches wide. Or maybe I can take it apart and...

 

[Chacalinc]

hehehe I told you... that's not gor you.

With too much disk drives, what's about your electricity bill!? hehe