one StoregeTek 6140 vs two (2) 2540 ?

[buddhavelvet]

We're moving our production 3510FC to development, so we need to replace the production 3510FC. The 6140 is nice, but pricey.

Here's the question. Would two 2540's (RAID 10) be 'faster' than one 3510? (RAID 10) and faster than one 6140 (RAID 10)?

One StoregeTek 6140 (16x72GB 15k rpm fc-al RAID 10) vs. Two StoregeTek 2540 's (24x72GB 15k rpm SAS RAID 10)

While the 2540 uses SAS drives vs the 6140 FC-AL drives, the specs on the drives are nearly identical as far as average latency etc as listed on seagate.com (SAS = ST373455SS ) (FC-AL = ST373455FC )

Oh yeah, we're an Oracle shop, so my assumption is that, with drives being equal, the more spindles the better.

 

[SANEngInCO]

Yes, two 2540's will be cheaper, but you need to look at what you're getting. 6140's will have lots more cache than the 2540's (2-4GB vs. 1GB) and the expansion possibilities are far more positive with the 6140. Burst rate IOs are very similar between them, but the sustained read/write IO rates are definitely more in the favor of the 6140.

I don't know how many servers you will be attaching to the storage and if there will be any switching involved, but the 6140 will always be a better array all around. It all depends on your budget and what your specific needs are.

I also look at managability - 2 units vs. 1. Less complexity and less to deal with. And that IS worth something.

But without knowing the particulars of what you're trying to accomplish, I can't exactly give a firm answer. But I would go with the 6140 for things like Oracle/SQL DBs due to the cache (which can be just as important as spindle count).

Good luck.

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