Powervault MD3220i vs Equallogic PS4000E

[TekkieDave]

I'm looking to build on my existing Hyper-V environment by adding 2 hosts in a HA cluster, and a SAN backend. I really don't have too much data presently, perhaps 1.3-1.5TB, so storage space isn't a huge issue, but I want to future proof myself as well.

I started looking into netapp, then began a lengthy discussion with my dell reps.

The two specs I have for my SAN are:

Equallogic PS4000E
Dual Controllers
16 x 7.2k 250Gb SATA drives - 4.0 TB total, minus 2 disks for hot spares, and after RAID 50 overhead - about 2.7TB

VS

PowerVault MD3220i
Dual Controllers
24 x 10k 300Gb SAS Drives - about 6.6TB
or
24 x 15k 146Gb SAS Drives - about 2.9TB

I know that the Equallogic has much more advanced software, with application aware snapshots and DR Replication capability.

What I'm worried about is that my gut is telling me that 24 10k/15k SAS drives is going to be a lot faster that 16 7.2k SATA drives.

Does anyone have experience with both the powervault and equallogic, and can tell me which would be faster, with these configurations?

Also, the Powervault is like $10k cheaper, which is also a factor.

 

[unclerico]

I can't speak for the PowerVault solution, but we had 3 EqualLogic Arrays at my last company. They worked really well, were EXTREMELY easy to use, offered some really nice features, and performance was good. I would also look at EMC AX4 for a low cost dual controller solution. As for drive configuration, I would get the 15k SAS drives for volumes that will support large systems such as Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, etc. and 7.5k SATA drives for volumes that won't support systems with high transaction volumes. I understand in your situation that you are going to go with a single array so I would try to get the SAS drives especially if you're trying to future proof yourself.

I hate all Uppercase... I don't want my groups to seem angry at me all the time! =)
- ColdFlame (vbscript forum)

 

[RMGBELGIUM]

If you are looking at NetApp stuff, consider the fas2040 series with SAS drives. clustered solution, deduplication, thin provisioning,snapshotting.replication to a DR netapp is possible as well, snapdrive/snapmanager software provides application consistent backups of you SQL DB's, exchange,oracle DB's,VMWare,...

rgds,

R.

NetApp Certified NCDA/NCIE-SAN

 

[kmcferrin]

If you are comparing only those two units as configured and nothing else, the Powervault is should be faster by virtue of using faster disks AND more spindles. But for the record, you can also get Equallogic arrays with SAS disks as well. As a general rule I recommend that people avoid SATA disks for storage arrays unless they know that they will be used for less I/O-intensive tasks. For virtualization I recommend only SAS or FC.

Feature-wise the Powervault gets smoked by Equallogic, especially when it comes to scalability and future expansion. If I were in your shoes I would strongly consider how much growth you forsee in the future and how the system that you select will (or will not) be able to accommodate it.

If you add another Equallogic shelf it can integrate with the existing array and be managed as a single unit, including moving data between the shelves. On top of that, you also will have the benefit of the additional controllers and iSCSI interfaces from the additional unit(s) so that your throughput can scale as well.

If you want to expand the Powervault you will have to buy an MD1200/1220 drive shelf that piggy-backs off of the existing unit. You'll still have the same two controllers, and the same number of iSCSI interfaces. So while you can accommodate more disks and a greater capacity you could still be bottlenecked by the drive controllers and the interfaces.

And then there's all of the software functionality included. Not everyone needs the advanced capabilities of the Equallogic box, but they are increasingly becoming par for the course.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator

 

[TekkieDave]

Well my instincts forced me to upgrade the spindles on the equallogic, so now the quote is 16 x 450 Gb 10k SAS drives. This makes the equallogic $20k more than the powervault

I'll hopefully be able to get my managers to go for the purchase, but you can never tell. One day they'll complain about a $600 purchase, and then the next day they'll purchase a $40k video conferencing system that gets used 4 times a year. Managers.

 

[kmcferrin]

Yup, I know the feeling. I was asked to work out a storage recommendation for a company once, and I gave them three options (two too many, as I found out). They were an MD3000i, and Equallogic, and an EMC AX1000 (or something similar). When they saw the prices they actually said, "Why can't I just go to Best Buy and get a couple of 1TB hard disks for $250 each?" Eventually they went with the MD3000i, and have bought a couple more since then (each one managed separately, of course). For them it's all about saving money today instead of planning for the future.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator