Poor man's SAN options

[mikelaw]

Any HP MSA storage has similar function as Dell MD3000 which can support 4 direct attached servers?
I thought MSA30 already have dual scsi channel but any software to configurate size of the LUN or databackup easily?

[Rajiv Kulkarni]

MSA 30 can be configured using Array Configuration Utlity, to use this you would need to install an HP Smart Array Card in the server, an HP Proliant Server is recommended though to use MSA 30.

Databackup can be acheived using regular VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Services) available in Windows 2003 platform. This is a snapshot service available in Windows platform..

[Rob Leadbeater]

Hi,

The MSA30 is normally only connected to a single host, rather than multiple. Essentially the MSA30 is just a 14 bay SCSI shelf.

Reading the sales info here:

http://www.hp.com/go/msa30

shows that there is a 4 port multi initiator version, however that's not for use with ProLiants.

If you need a cheap SAN then you probably need to be looking at something like the MSA1000.

http://www.hp.com/go/msa1000

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Rob

[Torsten.]

Hi,

the MSA30 is SCSI, so it has nothing to do with SAN.
You can connect up to 4 hosts to it, but only if you use shared busses and hp-ux(!).

I would recommend to take a look at the MSA1000 or 1500.

[Dave Wherry]

You may also want to take a look at the All-in-One. It came out late last year and is a relatively cheap SAN in a box. Pretty easy to setup.

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/aiostorage.html