VA7100 vs. VA7110

[James Sohr_2]

Hi,

We currently have a Nike Model 20 array on a N4000 server, hosting a relatively small (~10GB) database.

We are considering upgrading, and are trying to decide between the VA7110 and the VA7100. We intend on buying refurbished, so what are the main differences between the two (other than price, which seems to be signifanct)?

Also, one of our vendors tells me that if we buy either array refurbished, I'll have to purchase management software (I'm guessing CommandView?) and capacity licenses (I've never heard of that before) straight from HP seperately as they are non-transferrable. Is this true? And at what cost?

Thanks!

-James

[Joshua Scott · Accepted solution]

James, the va7110 is the replacement for the va7100. many upgrades were made.

Differences:
VA7100

1Gb/s connection
1Gb/s disk transfer speed
up to 15 disks (no expansion units available)
Max disk size of 73GB

VA7110:

2Gb/s connections
2Gb/s disk transfer speed
up to 45 disks (with 2 expansion units)
Max disk size 146GB (currently)

Regarding purchasing the management SW,
If you buy the system refurbished from HP it includes the Commandview Software and licenses. If you buy it *USED* (not from an authorized reseller) then I'm not sure. it's much better do get these from HP or an HP authorized reseller, since support and licensing can be a real pain when buying significant systems used.

-Josh

[Bryan James]

Hi,

In addition the VA7110 has 2 controllers and runs active-acvtive (for load sharing) unlike the VA7100 which is active-passive.

As mentioned STM should ship with your VA and is good mgt software, however you can do LUN config and other basic tasks from the VFP on the array itself.

[Bernhard Mueller]

James,

given your input I would say that overall in terms of cost and performance and space requirements you'd be better of with a DS2110.

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/ds2110/index.html

Of course this is a JBOD without internal RAID controller so you *might* have to buy MirrorDisk to to LVM mirroring. But you *should* have that for your boot disks anyway (Or do you boot off the Nike?).

Personally I would not recommend to boot from the VA but rather have separate (mirrored) boot disks.

Regards,
Bernhard