DL380 / NAS general questions

[Paul Christy]

Our company is working towards releasing a product that includes a DL380/NAS solution (can't remember if it's G2 or G4, our test box is currently offsite; I don't think it's important). It has been brought to my attention that some of our customers may want to purchase this hardware with as much space as possible.

The question(s):

How much space can the DL380 handle (assume we're using 300gb drives, 14 drives per array, as many arrays as possible)?

I think it's necessary to mention the physical array only has one SCSI connection, which means daisy-chaining isn't possible. Is maximum space solely based on the number of SCSI controllers we stick in there? In this scenario, I think this puts total SCSI controllers at 7 (one "on-board" and 6 expansion slots). The total number isn't important, I just want to know how many arrays can be served via one DL380.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks :)

[Steven Clementi]

Paul:

First off, if your 380 is a g2 or a g4, then you only have 3 expansion slots for extra array controllers.

With that in mind...

Without adding any additional Array controllers, you can connect 1 4314 disk shelf and add 14 drives (assume 300GB*14 = 4.2TB)

Adding in additional scsi array controllers, like a Smart Array 6404, would allow you to physically connect 4 4314 disk shelves increasing your max storage by a factor of 5 - 21TB. Add in 2 more of these 6404's and your talking theoretically..... 54.6TB.

If you were to add FIBRE based storage, you can reach the same amount and even surpass with the right array (and the right amount of money).

The only problem I see is I do not know if the server supports Smart Array controllers in all three expansion slots. It should, but never tried it.



Steven

[generic_1]

I have no idea what your product is, but I would not want this on it. Your gonna kill the performance on this little box and create a support nightmare. You need a sufficient amount of nas heads, data movers, and machines to do virus checking, backup solution, and much more to plan out.