EMC, Compaq, Sun or HP ?

[Fredric Persson]

Hi!
We are going to invest in a new SAN environment and I would like to get input from people with experience of EMC,XP48/512 etc.

Thanks!
//Fredric

[Alexander M. Ermes · Accepted solution]

Hi Frederic.
We use EMC? Symmetrix connected to a V2500.
We run 23 databases ( Oracle ) and Oracle
Applications on this system. We used a HP FC30 before the EMC. This disk array is still connected and used for training and development databases.
The EMC equipment is not completely state of the art, but the service is excellent.
We never found errors, but sometimes we had an EMC technician standing at our door, who told me, that he has to change some parts just in case as prevention. Never had downtimes because
of EMC, so for my part i would stick with it.
Another reason is the price, because HP is very expensive.
Hope, i could help.
Rgds
Alexander M. Ermes

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Hi,
Well if you are for the state of art, go for the XP512 or its equivalent (we have the HDS 9960, all our subsystem have been bought from HDS since 1997, before we ahd HP and clariion). Extention to 35 TB, and unbeatable bandwith with dual fiber channel disks ...

All the best

[paul courry]

We have a couple of EMC frames and are extremely happy with them. We have both HP3000's and HP9000's hooked up to them.

We believe their software is superior to HP's. We've never had a downtime problem. As mentioned earlier EMC is usually standing at our door before we know there is a problem.

[Chuck Ciesinski]

Frederick,

Our site utilizes two EMC frames, a 3430 and a 3700. We have numerous HP-UX servers (A's,K's, L's, and N's) and
a couple of e3000's. The EMC discs and software work as
advertised. Somewhat pricey, but as someone once told me,
"Good things aren't cheap and cheap things aren't good!"
Another thought to be considered, is what drivers are supported and will service issues crop up when you don't need them.

I suggest you also place your question on Interex's two listservers, EMC@interex.org and SAN@interex.org for additional feedback.

[Aaron Smith_3]

EMC is a closed architecture. If you don't mind being locked into a proprietary system for the life of your SAN then maybe not a bad choice. HP storage is ranked #1 by D.H. Brown. Our new Fsam strategy means HP is very serious about storage and SAN's. I don't think EMC can compete with OpenView.

[Tim Malnati]

Compaq and Sun have a long way to go before they become a contender with either HP or EMC. From my perspective the third player in the storage market is IBM. I can't be very specific about the IBM gear where my direct experience is limited. From what I can see it does not integrate as well into a multi vendor environment.

HP seems to be best if your situation requires continual expansion over time where it's frame is expandable. This gives HP an edge in entry cost but the situation is different at the other end. All of the memory in HP requires full redundancy which gets expensive. EMC's up front frame cost is the big hit.

Software is a different issue. EMC is solid but requires some significant local development to make it all work. EMC also lacks depth in their performance monitoring software. HP has a lot more to offer in this regard but is not quite as stable.

The fact of the matter is that I can be equally happy with either HP or EMC. Each has their strengths and weaknesses that seem to equal out in the long run. The support organizations are overall pretty equal as well.

[Dave Wherry]

On my previous job I ran two EMC 3700 frames. That was a year and a half ago so some of my observations may be dated. Right now I run a XP256 and am looking at getting a XP512 also. I'll comment on some of the previous posts and then add my own.

Price. I have always found EMC to be more expensive. HP was trying to break in and is now trying to dominate the storage market. They seem to deal more on price. EMC still doesn't get it. They have always been arrogant regarding price because they were the best solution. I have not seen them come down in price.
Software. I much prefer the HP software. It allows me to do so much more to the frame myself and do it on-line. The disks in either frame are partitioned into LUNs. These LUNs are then assigned to a port or multiple ports that are accessed by the hosts(s). To do this on an EMC, they take a copy of the bin file and rework it. This takes about a week. You then have to shutdown the frame, which means your hosts are down, and reboot with the new bin file. On the XP I do this on-line, by myself, with my systems all up. Also, EMC charges to make these bin changes. I was charged $5,000 per time. No charge on the XP.
Service. As far as EMC showing up to replace parts before you know you have a problem, the XP also has this diagnostic and "phone home" capability. I just have not had as many components fail on my XP as I did on the EMC frames so HP has not been at my door. I have had problems with both EMC and HP when I have called for support. They are both equally bad or good. Take your pick.
Scalability and Upgrades. To me the XP will grow further and easier than the EMC. We have done two firmware upgrades on-line and added both disks and cache to the XP with no interuption in service. To do that on an EMC required down time.

You've probably figured it out by now that I prefer the XP over EMC. When we were making the decision here I would have been happy with either choice. I was running a couple of FC30's which were dog slow and the database was growing by 12GB a month. I needed something fast. Having worked on both I am happy we chose the XP.

[JD_3]

...for my opinion, regarding the global EMC offering I understand why they are the market leader...If you check the HW, SW, functionalities of those solutions, it make no sense to check to the other...Compaq, Sun and IBM still have a long way to do. HP still have a big problem...the Functionalities, to compare of the EMC offering. If I had to choose again for a Global Storage Solution...It would be EMC again.
JD

[Bill McNAMARA_1]

HP will guarentee you 100% uptime on the XPs, for a true 24/7/365 operation its the only solution.. online f/w upgrades (and there are a lot) dual backplane, true online backup etc..

They are expensive enough compared to the EMCs but if you're looking for speed hp will guarentee it's faster than the EMC or your money back.

But if you really want a non biased opinion don't ask here!!!

Bill