which Smart Array Controller to get?

[Spencer Shiley]

Best performance for price for our use...
Should we get the intagrated 6i on the DL380G4 w/128 BBWC, the 642 w/128 BBWC, or the 6402? We'll have 6 x 36.6GB 15K U320 in a RAID 5 setup. This will be our main file/print server for about 70 users. It will run 2k3 server standard, if that matters. Any other questions you need? Or if you want to change my mind about something, let me know. Thanks for your feedback.

[Greg Carlson]

Spencer,

Get the 6400 series controller and load it up with 256mb of BBWC. The 6i only has 64mb default and upgrades to 128. You'll want as much cache as possible which the 6400 gives you.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantstorage/arraycontrollers/index.html

Ciao,
Greg

[Dean Simiana · Accepted solution]

We have been using the old integrated 5i with BBWC on our file servers over the last three years. We found this to be ok for our general file and print, however it really depends on how much load you expect on the system. We have aslo been using the integrated controllers on the DL380 G3's for some Lotus Domino servers with up to 100 users. Under normal operations it is sufficient, however the integrated controller does not perform as well as we would like under heavy load. (not that it should) Your safe bet is a 6400 with as much cache as you can get, if you are concerned about heavy load performance. For small file serving, and cost benefits, the integrated with max BBWC may be sufficient.
Of course the nice thing about Proliant stuff is that if you get the integrated coltroller and do have performance issues, it is not that complicated to add in a 6400 controller and switch over to that with no data migration or raid changes. (unlinke the IBM stuff which uses different brand controllers for the onboard and card controllers.)

[Spencer Shiley]

thanks guys. I know the 6400 would be the best, but I have to take cost into factor. Also if the load isn't huge, the 6400 would be overkill. Thanks Dean, you confimed what I figured.