Storage system question: HPE MSA or Storage Spaces Direct

[DenilCartel]

Hi,

This is the first time I'm shopping for a storage system so I hope my questions aren't too stupid. It's an SMB setting with around 25 VM's (ESX) and a requirement for around 8 TB local file storage. The bulk of our applications run in Microsoft Azure which I'm more familiar with but this is the first time I'm speccing an on premise storage system. Naturally, I have some questions.

I've thought about the following two choices:
Setup 1
"Traditonal setup" with dual HPE MSA 2052, interconnected with eachother and the hypervisors using 10 Gb ISCSI and each with a number of 1.8 TB HPE SAS disks. Each MSA 2052 by factory default already has 2 x 800 GB SSD.

Setup 2
"Non-traditional setup" with dual HPE DL180 G9, connected with 10 Gb Ethernet (Intel X710DA2 and Intel direct attach cables), each with 2 HPE SSDs, a number of HPE 1.2 TB 2.5" SAS disks and two 300 GB 2.5" SAS disks for the operating system: Windows Server 2016 with Storage Spaces Direct. This will present NFS storage to the ESX servers and SMB storage to the Windows clients.

If I go with setup 1, am I limiting myself in the future by going with a traditional (albeit newly released) system? If I go with setup 2 am I taking unnecessary risks? I retutuapp  ally like the featureset of Storage Spaces Direct but I've read some horror stories.

My second question is more of a best practices onappvalley  e as Google could not really help me: do you normally let your storage present the SMB shares to the clients or do you handle that with a Windows Server VM? Is that also the case when you're using Storage Spaces Direct?

Would you scrap both of my ideas and push me towards something completely different?

Thanks!

[Josh94K]

Hello @DenilCartel 
Hope you are doing well, please refer to the following links, they should help you with the best configuration for MSA2052

HPE MSA Storage Configuration and Best Practices for VMware vSphere
https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/4aa4-7060enw?jumpid=in_lit-psnow-red

HPE MSA 1050/2050/2052 Best practices
https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/a00015961enw?jumpid=in_lit-psnow-red

HPE MSA 2050/2052 Quick StartInstructions
https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-a00017714en_us

Upgrading to HPE MSA 1050/2050/2052
https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/a00015116enw?jumpid=in_lit-psnow-red

Additional Info.
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2180053-hp-2052-best-configuration-need-help

@DenilCartel  I hope this helps!,  Should you have any additional query please let us know. 
If you feel this was helpful, Please HIT that KUDOS!  thumb below!

Note: "While I am an HPE Employee, all of my comments (whether noted or not), are my own and are not any official representation of the company."

[Cali]

Hi,

"Traditonal setup" with dual HPE MSA 2052, interconnected with eachother and the hypervisors using 10 Gb ISCSI and each with a number of 1.8 TB HPE SAS disks. Each MSA 2052 by factory default already has 2 x 800 GB SSD.

there is a new MSA out, MSA2062 I would prefer this one.
Why Dual MSA? In this SMB one, MSA with Dual redundant Controllers is good enough.

"Non-traditional setup" with dual HPE DL180 G9, connected with 10 Gb Ethernet (Intel X710DA2 and Intel direct attach cables), each with 2 HPE SSDs, a number of HPE 1.2 TB 2.5" SAS disks and two 300 GB 2.5" SAS disks for the operating system: Windows Server 2016 with Storage Spaces Direct. This will present NFS storage to the ESX servers and SMB storage to the Windows clients.

Too complex for me, then I would choose ESX vSAN, but do not expect this is cheaper.

Storage or Server, I do not choose SAS Drives anymore, SATA maybe but not SAS.

My second question is more of a best practices one as Google could not really help me: do you normally let your storage present the SMB shares to the clients or do you handle that with a Windows Server VM? Is that also the case when you're using Storage Spaces Direct?

The MSA does not have SMB Shares.
We use always a Virtual Windows Server to handle the SMB Shares.
This gives you a lot of Features like Simple Backup, Virus Scanner, multiple DFS choices, FRSM, and Quotas.

Cali