P4500 1GB iscsi 4 node Lefthand solution vs P2000 G2 8GB FC

[HPquestion1]

We are in the market for a SAN with failover functionality. Our supplier advised a P4500 1 GB ISCSI solution with 4 nodes. We currently have a single side P2000 G2 8 GB FC. We will run around 25 VM's Windows server 2008 on 4 host servers. Our supplier ensured us that lefthand 1GB ISCSI solution will have the same performance as a P2000 8GB FC. The supplier said if you messure the troughput of a single VM the the P2000 will be faster. But if you have an Enterprise with 25 VM the overall performance will be the same or even better with the left hand solution. We very much doubt that.  Does anyone has experience with both products?

[oikjn]

if you don't have I/O profile numbers for your application then nobody can give you any useful information.  If the sales person didn't have that information then they are talking out of their ass.  One thing to be mindful of is that the SAN/IQ design generally has very poor raw to useable disk performance because of the need fro both hardware and network raid.  This means that if you are more concerned about capacity, this system might not be for you.  IF you are more concerned about I/O and system availability, then the SAN/IQ system really shines and its hard to beat the resiliancy you can get at this price level.

Short answer is 100% you will not have the same single chanel throughput on the P4500 as you will with the P2000.  If that is what you need then its a deal-breaker, if it isn't then you need more information to make an educated decision.  The P4500 probably would do better for IO, but it depends on how many disks you have behing your P2000.  Generally the big issue in VM environments is IO and not raw throughput, but that isn't the case for everybody so your case may be different.