EVA 3000 not running Secure Path

[shaun_28]

Hi,

Looking for your comments on the following:

We are in the early stages of a SAN project. We are wanting to connect 7 servers, (4 Netware 5.1, 2 W2k, 1 Red Hat Linux) to an EVA 3000. The 4 Novell servers consist of 2 email servers and 2 file servers servicing around 150 users each. The 2 W2k servers are running Oracle databases and so is the Linux server. Initially we would like to use 2 16 Port Brockade B Series switches, with the servers connected via a single path, with no SecurePath software running, as the purchase of the SecurePath Software plus the additional 7 HBA's throws us over budget.

My question is as follows, are there any other benefits besides the fault tolerance and load balancing that need to be taken into account running in this configuration ? Disk IO is an issue for us, however we are looking for a "Smart configuration" that would see us gain as much performance as possible that and that would see us through to next finanical year in April where we could purchase the additional HBA's and SecurePath software, thus creating a proper dual path solution. Any comments, links or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Uwe Zessin]

You can divide your servers over both EVA controllers (they are active/active) to use their I/O and cache capacity.

[Steven Clementi · Accepted solution]

You also do not need to buy Securepath for Windows as Microsoft has provided generic multipath support through "Multi-path I/O". HP has released the first version of the DSM needed to accomplish the task.

I understand it is a "newer" and unmature product, but it looks to work well thus far. I am onsite today installing and have not had any problems yet.

Linux has some support as well. Check here...
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/sanworks/multipathoptions/index.html


Steven

[Brian M Rawlings]

As Uwe suggests, even if you don't buy SP at this time, you could benefit from having dual paths to each server. For now, you create at least four LUNs to mount up to each host, and then use two of the LUNs on one path, and the other two on the other path.

This does two things... it allows you to get the performance you are concerned about (all paths have data moving, poor man's load balancing), and it also sets you up for SP in the future (all you have to do is install it, the HW and links are all set up and known good).

And, as Steven mentions, you can try the built-in Windows multi-path functionality, especially if you are in a position to test it in a non-production environment for a while (a week, maybe, to test for data corruption or loss, that sort of thing can ruin your whole day/week/month/job).

Regards, --bmr