EVA8000 Disk Load Order

[Heather O'Neil]

We have have had an EVA8000 for almost a year now. We have recently purchased a second EVA8000 which has just arrived. I completely setup and configured or first EVA (since I was the only storage admin). When I installed the disks on the original EVA I began installing the 300GB drives vertically from the left side of the enclosures, and the FATA on the right side. My thought was that this would allow me to easily spot the FC and FATA drives. Anyway, to make a long story short, a storage admin that has just joined our organization says it is not a good idea to install the drives as I did on the first EVA (for performance and availability reasons). I am somewhat confused because I don't see how this could cause problems. I've read the best pratices regarding disks and I have followed these:
1. Drives installed are in multiples of 8 (vertically).
2. Number of drives are even in all enclosures.
3. FC drives and FATA exist in their own DG.

My thought was that as long as you followed the above recommended "best practices" it didn't really matter where the drives resided within the shelves.

Attached is a layout. The only empty slots are in the middle of the enclosures (2 slots). All 12 enclosures are identically populated, 300GB drives on the left side, 250GB drives on the right side.


My questions are:
1. Is my co-worker right?
2. If he is right, what is the reason behind it?
3. Is there a written document that explains the disk drive load order?

Any help is most appreciated.

Thanks

[pswma2]

Hi Nenry,

your layout is the best solution for availability and performance. EVA best practices documents tell you the same.
We have 2 EVA-8K and 7 EVA-5K configured same way (72, 146, 300 GB disks).
Which storage your co-worker was working on before ?
Can you please post his layout suggestion ?

[SAKET_5 · Accepted solution]

Henry,

Having installed and configured multiple EVAs (5/8k), I see no issues in the way you have configured your EVAs. In fact, what you have done is how it should be done!

Quiz your colleague as to how he thinks it should be done and why? Also, what does he think is wrong with your setup and why?

[Mark Poeschl_2]

Absolutely agree with the previous two posts, Henry. The way you've got things set up conforms with all EVA best practices I've ever come across. Either your colleague is familiar with other types of storage arrays, or perhaps he's confused by the way that HP SHIPS EVAs. The factory always ships EVAs with the disk shelves populated from the center to make the the crate as mechanically stable as possible. Once the array is bolted into place there's no reason not to move things around to conform to best practices.