HP MSA Array and Shelves

[navzintel]

Hi Everyone,

Full disclosure: I am a newbie when it comes to enterprise storage and have a real basic question. I recently accepted a job as a sysadmin. Prior to my coming on board funding was allocated for additional storage.

We currently have 4 HP MSA P2000 arrays in a RAID 5. We are looking to implement additional storage. Our vendor recommended an HP D2700 with 25 drives. The drives are 1.2TB 12K SAS drives and would increase the storage to 30GB RAW.

My Question: We already have a fibre channel SAN so how will the new drives connect to our existing infrastructure? The storage vendor indicated that the drive shelf detailed above will connect to the head of the array via SAS So my questions are:

1. Is what the vendor is telling me correct?

2. Where does the fibre channel come in to play IF the shelf connects via the SAS cable?

3. How do I verify that I can connect the disk shelf to the array? I assume I need to verify there are enough questions.

4. What is the difference between the array and disk shelf?

5. Is there anything else I need to think about in terms of interoperability?

As I said....I'm really new to the realm of enterprise storage. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated! Any resources you might know of that I can use to educate myself would also be a great help!

[Richard75]

1. s what the vendor is telling me correct?   Yes

2. Where does the fibre channel come in to play IF the shelf connects via the SAS cable?  It is on the head shelf which you alread have

3. How do I verify that I can connect the disk shelf to the array? I assume I need to verify there are enough questions. -> uou can connect the SAS cabkles

4. What is the difference between the array and disk shelf?  - Shelf is just a expansion module

5. Is there anything else I need to think about in terms of interoperability?  - > this is already older hardware,  is it still in support?  it should be if it is business critical

[JonPaul]

@navzintel 
Yes the D2700 will connect on the back end to a P2000 be seen in the P2000 management interface and the disks will be configurable into RAID sets for additional storage.
The issue I see is that the P2000 is very old.  Sometimes called the HP MSA P2000 G3 (Third Generation) the current MSA storage systems are MSA 2060 (sixth Generation).  The P2000 is long past End Of Life (~2014) and is even past Support Life (~2020).  
The newer MSA products have a bunch of new features, including Virtual Storage where the same volume can be supported by SSD, Enterprise SAS and Archive LFF all configured into a single Pool.  It may not be the best option to invest into this older hardware but rather look to a newer platform.  Ex MSA 1060 FC Storage System.
You may even be able to consolidate some of your P2000s into a single MSA 1060 or 2060.
Some resources
https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/a00105260enw
https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/a00103247enw