New system recommendations

[Gerry Tully]

I'm getting a replacement system for an L Class server. It runs an Oracle database with a homegrown database application also. I'm looking at a 4-way rp7410 with about 500gb of storage. My question is if anyone has any experience with the StorageTek Santricity vs the Veritas FlashSnap or am I way off base and should I be looking in a different direction?
Thanks.

[Torsten.]

What are you really looking for? I didn't understand.

"New system recommendations" sounds like new hardware, the mentioned products are (afaik) software.

btw, the rp7410 isn't new at all.

Perhaps you should try to ask a better question ;-)

[Gerry Tully]

Thanks for the eye opening reply. Let me clarify what I'm looking for. What are most people using for mid-range systems and what storage platform/software are they using to administer databases?

[Torsten. · Accepted solution]

For server hardware I would take a look at

http://h20341.www2.hp.com/integrity/cache/332341-0-0-0-121.html

for storage hardware

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/eva/index.html

or

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/xp12000/index.html

(depends on your needs)

[Marvin Strong]

for midrange system it depends on alot of factors.

What are the application requirements (cpu, memory)
How many concurrent users.
What is the acceptable computing/response time is.

Just to name a few.

assuming you want to replace your system with a nice scalable system you should also look at growth over the last X amount of time. To make sure what you order isn't going to have performance problems in 6 months time from growth.

[Patrick Wallek]

The jump from an L to an rp7410 is significant in terms of cost and horsepower.

A better choice in my opinion would be an rp4440. The rp4440 can have up to 4 dual core processors (essentially 8 CPUs)and has a decent number of PCI slots if I/O throughput is important.

As for disk arrays, it will depend on what you need. HP's MSA series can get you to 500GB very easily and the cost is not too bad. 3rd party arrays are always an option as well.

[Torsten.]

I just assume we are talking about hardware now ;-)

I would have an eye on the new Integrity servers running 11.23 or 11.31 in near future. (just google for rx6600 - and don't follow the printer links) or select a midrange system from the given link above.

Regarding the storage: it really depends on your needs. You can get a lot of space with plain disk enclosures, but for features like data replication ... you need a real storage system.

[Alzhy]

Gerry,

"any experience with the StorageTek Santricity vs the Veritas FlashSnap"

Yes I do (somewhat)... I use VxVM Flashsnap add-on as a hostbased BCV/SplitMirror solution instead of an array-based solution like Santricity. Why?

(1) Costs
(2) Seamless operation with VxVM which is our de-facto volume maneger on our UNIX machines
(3) Greater flexibility in our BCV/SplitMirror/DR Operations
(4) Data Migration fromone array to another is easier.

and last but most compelling:

(5) Avoids "vendor lock-in" which allows us to continue with our VxVM based Flashsnap backup/restore processes no matter what Array we use. We can kick out any array and roll in a new one from any vendor w/o disrupting our backup and restore operations as the processes will continue to work regardlesss of the vendor and SAN...

Now regarding hardware (Server) options -- I agree, the rp4440 may be your best choice -- but then again it will really depend on your growth strategy...

[Rita C Workman]

I have a fondness for RP8420's. Have a RP7410 that runs all our administrative things. But for backend Oracle I go with the RP84xx series.

Currently we're an EMC shop for storage, so I have Centera for archival things, Celerra for NAS (Windows disk), Clariion for a spare and my Oracle databases on DMX arrays.

Rgrds,
Rita