HP StorageWorks P2000: New MSA Face

Although modern servers are equipped with a powerful internal disk subsystem (for example, the HP ProLiant DL380 can hold up to 16 2.5-inch form factor hard drives), in most cases it makes sense to organize centralized storage in order to provide flexibility in accessing data from different servers and simplifying their management. on the external disk array to which the servers connect over the storage network. As such external storage systems, you can use HP StorageWorks series disk arrays of various classes, ranging from high-end XP24000 arrays that can scale over a single petabyte, and for small business networks that use several standard architecture servers, HP offers entry-level modular arrays StorageWorks MSA2000. These same arrays are also often used in high-availability clusters that require external storage that is accessible to both nodes in the cluster.



In the first quarter, HP launched the third generation of MSA2000 entry-level modular disk arrays, now officially called StorageWorks P2000 Modular Smart Array. The first generation of StorageWorks MSA2000 was developed by Compaq shortly before its merger with HP, and since then these arrays remain the most popular external disk system used in small HP ProLiant server installations. The arrays of this series are designed to consolidate data storage in small and medium-sized businesses and branches of large corporations.
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What attracts this array of HP ProLiant users? Here are the advantages of the StorageWorks P2000 G3 Modular Smart Array on your blog by the Ohio HP system administrator HP Risk Wanover:

• Two array controllers (in the initial configuration, the array comes with one controller)
• Instant snapshots of Volume snapshots . As a standard, the array supports up to 64 snapshots of volumes, and when you purchase an additional license, up to 512 snapshots. In addition, the third generation implemented Remote Snap Snap Snap replication between two arrays using both iSCSI and Fiber Channel.
• Combining drives of different types in the same shelf allows even in the minimum configuration of the MSA2000 to organize multi-level storage — real-time data is stored on 15,000 SAS, and archive files are stored on slower Midline (MDL) 7200 SAS / SATA revolutions / min.
• Supports RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10 and 50

Among the enhancements to the new generation of StorageWorks P2000 G3 Modular Smart Array, in addition to the advanced features for working with snapshots, it is worth noting:

• A new controller with a read / write cache of 2 GB and an eight-gigabit Fiber Channel interface instead of a four-gigabit one supporting up to 64 hosts and 512 LUNs; As an option, a Combo controller with support for both Fiber Channel and iSCSI, which allows Remote Snap to realize remote replication via Ethernet.
• The use of six-gigabit SAS in the backend array through which the storage expansion shelves are connected to the StorageWorks P2000 G3 Modular Smart Array dual-module control module.
• Improved array scalability — by connecting external disk shelves, the array configuration can be extended to 96 full-size disks or 149 2.5-inch (in the maximum configuration, the array contains seven expansion shelves with 3.5-inch disks or five shelves with 2.5-inch).
• The spin-down function to temporarily disable part of the disks based on the rules (for example, disks with historical data can be turned off on weekends). This feature reduces power consumption and heat dissipation of the array.
• Supports two new 3.5-inch MDL 7200 rpm drives with one and two terabytes of six-Gb SAS.

The StorageWorks P2000 G3 Modular Smart Array array supports servers running Windows Server 2003 and 2008, Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux, Solaris 10 (x86), VMware (versions 3.5 and 4), Citrix XenServer, and also HP-UX and OpenVMS. Windows, Linux, Solaris x86 and OpenVMS clusters. In addition, via iSCSI, an array with Combo controllers can be connected from Windows, Linux and VMware hosts.

Enhancements to the latest version of StorageWorks P2000 allow you to consolidate data from several server applications that require large capacity on this array, use it to store images of a large number of virtual machines, and implement remote replication of data between two arrays over an Ethernet network at minimal cost to protect them from major accidents.