Looking for possible options to NetApp storage

[Jim Gasek]

Check out "open filer" for basic needs.

Yes, the WAN component is huge.   Do you want to pay
for storage features, or WAN capacity?   

I believe the two most compelling companies "pay up" for 
netapp are:

1) SnapMirror.  Highly optimized WAN traffic feature.  
2) "Nobody ever got fired for buying -fill in the blank-!"

Companies often want to pay a bit more for a company that
they know will be in business for a long, long time.

EMC made tons of money because of it (with, IMHO, crappy and
expensive gear).  

Thanks,
Jim Gasek

--- richard.pieri-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org wrote:

From: Richard Pieri <richard.pieri-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>
To: blug <discuss-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Subject: Re: Looking for possible options to NetApp storage
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 20:40:54 -0500

On Feb 1, 2011, at 6:02 PM, Scott Ehrlich wrote:
> 
> When you buy a NetApp appliance and corresponding disks, you are
> buying the value add of snapshot technology and many other unique and
> special features that make up a NetApp.

Snapshots is hardly unique to NetApp.  Just saying.  In practice, when you buy a NetApp appliance you really buy NetApp's support and service, not the features.


> For the same amount of money, or less, for enterprise-level storage
> and backup, what might people recommend?  Companies?  Technologies?

Do you need I/O fencing?  What about local and long-haul replication?  What are the remote management requirements?  Do you need secure segregation between different business units?  Will you be using direct I/O or will you need on-board cache?  With or without battery backup?  With or without power-fault write from cache?  NAS, SAN, or both?  FCAL or fabric?

You should be asking yourself these questions and questions like them.  Make a list of your requirements first, then find vendors who meet those requirements.  Don't skimp.  A site lives and dies with its data, whether a high school student's homework netbook or a 24x365 international trading platform.  If storage fails, you lose.  If it takes too long to recover, you fail.

--Rich P.


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