Sam's SAN Diary #5: Figuring Out SAN Specs

And if we want pricing to get real with the vendors, let's identify how much disk is used on each LUN. Hopefully they will look at the application mix (Exchange 2000 and SQL Server included) to propose pricing based on some engineering considerations. Rumor has it that EMC pricing ties its software licenses to the amount of disks being managed, not just the hardware platform. Wonder if that's true, and whether HP does the same? I guess I have more research to do at this point.

Pricing of the hardware components in a SAN is not just about the storage array. I have to provide a server count for those boxes accessing LUNs to determine the required switch ports. There are also the Fibre Channel-to-IP routers, the HBAs, the switches, the GBICs and the cables. A lot of this stuff wasn't all that familiar to me, but I have been boning up on what all these bits and pieces really do in the past few months.

The firm we visited in late March that was using the EMC Symmetrix box ended up following "industry best practices" and going with dual-switching fabric/dual HBA. That means twice the switches and twice the HBAs. And it did this not only for the SAN-attached servers at the production site, but for the disaster-recovery site as well.

I'm not sure whether a similar configuration would quite match our budget. But I'll get pricing on both configurations and worry about what my recommendation will be in a few weeks.

NEXT WEEK: Sam receives line-item pricing for the project from both of his leading vendors, HP and EMC.

Sam Blumenstyk is the technology operations manager at Schulte Roth & Zabel, a midsize Manhattan law firm. Each week, follow Blumenstyk along as he upgrades his company's storage infrastructure and builds a SAN.