4 Storage Virtualization Products That Offer Thin Provisioning

Compellent Storage Center
The Compellent SAN setup Test Center reviewers looked at had a 4-Gbps Fibre Channel connectivity. Compellent does offer iSCSI support.The Compellent Storage Center features automated tiered storage at the block level, thin provisioning, local and remote replication and continuous snapshots, remote replication over IP, and automated boot from SAN under its default configuration. The company offers a three-year warranty.

A typical configuration starts at about $49,500 with single storage controller and 6.4 TBytes of disk space. The interface is license-driven, in that the license "unlocks" various features on the interface. It must be noted, however, that Compellent's software and interface work only on Compellent hardware. The company does not plan on supporting external hardware solutions at this time. This can be a positive point for customers new to storage administration, but would be a negative point for customers that already have a different vendor's SAN or other storage products in-house.

Storage Center comes in two pieces: a Storage Center appliance and a multidrive enclosure. The enclosure supports both Fibre Channel and SATA drives. A single Storage Center appliance can be used for multiple enclosures, or dual controllers for redundancy.

The Compellent interface is white and clean-looking with a variety of built-in features. Virtually any setting made during deployment, such as RAID levels, number of tiers and volume size, can be changed later without reconfiguring the existing volumes. Along with being able to change volume RAID level on the fly, Compellent supports virtual volumes spanning across multiple partitions. The ILM tool provides automatic migration of data from first- to second- or third-tier storage. Reviewers liked the option of using VMware to provision servers from one environment to another, to minimize and simplify the migration path.

The channel partner program has only one tier and there are no requirements for joining the program. The vendor offers training every two weeks, and certification is also required. The Compellent Storage Center offers the flexibility of both iSCSI and Fibre Channel connectivity integrated into a single storage platform.Compellent offers partners MDF, deal registration and protection, and training. Partners have the option of providing their own service programs to end users or bundling in Compellent Copilot Technical Support, which includes services for break-fix problem resolution and maintenance. Also, Copilot Optimize is a package of proactive services designed to improve system utilization and performance for optional managed services.

The Bottom Line
All four vendors handled thin provisioning as advertised, with some significant differences. FalconStor won points for providing maximum flexibility. Even though the Network Storage Server came to the lab on an IPStor appliance, the software can be used with a box from any vendor. EqualLogic's PS3900XV and Hitachi's Universal Storage Platform V had equally compelling solutions, from EqualLogic's buy-as-you-grow feature and roles-based management, to Hitachi supporting thin-provisioning on competitors' disk arrays.

EqualLogic edged out Hitachi on the channel front with its promise of no additional license fees or any other hidden costs. Compellent doesn't have a strong enough channel program to compensate for locking the software to the hardware. While the offering fits solution providers wanting to sell all-in-one units, it doesn't offer any flexibility to the rest of the channel.

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