Review: HP StorageWorks AiO 400r

As the name indicates, StorageWorks All-in-One is a combination product -- it provides shared application storage via iSCSI SAN capabilities as well as file serving via NAS capabilities. Both capabilities are managed through a single interface, the All-in-One Storage Manger, which handles all setup and management tasks. The AiO Storage Manager is the heart of the AiO system, configuring network storage and end-user file shares, migrating data from servers, and putting disk and tape backup policies in place.

The AiO is designed to provide robust storage capacities without requiring extensive expertise. The system hasn't been simplified or stripped down -- it just approaches storage management from an application standpoint, which removes the guess work out of what can often be a complicated process. Solution providers can tout this approach to small-to-midsized customers. The AiO would also be a good fit for the remote and branch office environment.

With the refresh, the HP StorageWorks 400 All-in-One is now available in both tower and rack configurations. The AiO400r replaces the original AiO400, released in September 2006. The 400r supports both SAS and SATA drives within the four-drive 1U enclosure, and can support up to 2 Tbytes of data. The company also upgraded the underlying server hardware, as the 400r now comes on the ProLiant Server DL160 G5. The tower unit, the 400t, is based on the ML110 G5 server and supports up to 1 Tbyte of storage using SATA disks and 584 Gbytes using SAS. The AiO 400 comes with a one-year hardware warranty and has a starting price of $3,799 for the tower and $4999 for the rack units.

CMP Channel Test Center put the HP StorageWorks 400r All-in-One through its paces. Since the test system came with SAS disks, the maximum storage capacity on this system was 1.2 Tbytes, not the 2 Tbytes available under SATA. The AK226A model starts at $7,799, before customizing with additional processors, HBA cards, and memory.

The AiO 400r review unit was a 1U rack mount appliance with four 300 Gbyte Serial SCSI drives. It was powered by a 2.66 Ghertz quad-core Intel Xeon E5430 processor with 2 Gbytes of memory. Memory on this box can be expanded up to 4 Gbytes. A built-in Smart Array E200/128MB Controller with BBWCA offers RAID 0/1/5/10 functionality. HP said it can support 100 Microsoft Exchange mailboxes under average workload. Under test, it took 29 minutes and 54 seconds to manually copy 22 Gbytes of data into a shared folder created on the AiO.

The AiO runs Windows Storage Server R2 Standard Edition and supports iSCSI targets to complement CIFS and NFS file serving support. Since the server is running a Windows operating system, pretty much any software that is Windows-compatible, including anti-virus, can be installed. Tape backup software, the HP Data Protector Express, comes automatically with the system, as is support for HP Storage Mirroring software.

As for expansion slots, its single full length, full-height PCIe x16 slot is occupied and there is one low-profile PCIe x4 slot with an x8 connector. The server came with two HP NC105i PCIe Gigabit Server Adapters for networking and a DVD drive.

For environments needing more storage capacity, the AiO can be connected to the MSA50, MSA60, or MSA70 in the background. If tape backups are required, a SCSI host bus adapter must be installed in the device (not default) before connecting an external tape library device.

When the AiO was connected to the network and powered on for the first time, the system automatically started Rapid Startup, a wizard that sets up administrator information, e-mail error notification, SNMP settings, network interfaces, and the server name. As soon as the system was configured, the All-in-One Storage Manager was ready to begin migration.

For data migration, an All-in-One Storage Manager agent needs to be installed on each application server. The installation software for the agent is included on the HP StorageWorks All-in-One Storage System Recovery DVD that ships with the system. The agent verifies or installs required components such as the .Net framework, the iSCSI initiator, and the Volume Shadow Copy provider for iSCSI.

The Storage Manager has wizards to create a shared folder, to host an Exchange storage group, to create a user-defined application, to host a SQL Server database, and to create a virtual library. The wizards automate tasks such as carving LUNs from the RAID controller, creating iSCSI targets, and configuring the iSCSI initiator on the application server. The wizards also help schedule automated snapshots and backups. At the end of the wizard, the AiO Storage Manager provides a summary page listing all the tasks it will perform, based on the selected options. It can be scheduled to run immediately or at a later time.

Migrating an Exchange storage group over to the system is as simple as clicking on a wizard called "host an Exchange storage group," and then pointing the wizard to an Exchange server for automatic integration. The agent has to be pre-installed on the Exchange server, of course. An SQL Server database can be migrated through its own wizard as well. Once the application is discovered on the server, the wizard provides recommended settings, such as the appropriate RAID level and striping size, to configure the storage to properly host the data.

For solution providers migrating their customers from several application servers to a single AiO, the job becomes less cumbersome, as the Storage Manager automates a lot of the tasks. For other applications, the process is a little bit more manual. The user-application wizard will allocate space, set up the scheduler for snapshots, define the backup strategy, but it will not automatically move the data. The same is the case for the shared folders.

A few more words on the All-in-One Storage Management tool. The three-paned tool offers a glimpse into everything happening on the box. The left pane has a tree-view of all the tools available, starting with the Storage Manager, shared folder management, and networking/settings. The right pane lists all the available Actions, such as all the migration wizards and other tasks appropriate to the management tool.

The middle pane displays all the storage allocated on the system. There are four different views available: application, storage, application server, and storage utilization. The application view is a series of color-coded boxes, one for each application on the system. The box for Exchange will be nested with more boxes, one for each storage group. Each storage group box has more sub-boxes, for the primary, secondary, and public mailstores as well as for logging. SQL Server and user-defined applications have separate boxes, as well. There is a separate application box for shared folders, and there are sub-boxes for each folder, indicating how much space was allocated to the folder, and how much space it is currently using. Finally, there is a separate box devoted to data protection, so the amount of data being used for backups and snapshots are visible right up front. This way, anyone looking at this view knows exactly how much data each application is using.

The storage view also has color-coded boxes, but the overall focus is not on applications, but the actual amount of storage. The applications are still presented separately in boxes, but the view provides information on how much storage is being used. The application server view brings makes it easier to see everything on the server level. Storage utilization view presents a pie chart to indicate how storage is used.

Within the application and storage view, right-clicking on the sub-boxes offers the option to reallocate space. Expanding or shrinking allocated storage is as simple as entering the new storage size in the dialog box. Depending on the warning threshold (default is 80%) there is email notification and visual notification if it's getting too full. The visual notification is a yellow exclamation mark for exceeding the warning threshold, and a red "x" for exceeding capacity.

When copying a 66 Gbyte folder to a shared folder with only 20 Gbytes allocated, the notifications were sent, but the data still was copied successfully. This was because by default, each storage pool is created to not enforce the quota. As long as there is physical storage space left on the AiO, the data will be copied over regardless of what size the pool is supposed to be. If the quota needs to be maintained, it's a simple checkbox away.

Unfortunately, the system doesn't automatically expand the pool to accommodate the new size. Rather, it is a manual step to increase the size, which might be a desired behavior or not, depending on the environment.

On environmental concerns, the power draw was equivalent to a standard 1U server, but interestingly enough, the server generated slightly less heat comparatively. As for noise, the 400r, with six fans, would fit right in with the rest of its compatriots in the server room. On startup, the system is loud enough to drown out most conversation, but after about 45 seconds, it quiets down to mid-to-low 60dB. However, if this system is deployed in a department and not kept in a separate server room, it's just noisy enough to be distracting when working next to it, and just loud enough to make conversation difficult. For that kind of a deployment, perhaps the tower unit, 400t, would be a quieter option.

The AiO is a logical move from local storage to networked storage, and its combination of NAS and iSCSI SAN capabilities bring the benefits of both storage worlds to an SMB, or even to the branch office.