April 2003
HP brings new array, JBOD enclosure
online
HP 3000 to get access to systems using Ultra320 disks
HP 3000 customers looking for RAID disk storage and
newer enclosures for Just a Bunch of Disk (JBOD) configurations have
two new products to consider. HP is introducing an upgraded VA7110
virtual array for the HP 3000, a 45-disk configuration, up from the
15-disk 7100 arrays. Like its 7100 predecessor, the 7110 supports
RAID 1+0 and RAID 5DP (double parity).
HPs 3000 hardware manager Kriss Rant said the
device leverages performance improvements from HPs VA7410
virtual array into a lower-cost unit, at a price point which is
the sweet spot of the older 7100 arrays, the low-end of the
midrange, according to HPs Kriss Rant.
Pricing before discounts shows the VA7110 coming in
at slightly higher prices than the 7100, $54,984 for a 7110 with four
36Gb disks with a 512Mb cache versus $48,354 for the same
configuration in a 7100. Prices drop slightly per Mb of storage when
comparing the 7100 fully loaded versus a 15-disk 7110. The VA7100
comes off HPs price list on May 1, 2003.
The new 7110 operates with both MPE/iX 7.0 and 7.5,
using an SCSI to Fiber Channel router on 7.0 and native Fiber Channel
in 7.5 implementations. The new array supports the 146Gb 10,000 RPM
drives from HP, and the vendor says in some cases this array can
double the performance of the 7100. The total capacity of the 7110
can run as high as 6 terabytes, and the unit accepts 15,000 RPM
drives of 36Gb and 73Gb, and 10,000 RPM drives of 36Gb and 73Gb, in
addition to those 146Gb drives.
HP 3000 JBOD choices will be expanding to the DS2110,
a next-generation enclosure expected to be available this summer.
Its a fully compatible replacement for the DS2100, the current
JBOD enclosure supported under MPE/iX. The older 2100 is coming off
the HP price list on July 15. While the 2110 supports the newer
Ultra320 SCSI disk mechanisms, those drives are also limited to the
80Mb/second support constraints of MPE/iX. But the device will let HP
3000 customers use a wide range of disk devices from HP, including
HPs Ultra160 SCSI disks.
The 2110 supports mixed disk capacities, and HP 3000 sites
can load it up with as much as 584 Gb of capacity in a 1U enclosure.
It can be used with a PCI disk array controller as a low-cost RAID
solution.
HPs introducing the DS2110 to ensure a steady
stream of disk mechanisms for the enclosures, since its
discontinuing its Ultra160 disks. The newer Ultra320 disks can
negotiate down to Ultra160 IO cards. While HP 3000 customers
cant use more than 80Mb/second of this bandwidth today, Rant
said the project to upgrade MPE/iX drivers to accept all of the
Ultra320s 320Mb/second of bandwidth hasnt dropped
off the engineering prioritization list yet.
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