Filter
Top Products
section 2
virtual value in hp’s va7000 series
2
Virtualization is a key to solving complexities associated with storage configurations. As Information
Technology continues its non-stop evolution, tools and devices that improve manageability while increasing
business efficiency will command a premium in the marketplace. HP has taken a significant step forward in
delivering its Virtual Array (VA) 7000 series with a full complement of virtualization functions. Enterprises that
value a return on investment in areas such as data-sharing, optimized self-tuning performance, and data-access
flexibility must evaluate HP’s Virtual Array offerings.
SAN virtualization is in effect the aggregation of multiple storage devices in a centralized
configuration, a storage pool. This simplifies the storage administrator’s role by enabling all resources to be seen
as a single entity. SAN virtualization by itself, however, offers little assistance in efficiently managing requirements
of single applications. It pays scant attention to the capacity and performance dynamics of individual,
heterogeneous devices within the storage pool. HP, in its Federated Storage Area Management (FSAM) strategy,
acknowledges the importance of SAN virtualization. In its VA7000 Series, HP extends these concepts and
benefits to the device-array level. Together, they demonstrate the full advantage of interdependencies between
managing SAN virtual storage pools and managing virtual storage at the device level.
HP’s VA7000 Series Characteristics
Feature VA7100 VA7400
Capacity 1 TB (raw) in 3U enclosure;
14 TB in 2M rack
7.6 TB (raw) using the Disk System (DS)
2400 (up to six DS2400s chained);
14 TB in a 2M rack of 73 GB disks
LUNs (max) 128 1,024
Disk Drives Supported 15 per 3U enclosure;
same disk support as 7400
Up to 105 drives with DS2400; 18 GB 15 K rpm;
36 GB 10 K and 15 K rpm and 73 GB 10 K rpm
I/O ports 1 Gb/sec. FC host and disk ports
Two 2 Gb/sec. FC host ports;
two 1 Gb/sec. FC disk ports
Cache 256/512/1024/ MB mirrored
512/1024 MB mirrored per controller
Transfer Rate 90 MB/sec. 12,000 I/Os per sec. from
cache; 3000 I/Os per sec. back-end
160 MB/sec.; 28,000 I/Os per sec. from cache;
7500 I/Os per sec. back-end
In the HP Surestore VA7000 family, “virtual array” refers to treating the disks within the array as a pool of
storage blocks rather than as physical disks. With this technology, the VA7000 family emerges as a second
tier of storage virtualization. Extending virtualization to the device level, the SAN’s view of storage becomes
independent of physical disk attributes. This characteristic reduces the cost associated with SAN virtualization
by simplifying storage management, enabling more efficient use of available device capacity, and decreasing
the amount of required data movement at the device level.
D.H. Brown Associates, Inc. http://www.dhbrown.com
Our research program in Enterprise Storage Solutions (ESS) makes this Technology Trends available to all our
subscribers. Those interested in this program should contact marketing@dhbrown.com or 914-937-4302, ext. 281
2.0
“hp extends virtualization to the array”
—by D.H. Brown Associates, Inc.