Re: Off-Topic: Question regarding IBM vs. EMC storage
On Thu, Sep 23, 2004 at 07:33:23AM -0500, Mike wrote: > > For tape storage, we have an IBM 3584 library, fibre-connected but not via > > the SAN: each drive has its own HBA in the AIX box. > > This is the same tape configuration we're using. Have you thought > about moving the tape fiber to SAN and attaching from TSM that way? Well, we thought about it, but decided it wasn't worth the trouble. :-) -- Jurjen Oskam "I often reflect that if "privileges" had been called "responsibilities" or "duties", I would have saved thousands of hours explaining to people why they were only gonna get them over my dead body." - Lee K. Gleason, VMS sysadmin
Re: Off-Topic: Question regarding IBM vs. EMC storage
We are about to make that leap of faith. We are upgrading our 46 3590 drives to 3592 drives. Part of the work will be to go from a direct-attach of the drives to a SAN fabric. It makes the whole project a little more complex and a little more expensive, but we are hoping that it will position us better for the future. Crossing my fingers that conversion will go as planned. Ben -Original Message- From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mike Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 6:33 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Off-Topic: Question regarding IBM vs. EMC storage On Thu, 23 Sep 2004, Jurjen Oskam wrote: > On Wed, Sep 22, 2004 at 03:29:11PM -0400, Thach, Kevin G wrote: > > > I know there are numerous people on this forum using EMC storage, > > and I'd appreciate it if a few of you wouldn't mind giving me your > > opinion > > For disk storage, we have an EMC Symmetrix in an Open > Systems-environment. The SAN consists of EMC-labeled Brocade-switches. > Attached to the SAN are several AIX boxes and IBM xSeries. The AIX > boxes have rootvg on internal disks, the xSeries are completely > diskless. > > For tape storage, we have an IBM 3584 library, fibre-connected but not > via the SAN: each drive has its own HBA in the AIX box. This is the same tape configuration we're using. Have you thought about moving the tape fiber to SAN and attaching from TSM that way? Mike
Re: Off-Topic: Question regarding IBM vs. EMC storage
On Thu, 23 Sep 2004, Jurjen Oskam wrote: > On Wed, Sep 22, 2004 at 03:29:11PM -0400, Thach, Kevin G wrote: > > > I know there are numerous people on this forum using EMC storage, and > > I'd appreciate it if a few of you wouldn't mind giving me your opinion > > For disk storage, we have an EMC Symmetrix in an Open Systems-environment. > The SAN consists of EMC-labeled Brocade-switches. Attached to the SAN are > several AIX boxes and IBM xSeries. The AIX boxes have rootvg on internal > disks, the xSeries are completely diskless. > > For tape storage, we have an IBM 3584 library, fibre-connected but not via > the SAN: each drive has its own HBA in the AIX box. This is the same tape configuration we're using. Have you thought about moving the tape fiber to SAN and attaching from TSM that way? Mike
Re: Off-Topic: Question regarding IBM vs. EMC storage
On Wed, Sep 22, 2004 at 03:29:11PM -0400, Thach, Kevin G wrote: > I know there are numerous people on this forum using EMC storage, and > I'd appreciate it if a few of you wouldn't mind giving me your opinion For disk storage, we have an EMC Symmetrix in an Open Systems-environment. The SAN consists of EMC-labeled Brocade-switches. Attached to the SAN are several AIX boxes and IBM xSeries. The AIX boxes have rootvg on internal disks, the xSeries are completely diskless. For tape storage, we have an IBM 3584 library, fibre-connected but not via the SAN: each drive has its own HBA in the AIX box. We are very pleased with the performance and support of the Symmetrix. It works (and is supported) on every relevant AIX version. A nice touch is the TimeFinder-feature (a la FlashCopy): it can split off mirrors without needing to quiesce the original in a few tenths of a second. For an Oracle database that means: only having to put the tablespaces in BEGIN BACKUP for a second. Also, the EMC technical support is quite good. Contrary to IBM technical support (at least our experiences with it), EMC technical support can quite easily (and often on-the-spot) involve a higher level of support. This is not often necessary though. As for software support: our Symmetrix has caused no problems on any version of AIX we've used, and that's with PowerPath (the EMC equivalent of SDD). Unfortunately, we weren't that lucky with our 3584. Driver and firmware problems have caused our TSM machine (AIX 5.2) to crash hard several times. (Fortunately this is solved now, but now we're getting nonsensical TapeAlerts from the 3584. This case is now open for several months.) -- Jurjen Oskam "I often reflect that if "privileges" had been called "responsibilities" or "duties", I would have saved thousands of hours explaining to people why they were only gonna get them over my dead body." - Lee K. Gleason, VMS sysadmin
Re: Off-Topic: Question regarding IBM vs. EMC storage
It depends on what type you are going with for EMC. We went with some EMC storage, in our open systems environment, but I have not heard much good about it. We have gone with IBM on the mainframe, and really like it. I am primarily on the mainframe so don't know exactly what was not liked about the EMC other then the support was bad when we had problems. John Benik "Thach, Kevin G" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent by: "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 09/22/2004 02:29 PM Please respond to "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc Subject Off-Topic: Question regarding IBM vs. EMC storage My organization currently has three IBM ESS's in place with about 37TB of disk total. For storage and midrange servers, we are almost exclusively an IBM shop. We are evaluating purchasing a large amount of EMC storage, and from everything I can tell, and the customer references we have talked to, they really seem to have their act together. I know there are numerous people on this forum using EMC storage, and I'd appreciate it if a few of you wouldn't mind giving me your opinion of their products and customer service. Anyone having experience with both vendors would really be helpful. Thank you! The information contained in this communication may be confidential, and is intended only for the use of the recipient(s) named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication, or any of its contents, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please return it to the sender immediately and delete the original message and any copy of it from your computer system. If you have any questions concerning this message, please contact the sender. Unencrypted, unauthenticated Internet e-mail is inherently insecure. Internet messages may be corrupted or incomplete, or may incorrectly identify the sender.
