[Gllug] Hitachi SMS-100

[N. Pauli]

On Thu, 25 Mar, John Hearns wrote:
> On 25 March 2010 18:52, N. Pauli <npauli at st-johns.org.uk> wrote:
> > Dear All,
> >
> > We're currently considering one of these as a SAN to replace our current directly attached storage RAID5 file server.
> 
> Having a quick look at that, it has either fibrechannel or iSCSI connectivity.
> If FC, do you REALLY REALLY want to start coping with implementing a
> new FC SAN in a high school environment?
> 
> And before anyone calls bullshit, I've personally replaced two SR
> GBICs, one MR GBIC and one LR GBIC in the last week, plus recently
> installed umpty Tbytes of SATA disk and extended an FC SAN.
> 

No, definitely not fibre channel, John. It would be the iSCSI connectivity I'd be going for.

The thing is, we had a technical / sales fellow over from RM who sell regular SAN solutions and this Hitachi SMS-100 which seemed to me totally right-sized and appropriate for us. But he summarily dismissed the SMS-100 [at £8K] as too slow to be a file server and talked a full SAN at double the price and requiring £1350 p.a. of support fees.

As you can see I'm feeling slightly annoyed and extremely cynical about this; BUT I could have the wrong end of the stick. Looking at 
http://www.hds.com/uk/products/storage-systems/simple-modular-storage.html
and various reviews it seems to be well spec'd and genuinely aimed at non-specialist IT support staff at a small to medium sized business which, at the end of the day, is pretty well what we are at a prep school.

What do you all think?

Regards,
Nigel

-- 
Nigel Pauli
I.T. Manager
St. John's School, Northwood
http://www.st-johns.org.uk/




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