RE: SAN Recommendations - Fact Finding - Help

From: Taylor, Chris David <Chris.Taylor_at_ingrambarge.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:54:10 -0600
Message-ID: <17E4CDE8F84DC44A992E8C00767402E0860F41@spobmexc02.adprod.directory>

I'd like to re-phrase this question.

Who out there is happy/ecstatic about their SAN solution? For those of you that fit this category, what SAN solution do you use?

Who out there is unhappy/sad about their SAN solution? For those of you in this category, what SAN solution do you (or did you) use?

For example I fit into 2 categories:

1.) Good/Great - 3PAR solution - Product was good, no issues - "Set it and forget it" type solution. Customer service was top notch.

2.) Poor/Bad - HP MSA1000 solution - Product seemed to be plagued with issues and inability of advanced configurations - Entry Level "SAN" product - kind of hard to qualify as a SAN really. Customer support was
'ok'.

Here is what I'm hoping to get from this.

1.) If 50 people reply and say they used company 'ABC' and the product 'X' and it was terrible, then I can rule out that product as an option based on word of mouth.

2.) If 50 people reply and say they used company 'CDE' and product
'Y' and its great, best blah blah blah. Then we can take a serious look
at it and the company.

Does that make sense? I'm looking for word of mouth type recommendations or warnings.

Thanks!

Chris Taylor

Sr. Oracle DBA

Ingram Barge Company

Nashville, TN 37205

Office: 615-517-3355

Cell: 615-354-4799

Email: chris.taylor_at_ingrambarge.com

From: Taylor, Chris David
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 2:56 PM
To: oracle-l
Subject: SAN Recommendations - Fact Finding - Help

My PC/LAN manager came by and asked me if I could gather some recommendations for SANs for companies running Oracle. Or types of SANS even. That's real cut and dried is it not? (Tongue planted firmly in cheek)

Anyway, I know everybody and their brother seems to be an Oracle partner, so there's really no help there.

So, now I'm wondering how I come up with information to answer this rather vague question.

I know we used to use an HP MSA1000 (entry-level SAN) that we had a terrible experience with. I don't know if it was solely the hardware's fault, or a combination of the hardware and lack of expertise setting it up.

I assume I should start with a list of features we would like to have and then cross reference those with vendors that can supply those features?

Anyone know if Oracle provides consultation and recommendations for storage?

Thoughts?