RE: SAN evaluation

Also, the question of what can be done online/offline is very much in the details - for example, EMC will often claim that there's no reason to ever bring a Symmetrix array down for maintenance, that everything can be done online. However, in order for that to be true, you have to meet a very specific set of criteria, and even then, there are downtime scenarios. It is much better to assume that for any maintenance you'll have to bring the SAN down, and architect your availability accordingly. Then, if you really do get away with not having downtime, you can be pleasantly surprised.  

I also second the verdict on NetApp support - I was an EMC and netapp customer before I went to go work for EMC. I knew EMC support was bad, but I thought, "You know, once I work for EMC, I'll have direct access to the *real* support guys". How wrong I was. I dialed the exact same phone number that customers did, except that instead of giving my customer number and site ID, I gave my badge number. NetApp support has been consistently very good, and they have a good community of users. The "toasters" mailing list has a bunch of NetApp employees and customer experts, and even the CEO of NetApp reads the list and posts occasionally.  

Netapp also has a lot more transparency than EMC about their issues, software internals, etc. For example, NetApp has a simulator, which is a version of their software that runs on top of Linux, and can be used to test different scenarios. So, if you want to test how their replication software works, you can just download the simulator and give it a shot.  

Thanks,

Matt  

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Jared Still Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 1:40 PM
To: oracledba.williams_at_gmail.com
Cc: Tom.Terrian.ctr_at_dla.mil; ORACLE-L Freelists Subject: Re: SAN evaluation  

On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 8:37 AM, Dennis Williams <oracledba.williams_at_gmail.com> wrote:                    

        That may be it. But I'm specifically thinking about what circumstances you need to take the SAN offline. I'm not sure how this is reflected in MTBF. As a specific example, I have seen a comparison between NetApp and EMC. A lot of money could be saved by using NetApp, but there were more situations where the SAN would have to come offline. For example, I understand that you can apply an upgrade to the EMC without taking it offline. My point is that you need to understand the criticality of your application and determine whether the availability of the SAN would meet your requirements.

An issue that I have not seen addressed is technical support.

We have found our experiences with NetApp support much more palatable than those with EMC support.

Here's an example from someone else:

 http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=678938&tstart=50

 We have had several such experiences with EMC support.  

-- 

Jared Still
Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist


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