If the sole purpose for purchasing the filer is for this 50gig exchange
database, it is probably not easy to make a good business case.
However, if the filer is part of a larger storage strategy for your
organization, it should be much easier to build a convincing business case.
I think that the real benefits of NAS/SAN come from the ability to
consolidate individual server storage and centrally manage. Other benefits
include reliability, strong product support (at least with NetApp) and a
proven track-record etc <insert marketing jargon here>
For example;
If you already connect Windows CIFS (or any other protocol for that matter)
on the FAS250 then you may have already proven that the FAS250 works in your
environment and that it provided some consolidation/management benefits. You
should be able to show that the system is reliable and the performance has
met expectations (otherwise you wouldn't be considering it for an exchange
DB). If you have used NetApp support, chances are that you had a good
experience. Moving more storage services to the FAS250 over time is what
this entry-level device was designed for .... expansion, future-proofing, or
whatever you want to call it. This is because it can fairly easily become a
disk shelf in a larger F9XX series system if you choose to expand to an
enterprise or high-availability (aka clustered/mirrored) storage solution.
If you do expand, you should be able to do so without significantly
increasing the amount of time spent managing the filer(s). Whereas adding a
separate RAID array for every server/service could lead to considerably more
time spent setting up and maintaining. On the surface, less moving parts
(aka RAID controllers, servers, vendors) results in a simpler environment.
Hope this helps seed some ideas for you.
Aaron
-----Original Message-----
From: Derek Lai [mailto:Derek.Lai@onyxco.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 19 October 2004 6:22 AM
To: 'exadmin'; toasters(a)mathworks.com
Subject: RE: Exchange databse on a FAS 250
You can create a iSCSI lun that is 50GB for now. When it fills up, you can
grow it on the fly.
You can instantaneously restore using SnapShot. You can also snapmirror it
elsewhere for Disaster Recovery.
If you get the Single Mailbox Restore option you can restore any single
message from any mailbox in any snapshot.
Derek
-----Original Message-----
From: exadmin [mailto:exadmin@insuranceskillscenter.com]
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 10:29 AM
To: toasters(a)mathworks.com
Subject: Exchange databse on a FAS 250
Hi all
I am trying to make an argumetn for putting our exchange database (50 gigs)
on a filer instead of a windows 2000 box with raid 5 array. We are running
Exchange 5.5 Other than the snpshot technology what other benefits will we
get with using a filer VS a windows box
thanks a bunch
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