On Tue, 22 Feb 2000, Bruce Sterling Woodcock wrote:
Having more options regarding NVRAM and RAM cache configurations in filers would be great, not this current "one-size-fits-all" sh^H^Hstuff.
I think you clearly need more RAM, but if you're already maxed, you basically need to accept that you need another filer.
My installation needs ops, and lots of them; we use very little disk (~125 GB per filer). Our best value for ops is not upgrading to an F760, but buying another F740, which we have done. We probably could have squeezed some more performance out of our first F740 if it had more RAM, as you seem to agree with. If we could spend the additional few thousand to bump up the RAM to a full 1 GB, that would be worth it. But, NetApp's rigid solution is: if you need/want more RAM, buy the F760. An F760 gives ~50% more ops performance for ~100% more dollars (with NFS *and* CIFS protocols). We got 100% more ops by spending 100% more dollars...on another F740.
NetApp's price restructuring last year benefitted most people who have high storage requirements, but killed us, who have high ops performance requirements. Hence, my plea for NetApp to be more flexible in the "abnormal" configurations such as ours.
Until next time...
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