I have very limited long-term experience with the SAN capabilities of our 3020c (one head used for FCP - one shelve with 10k 144 gb drives), but so far everything seems to be just as great as the NAS capabilities. We're using it for storing Exchange 2003 (2-node cluster), and VMware ESX (3 VMware nodes) and haven't noticed disk performance being a bottleneck. I don't think you can use Powerpath, NetApp have their own software for multipathing - SnapDrive. Not sure how a 3050c compares to the CX700, but I believe there is a whitepaper that compares a filer with a CX500 on NetApp's website. As for comparing the administration of LUNs on the NetApp compared to an older EMC FC4700 we have, I can only describe it as unbelievably simple!

regards, Johan

-----Original Message----- From: owner-toasters@mathworks.com [mailto:owner-toasters@mathworks.com] On Behalf Of Bret Jacobson Sent: den 19 april 2006 16:32 To: toasters@mathworks.com Subject: NetApp FC SAN - Experiences

We are going to test a spare 3050 head (with two shelves of 10k 144gb drives) with FC. We haven't used them for FC up to this point, and we are a bit skeptical of what a filer will provide in the SAN landscape. They have been great in the NAS environment. What are everyone's experiences? Do they perform well with SQL databases or databases in general? What do people use for Multipathing? Can we use PowerPath? Does anyone use SAN Manager in DFM? How does a 3050c compare to a CX700 in the FC realm? Sorry for all of the questions but we just don't know anything about them on the FC side. Thanks for the input (both negative and positive). -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/NetApp-FC-SAN---Experiences-t1474683.htm l#a3988715 Sent from the Network Appliance - Toasters forum at Nabble.com.