Buy a PS4110X or a PS6110X?

Hello, In this case the answer is easy. The 6110x. By design you can only have a maximum of two (2), PS4xxx series arrays in a single group. There is no way to add a third one. Not even to move out one of the others. So you will have to add the PS6110x to upgrade the group spec to PS6xxx. Any future arrays will also have to be PS6xxx as well. Regards, Don

You also can convert your RAID10 to something more space effecient, but you would loose some IOPS because R10 is the fastest. The SANHQ include a RAID tool to compare different Raid levels based your current workload.

Regards,
Joerg

Right now you have 9.6TB free space in your group but you want another one because of more space is needed?

The current modell would be a PS4210 or 6210 and not 4110/6110 but IIRC they are already End of sale. If you buy a used one go for a 6210 because it remove some of the software limitations of your 4110s. (but not the 2 PS4xxx limited per group!).

When the space i not needed directly in the group/pool/volume you can create a 2nd. group of PS4x10s

Regards,
Joerg

 

Jeorg,

Reminder "free space" at the member level is actual written data If they are using Thin provisioned volumes they could technically be over committed.

Since they already have the 4110 I bet the price of the 6110 is pretty attractive compared to the 6210's.
Also one potential problem with 6210 is it could have much newer firmware than the 4110's they have now.
Without a contract they can't download or use new firmware.

Regards,
Don

 

Thanks for fantastic support 
You guys saved me a lot of trouble. I will go for a PS6110X.

Yes I use thin provisioned volumes so I don't have a lot of free space.

Will I ad the  PS6110X to the old group or start a new one on PS6110X and move the old ones there?

Regards

Olle

Hello You will have to add the 6110 to the existing group. You can't move an existing member to a new group without first removing the data from it. You can't merge EQL groups. In order to remove a member you have to have enough space in the remaining one to to hold that members data. Which you don't. Regards, Don

What ever he bought... most likely the FW on the member doesnt match the existing one.

 

As Don says... the new member will join to the existing group. Please create a new "Dummy/Test/Maintanence" Pool and place the member into.  As long as you didnt finished the network setup, FW upgrade it should stay into this seperate Pool. If you finished the setup and testing you move the member into the existing pool of PS4110 and have more space available instantly. The volumes will spread across all 3 members..... so buy a member with similar disk performance and size.

Regards,
Joerg

 

Hello, That is a good idea, and something I often do. The 6110 like the 4110 only has one interface so not additional iSCSI network to set up. Just FYI: When you select the RAID policy you can also disable the make capacity available immediately checkbox. So until the RAIDset finishes it won't show the capacity to the group. Or as Joerg mentioned you can create a temp pool and move it there. Built the RAIDset then "Merge pools" to move the new array into the pool with the PS4110x. Or you can also keep the 6110 in its own pool, especially if it's vastly larger than the 4110s Or you want to run a different RAID level on the 6110. Then move volumes to the new array once the RAIDset finishes initializing. If you do that then later decide to bring them together you can always merge pools. Removing one later is more difficult as you have to have enough free space to hold the data on the member you are removing. Regards, Don

Hello, You are very welcome! Don

Hello again.

I see some PS6100X, 6100XS and E for sale, will they also work in my old configuration?

 

Regards Olle 

I found the answer, I need the PS6110 for the 10G iSCSI ethernet ports. Regards Olle

Hello, Correct, a 6x00 is GbE. A 6x10 is 10GbE. The most current controllers 6210 and 6610 auto negotiate down to GbE. If you have GbE servers, you can create a new group and use those arrays in a GbE group. Regards, Don