The Compellent Storage Center offers superb ease of use and the widest feature set available in the middle range, without
charging a premium price. The wizard-based configuration means that even administrators in small shops who don’t have time
to go to storage administration training will be able to set up and use all the sophisticated features available. And the
instant replay and automated migration features mean that you can get the best performance where needed and make full use
of inexpensive SATA-based storage without any additional effort.
iQstor iQ2880
The iQstor iQ2880 storage system came all in one box, and it was simple to set up, using a preconfigured IP address and Web
browser to enter the necessary network information. Oddly, the system wouldn’t initialize the RAID or complete storage configuration
until an admin e-mail address for sending alerts was configured correctly, then it took about 35 minutes to initialize a 945GB
RAID 5 volume. After one or more volumes are created, you assign a storage pool, which can be used for policy-based management,
and then you create the virtual disks that are presented to the servers using the system. Virtual disks can easily be expanded
without taking the corresponding physical volume offline.
The iQstor system offers less flexibility than the Compellent and Xiotech systems because it doesn't allow a RAID set to be
changed or resized once created. The virtual disks in a RAID set can be changed, but not the underlying RAID level.
The system I tested included 15 73GB 4Gbps FC drives. The same enclosure supports a wide range of FC drives as well as SATA
drives. The iQstor unit came in at the lowest price among the three systems tested. And though it also arrived with the lowest
storage capacity, adding more drives or including higher capacity drives would not push the price from $21,195 to anywhere
near the $50,000 or more of the other two. As with the Compellent and Xiotech systems, iQstor supports active-active controllers
for full redundancy, and it's easy to add more FC or SATA enclosures to boost total capacity.
The iQstor offers a rich set of features that includes thin provisioning, snapshots, mirroring, replication, and virtualization.
Plus, not only is it easy to expand existing volumes, but an automated capacity growth feature allows the system to use available,
uncommitted storage to automatically expand volumes that are nearing full capacity.
iQstor includes an agent that makes it easy to create point-in-time snapshots of open Exchange, Oracle, and SQL Server databases.
The agents pause the database long enough for the iQstor to take simultaneous “group snapshots” of all active data volumes,
ensuring that all open records are correctly copied. The snapshots can then be used to make tape backups or remote replicas
without having to shut down the database for the duration of the backup.
As with the other two systems reviewed here, snapshots use pointers to accelerate snaps and save disk space, requiring just
10 percent to 20 percent of the space required for a full copy of a volume. The number of snapshots is not unlimited, but
the limit of 126 snapshots per volume should be enough for most people.
 |
| The Bottom Line |
Compellent Storage Center 3.5
Compellent Technologies, compellent.com
|
 Excellent 9.1 |
|
| criteria |
score |
weight |
| Management |
10 |
20% |
 |
| Performance |
9 |
20% |
|
| Reliability |
9 |
20% |
|
| Scalability |
9 |
20% |
|
| Interoperability |
8 |
10% |
|
| Value |
9 |
10% |
|
|
|
Cost:
$59,660 as tested with 6.4TB capacity, 4Gbps FC connectivity, and the following software: Storage Center Core, Dynamic Capacity,
Data Instant Replay, Data Progression, Remote Instant Replay, and Enterprise Manager
Bottom Line:
The Compellent Storage Center is the best SAN we've tested, with the broadest feature set and the greatest ease of use. Highlights
include the automated data migration capability, which makes the best use of the most expensive storage, as well as superb
scalability and excellent support, all at a very competitive price. This system compares favorably with top-tier systems costing
much more.
|
|
About our Reviews and Scoring Methodology
|
|
|
| The Bottom Line |
iQstor iQ2880
iQstor Networks, iqstor.com
|
| Excellent 8.7 |
|
| criteria |
score |
weight |
| Management |
8 |
20% |
|
| Performance |
9 |
20% |
|
| Reliability |
9 |
20% |
|
| Scalability |
9 |
20% |
|
| Interoperability |
8 |
10% |
|
| Value |
9 |
10% |
|
|
|
Cost:
$21,195 as tested with 1.095 TB capacity and 4Gbps FC connectivity
Bottom Line:
The iQstor iQ2880 can't match top-flight competitors feature for feature, but it delivers excellent bang for the buck, covering
the essentials – including replication, mirroring, iSCSI support, virtualization, and automated capacity growth – at less
than half the price of Compellent or Xiotech. In addition, it offers excellent scalability and a solid, easy-to-use management
interface.
|
|
About our Reviews and Scoring Methodology
|
|
|
| The Bottom Line |
Xiotech Magnitude 3D 3000e
Xiotech, xiotech.com
|
| Excellent 8.9 |
|
| criteria |
score |
weight |
| Management |
9 |
20% |
|
| Performance |
9 |
20% |
|
| Reliability |
9 |
20% |
|
| Scalability |
9 |
20% |
|
| Interoperability |
9 |
10% |
|
| Value |
8 |
10% |
|
|
|
Cost:
$76,813 as tested with 1.75 TB capacity, 4Gbps FC connectivity, and TimeScale 200 appliance ($23,300)
Bottom Line:
The Xiotech 3D system combines multiple purpose-built appliances, adding some complexity but also additional capability, including
support for heterogeneous storage, continuous data protection, and compression, encryption, and deduplication of WAN traffic
for remote replication. The TimeScale appliance supports the use of storage from any vendor, and a solid state disk option
offers the highest possible performance, albeit at a price.
|
|
About our Reviews and Scoring Methodology
|
|
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