New Storage Hp MSA2040

Francesco 14/05/2013 Uncategorized @en 2 Comments

Yesterday May 13, the Hp storage division announced the renewal of their entry level line.
The MSA storage.
For the uninitiated, the acronym stands for Modular Smart Array. In a few words the classic block storage.
The line began 10 years ago and at first was developed by Hp himself. Over time, the models were MSA 500, MSA 1000 MSA 1500.
In 2008 the turning point with the first MSA2000. This storage was produced by the US firm Dot Hill and rebranded by Hp.
In the entry level segment, this storage is a best sellers. The reason is the very affordable price and ease of implementation.
With today’s announcement we got to the fourth MSA2000 generation.
HP declares a general increase in performance up to 4x the competing models.
Key features of the new model are:
FC, iSCSI, SAS connectivity
4 GB controller cache
8Gb/16Gb FC Support
SSD, SAS, SATA drives
HDD SSF 2,5″ or LFF 3,5″
Snapshot and Volume Copy are included, Remote Copy is optional.
It’s always possibile to upgrade the old controllers with the new ones, maintaining the integrity of data on disks. This feature has distinguished the MSA2000 family since the beginning.

Availability is expected in July. Dual-controller MSA 2040 configurations begin at $11,470

Therefore we need to wait to try the first samples and confirm what Hp has said.

I have personally installed many MSA2000 systems and a feature that I always missed is the performance monitor tool.
I also hope that hp has introduced a more advanced event notification with a sending email option.
A few links to the product.

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/pdfs/4AA4-6608ENW.pdf
New HP Storage MSA2040 ChalkTalk by Calvin Zito @hpstorageguy

About The Author

fbonetti

I'm currently working as a Solution Architect, Sr. System Engineer, Virtualization Specialist at RTC S.p.A. where I'm mainly focused in the design, implementation and support of the virtual infrastructures. My skills include storage, backup, disaster recovery, network and firewall.

http://www.hp.com Benjamin Smith

Hi Francesco,

I am the EMEA Presales lead for the 2040 here in HP and there are a couple of mistakes in your article.

The MSA 2040 has a ‘Converged Controller’ whose interface is dictated by the SFP installed. At launch only Fibre Channel will be available; iSCSI and SAS will not be introduced until later in the year.

The MSA 2040 complements, not replaces the current P2000 G3 offering as a performance array. Due to performance being a key advantage there is no support for SATA drives. Therefore data in place upgrade are possible from the P2000 G3, with certain exceptions. It will not be possible to upgrade from and 3G components such as the G1 and G2 arrays to the 2040.

There has been performance monitoring embedded into the MSA range initially with the MSA 2000, then dropped with the 2300 G2, and added once again in the P2000 G3. This is both an array based tool, and a host based tool capable of collecting performance data from multiple P2000 G3 arrays This tool remains within the 2040 and the host based tools are being consolidated into a single ‘Array Advisor’ tool.

Finally, email alerts have also been around for all MSA 2000 arrays; so far these have been based on emailing a designated address with event information which is mirrored by SNMP (Critical, Warning, Informational) traps. With the inclusion of full SMI-S 1.5 functionality however, it is possible to create more verbose alerts via a central management application supporting it.

Kind regards,
Ben Smith
- http://www.thevirtualway.it/en Francesco
  
  Hi Benjamin,
  I would like to thank you for all the clarifications.
  My post is a first view only of the product.
  I hope to have the chance to test a new 2040 soon and to be able to write a full review.
  
  Regards,
  Francesco

About The Author

fbonetti

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