Storage Area Network Beginner

jbaello

I'm trying to see what SAN environment I can implement on my home lab, something inexpensive, also if you can let me know where and what to read when it comes to SAN, I am realtively new to SAN.

This storage will also be my main network storage, for a small business datacenter that I am supporting on the sideline.

Thanks in advance...

astorrs

Since you're on a budget, have a look at Openfiler for NFS/CIFS (NAS) and iSCSI Enterprise Target for iSCSI.

jbaello

Alright cool I'll check this out, pretty much the money will come out of my pocket, but I will basically have multiple use for it, I also saw some Linksys storage kinda like a SAN.

HeroPsycho

Understand there's a difference between a NAS and a SAN type of storage device. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Linksys thing you saw was in probability a NAS.

tiersten

If you're on a budget then you're pretty much stuck with iSCSI as a SAN transport. FC will be hugely expensive since you need to get all the HBAs, switch and cabling just to even plug into your SAN device.

Nearly all of the cheap network storage devices out there are NAS devices and not SAN. They won't support iSCSI.

remyforbes777

You might want to take a look at FreeNas Linux. I am pretty sure it supports iSCSI and its of course free.

CoryS

To be quite honest, the qlogic(x?) hbas are around 850ish and the fiber channel switches are pretty reasonable now especially compared to the 10gb backbone you will probably desire. Even then with a 200-600 TOE card you still will likely have issues if you plan on booting from SAN with any type of virtual machines if thats your plan in the future. I am super excited for iSCSI and its long term outlook but I think for now especially with the HBAs and the Cisco 9100 series FC swithces being more reasonable cost wise its probably the safest, less kick yourself in the butt later decisions.

My .02

astorrs

CoryS wrote:

To be quite honest, the qlogic(x?) hbas are around 850ish and the fiber channel switches are pretty reasonable now especially compared to the 10gb backbone you will probably desire. Even then with a 200-600 TOE card you still will likely have issues if you plan on booting from SAN with any type of virtual machines if thats your plan in the future. I am super excited for iSCSI and its long term outlook but I think for now especially with the HBAs and the Cisco 9100 series FC swithces being more reasonable cost wise its probably the safest, less kick yourself in the butt later decisions.

My .02

He's looking to set this up in his home lab that's why I left FC off the table. While I agree that the prices have come down quite a bit he's still looking at about $10k for a direct attached FC array & HBAs for a couple of servers. Add an FC switch or two (even the cheap OEM'd QLogic baby switches) and you can throw in another $2000-4000.

I got the feeling that was way out of his price range, but you never know.

jbaello can you give us a budget and any constraints so we can help you out?