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Datagrowthratesareincreasingby50percentormoreeverysingleyear.Governanceandregulatoryrequirementsarebecomingmorenumerousandcomplex.Usersareexpectingnothingshortof24x7accesstoinformation.Improvingtheefficiencyofyourstorageinfrastructureisimperative—notjusttoaccommodatethesedemandsbuttodrivedowncostsinadifficulteconomy.Tothisend,businessesofallsizesareembracingiSCSI(InternetSCSI)storageareanetworks(SANs).InthequesttocontrolcostsandtoboosttheefficiencyofIToperations,ITmanagersarelookingmorecloselyatiSCSISANsandhowthesecanbenefittheiroverallITinfrastructure.HowcanthisiSCSIstoragesolutionguidehelp?UsethisguidetobetterunderstandthebenefitsofiSCSISANsolutionsandhowtheycanfitindifferentenvironments.InadditiontodemystifyingiSCSISANs,thisguideprovidesseveralinformativeiSCSIusecasesandpracticaldeploymentexamples.Part1:ThecaseforiSCSISANtechnology(page2)• Accommodate storage in a virtualized environment withiSCSItechnology• View your storage and IT infrastructure holisticallyPart2:DemystifyingiSCSI(page3)Part3:Usecases(pages4–7)• Unified storage for small and mid-sized environments:HPX1000NetworkStorageSystems• Storage expansion for x86 servers: HP MSA2000i G2• Enterprise functionality that enhances virtual environments:HPLeftHandP4000SANs• iSCSI gateways—using iSCSI and Fibre Channel togetherPart4:ChoosingtherightHPiSCSIsolution (page 8)HPiSCSIstoragesolutionguideHow companies of all sizes benefit from iSCSI-based storagePart1:ThecaseforiSCSISANtechnologyTraditionally,manybusinesseshaveaccommodatedtheexponentialgrowthofdatabyaddingmoreserversordirectattachedstorage(DAS).DAS,however,creates“islands”ofstorage,leadstounderutilizationofresources,andoftenmustbemanagedusingmultipledissimilarinterfaces.TheDASapproachdoesnotscalewelland,infact,thecontinueduseofDASisasourceofextraheadaches—creatinganenvironmentthatisinefficient,expensive,anddifficulttoprotect.Sowhat’sthealternative?AdedicatedstoragesolutionthatconnectsserversandstorageviaaSANcanvastlysimplifymanagementandenablebetterresourceutilization.Most enterprise companies have traditionally deployed Fiber Channel SANs for their low-latency and high-performance characteristics. Fibre Channel SANs,however,requireaspecializednetwork,whichcanaddtocostandoverhead.TheaddedcostandlearningcurvehavespurredtheemergenceandbroadacceptanceofiSCSI,orIP,SANs.InaniSCSISAN,thecommunicationbetweenaserverapplicationandthephysicalharddiskdriveistransported over a TCP/IP Ethernet network—the same networktechnologyusedtodaybythevastmajorityofallorganizations.iSCSIenablessmallandmediumbusinessestodeploySANtechnologythatwaspreviouslydeemedoutofreach.Itallowslargeenterprisestocreatecomplementarystoragetiersforsecondaryserversorexpandtheirexistingnetworkedstoragetoincludeworkgroupsordepartments.Itenablestheconsolidationofstorageforincreasedcapacityandutilization,andasacomplementtonetworkattachedstorage(NAS).AccommodatestorageinavirtualizedenvironmentwithiSCSItechnologyServervirtualizationprojects,inparticular,triggerdiscussions about iSCSI SANs. Virtualized workloads typicallyincludeWebapplications,infrastructureservices, SQL Server, or e-mail.The ability to move virtual machines (VMs) freely betweenphysicalserversisessentialtoachieveload-balancing, high-availability (HA), and disaster-recovery(DR)capabilities.iSCSISANscanhelpeasecommonissuesencounteredinvirtualizationdeployments,suchasmanaging relationships between VMs and storage, data protection and storage management, and VM mobility.ViewyourstorageandITinfrastructureholisticallyStorageshouldbeviewedasanintegralcomponentof,ratherthananattachmentto,yourentireITsystem.Even a well-designed IT environment can come to a partialhaltifNICs,networkcomponents,servers,storageassets,andthesoftwarestacksinalloftheseelementshavenotbeentestedforcompatibility.ChoosinganITproviderthatoffersawideportfoliooftheabovecomponentswillhelpensurecompatibility.Plus,it’smucheasiertoresolvestorageandITissueswhenworkingwithonevendorratherthanmany.2Part2:DemystifyingiSCSI—performance,manageability,andsecuritySeveralcommonmisperceptionshavepersistedaboutiSCSI vs. traditional Fibre Channel deployments. With iSCSIbecomingamainstreamtechnologyandlargevendors like HP or IBM offering iSCSI products, these notionsarenolongernecessarilytrue.Performance—SomecasualobserversbelievethatiSCSIlackstheperformancerequiredforenterpriseapplications.Thetruthisthatyoucaneasilyensurethat performance and service-level expectations are metwithiSCSIbyrunningyourstoragetrafficoveran Ethernet network that is physically or logically separate from your primary LAN. For those who look at bandwidth and assume a 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel implementationisfourtimesfasterthana1Gb/siSCSIimplementation,youshouldalsoconsiderthefactthatkeyapplicationshaverandomI/Opatterns.Performancebottlenecks,therefore,havemoretodowiththetimeittakestowriteandreaddatafromharddiskdrivesthanwithnetworkbandwidth.Performancevalidationtestsona100TBiSCSISAN,conductedas early as 2007, showed a 15-node configuration (replicatedacrosstwosi