The SmallBizWindows HP Storage MSA 2040 SAN Appliance Review
I was able to obtain the MSA 2040 for review at The Orbiting O’Odua.
SANs are a product category that currently, just only a handful of our clients utilize in their computing environments.
However, for a lot of them, there is a need for both consolidating and improving the performance of the storage subsystems they currently use.
The HP Storage MSA 2040, while an entry-level product, is one storage appliance that I believe would be perfect for most of them. By harnessing the blistering performance of solid-state disks, or SSDs, MSA 2040 is also future-proofed. That, I like.
As I blogged here and here, I like this product. I wanted to test the product for its suitability to task for a couple of clients that I know have a need for a high-performance SAN that would be able to not only grow with them, but be able to help them – the client(s) – grow until they would need a 3PAR.
The HP Storage MSA 2040 SAN Array is available with both small form factor (SFF) drives, as tested, or with large form factor (LFF) drives. Both form factor enclosures are shown in the image below.
Unboxing the MSA 2040
No drama here.
With the help of my buddy Jared, I took it out of the box, inserted it into the rack, connected the LAN and management cable to the switch, added the power cables, and off we went.
I pointed Internet Explorer at the MSA 2040’s IP address, and initialized the HP Storage Management Utility, and then I remembered that I had not RTFM, and did not know the default username and password. A call to my Logikworx storage guy yielded that nugget.
I logged on to the SMU, and within a minute, I had carved out a few LUNs from the 3.4 GB of available capacity.
Easy, peasy.
Over the next several days, I created and recreated LUNs at will while waiting the delivery of a Proliant DL380 Gen8 server for use with this review.
(My local Proliant DL380 G7 at The Orbiting O’Odua is incapable of utilizing the FC interfaces that are standard on the MSA 2040.)
Upon receipt of the DL380 Gen8, I proceeded to throw all the data here at the MSA 2040. It did not break a sweat, letting me know it was time for a real-world test.
At max test, I utilized 23 out of the available 24 forward storage slots, as shown below.
Real World Testing
Geological Information SAN
One of my good friends is a geologist who deals with a lot of information, most of it coming in floods of data.
I loaded the MSA 2040, the Proliant DL380 Gen8, and an IKEA Lack table into my rig and headed for Greenwood Village, Colorado. To make the MSA 2040 even go faster, I added the five SSDs I had procured to the MSA 2040 as well.
For the next five weeks, MSA 2040 was the repository of information for him, and he helped me run the huge data bursts he generates at his job at the SAN.
Wealth Management Quants
One of our clients is a small wealth management firm started by a few rich guys to manage their money. One of the scions in the next generation of the firm’s ownership and his college partners worked as quants on Wall Street before coming back home to Southern California to start what I believe is a high speed trading subsidiary.
For the past several months, they have been looking to improve their computing.
I had already weaned them off their Apple Mac Pro PCs in favor of the impressive HP z820 Personal Workstations.
What they were now looking for, was a complete integrated computing suite, workstations, servers, storage, and networking that they would equip their new offices with.
To compound matters, their former ‘tech guys’ back in New York had their ear – it is a generational thing, and I am of their parent’s generation – and were trying to get them to go with a solution that encompassed Dell workstations and servers, Cisco networking, and EMC storage.
I have a simple strategy regarding completion: I like to crush them profitably. I also do whatever it takes, also profitably, to make sure they do not gain a foothold.
With that in mind, I invited the principals to use our facilities for testing the all-HP solution we had designed for them.
They declined, and informed me that they would only accept a minimum 5-week test at their offices, and they required total possession of the drives contained therein because of the proprietary nature of their data.
For a moment, I was taken aback, for the MSA 2040 did not belong to me, and letting it go unsupervised was not a review criteria for me.
However, I decided to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and I authorized the purchase of 4 HP Z820 workstations, Proliant ML350 and DL380 servers, and an MSA 2040.
For the MSA 2040, I ordered an identical system to my review unit, with just one exception: it was ordered with 18 SSDs for an all-SSD configuration.
We installed the solution, provisioned the MSA 2040 SAN Array, and let the math-heads do their thing.
On a weekly basis, my staff and I held meetings with them aimed at helping them tweak the solution to their workflow.
During all of the meetings, the trading folks there would continually refer to the IOPs throughput they were getting from the MSA 2040 in superlatives, especially pleased that the performance put the EMC SAN they had tested to shame.
At the end of the five-week test, we received a signed contract, and a check for the solution we designed, and we are in the process of concluding the final steps of that contract.
MSA 2040 Component Highlights
Apart from the HP Storage DNA in it, two of the reasons why the MSA 2040 is such an absolute gem are the Storage Controller and the HP Storage Management Utility.
The Storage Controller
Utilizing a flash memory backup system, the MSA 2040’s storage controllers have 4GB of RAM, and have 4 ports.
Our test model had the HP Converged SAN controller, which allows for a mix of FC or iSCSI ports on the same controller!
The FC ports can be either 8 or 16 Gbps fiber, and I believe a SAS port will be available shortly, or as we go to press.
Mind you, this is the first entry-level SAN with 8 and/or 16 Gbps FC.
Above is a photograph of the actual storage controller, while below is a graphical view of the same controller from the Storage Management Utility.
HP Storage Management Utility
The included HP Storage Management Utility is another great piece of the MSA 2040 solution.
It is easy to use, and covers all aspects of configuring and provisioning the MSA 2040 SAN Array.
Creating vdisks, volumes, snapshots, and most other operational tasks can be easily accomplished with this utility. And we did just that.
Though simple, the SMU uses a very easy-to-use GUI to hide the complexity of the commands being issued. However, for script jocks, a CLI is also available.
Conclusions
The performance of the MSA 2040 is impressive when you compare its performance against that of its predecessor, the P2000.
Where the MSA 2040 shines though, is when it is compared to the so-called entry-level SAN products from HP’s competitors in that space.
From a cost, performance, or cost & performance standpoint, the HP Storage MSA 2040 beats them handily, and allows solution providers like myself to always beat the competition.
The SmallBizWindows Absolute Best Award is very stingily given, and then only to those products that we feel truly redefine the space in which they reside. As a rule, they must trounce the competition by every metric.
By the simple standards above, it is very clear that the MSA 2040 is an exemplary SMB SAN device.
Resultantly, the editors at AbsolutelyWindows are bestowing the HP Storage MSA 2040 with the SmallBizWindows Absolute Best Award.
Without a doubt, it is in our opinion, the very best entry-level SAN device you can buy.
The HP Storage MSA 2040 can be found here, and you can follow the HP MSA Storage Team on Twitter here.
© 2002 – 2013, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited
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