Overview - IBM TotalStorage DS300 Best Practices Manual

3.1 Overview

The IBM TotalStorage DS300 and DS400 are entry-level, low cost workgroup
storage subsystems for xSeries and BladeCenter servers. The DS300 and
DS400 offer a solution for workgroup storage applications, such as file, print and
Web serving, as well as remote boot storage for diskless servers.
The main difference between the two products is that the DS300 is designed to
use iSCSI to connect over an existing Ethernet infrastructure, whereas the
DS400 is capable of using Fibre Channel connectors. However, a dedicated
Ethernet infrastructure can also be used if desired for the DS300 to isolate the
iSCSI SAN traffic. The DS400 is also capable of supporting more disk capacity
than the DS300, through the use of EXP400 expansion units and both support
Flashcopy.
The modular design of the DS300 and DS400 allows you to easily perform
upgrades and additions to help meet the growing needs of your application
environment—scaling to support increasing volumes of data flexibly and
affordable. In addition, advanced software features on the DS300 and DS400
-including access control lists and online array expansion are designed to give
administrators the power to configure storage according to changing usage
needs. These features also help enable you to share storage across multiple
application servers.
Both units are designed to deliver advanced functionality for business
continuance and disaster recovery at an entry-level price. Using a rack
mountable 3U enclosure with 14 SCSI drives and redundant design, hot-swap
power and cooling modules, the DS300/400 features RAID reliability and high
availability software to help maintain operations. The enclosure supports either
one or two controllers for high-availability configurations. Certain models of the
DS300 controller are designed to support up to three 1 Gbps Ethernet ports for
management and redundant data paths so that—even if a line or a controller
fails—multiple paths between servers and storage can help maintain a
connection.
The DS300/400 also offers optional advanced features such as space efficient
IBM Flashcopy solutions, which are designed to help reduce storage backup
windows and improve storage utilization for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL
Server 2000 and Lotus® Notes® applications.
The DS300 and DS400 are designed to offer excellent storage management and
configuration capabilities through IBM ServeRAID Manager (the same software
used on the xSeries servers for RAID management), helping enable clients to
manage multiple IBM TotalStorage DS300 and DS400 subsystems, as well as
direct-attached internal ServeRAID controllers, all through a single, easy-to-use
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IBM TotalStorage DS300 and DS400 Best Practices Guide