Scaling Capacity - Sun Microsystems StorEdge3000 Series Manual

The number of hosts that can effectively share one Sun StorEdge 3500 series array
depends on several factors, such as the type of host application, bandwidth
requirements, and the need for concurrent IOPs. Since most applications have
moderate performance needs, it is quite feasible to have several hosts sharing the
same Sun StorEdge 3510 FC or 3511 SATA array controller, with the following
network characteristics:
The applications used with the StorEdge 3511 SATA array are characteristically
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higher bandwidth and lower IOPS. Sharing a StorEdge 3511 SATA array amongst
several servers will depend upon the division of performance among the
applications installed on each server actively accessing the StorEdge 3511 SATA
array.
The StorEdge 3510 FC Array is better suited for larger configurations with
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broader application requirements and higher IOPS.
A SAN can also support multiple Sun StorEdge 3500 series arrays. Increasing the
number of arrays makes more performance and capacity available within a storage
network for sharing among the servers connected to the SAN. A SAN also provides
great flexibility in how storage capacity can be allocated among servers and
eliminates cabling changes when reallocation of storage becomes necessary.
When a Sun StorEdge 3500 series array is deployed in a SAN, both point-to-point
(full fabric) and arbitrated loop (public loop) modes are supported. Point-to-point
mode allows for slightly better full duplex performance but limits the total number
of addressable LUNs to 128, or to 64 when redundant pathing is used.

Scaling Capacity

Sun StorEdge 3500 series arrays are available in a number of configurations to
address a broad range of storage capacities.
The StorEdge 3510 FC array is available with 15k rpm FC disks to address the
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needs of high IOPS applications.
The StorEdge 3511 SATA array is available in larger capacities to better address
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the needs of the bulk storage market. The additional storage capacity of the
StorEdge 3511 SATA array provides more storage for each server attached. Larger
capacity disks do a poor job of supporting larger groups of servers, so using the
extra capacity to spread among more servers would result in extremely poor
performance and possible loss of data.
Base systems include single or redundant controllers and a choice of five or twelve
disks. This results in storage capacities as small as:
Sun StorEdge 3510 FC Array. 0.73 Tbyte with five 146-Gbyte disks
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Sun StorEdge 3511 SATA Array. 1.25 Tbyte with five 250-Gbyte disks
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14 Sun StorEdge 3000 Family Best Practices Manual • June 2004