User:River/Storage

Small:

Two servers, one array (redundant controller). Can lose one server without downtime. Small arrays are reasonably priced (e.g. Sun 25xx). Once the array's capacity is reached, more can be added, limited by # of host ports (typically 4 at most). Cannot easily add servers.

  server   server
       \   /
       array

Large:

Any number of servers connected to an FC fabric, then connected to storage. Can add any number of hosts and arrays up to the switch capacity. More switches can be added; FC fabric can be redundant (multipath). More servers can be added with storage allocated from array as needed.

  server       server  ...
    \         /
     FC fabric
    /         \
  array        array ...

Example small config

Servers: Sun X2270, Xeon E5504, 24GB RAM, $4'665
Array: Sun StorageTek 2530, SAS or SATA disks. Scales up to 48TB using 1TB SATA disks (controller + 3 expansion trays).

Initial cost: $20'930 for 12TB raw storage.
Expansion cost: $8'000 per expansion tray (+12TB).

Example large config (one array)

Servers: Sun X2270, Xeon E5504, 24GB RAM, $4'665
Array: Sun StorageTek 6140. Scales to 112TB per array using SATA disks.
FC switch: Brocade 300, 48 ports, 8Gb/s. $4,395.

Initial cost: $44'245 for 16TB raw storage.
Expansion cost: $34,475 per expansion tray (+16TB).