Planning 2-node JBOD SAS

normanallen · Thu Mar 26, 2015 5:13 pm

Hello,

I am planning to deploy 2 JBODs to retire my Equallogic SAN and NetApp NAS. I was thinking of going with DataOn, but read in this forum that I should use SuperMicro or Intel.

Servers: Fujitsu RS200 S7 with SAS HBA, running Windows Server 2012 R2
JBODs: Any recommendations are welcome. I was set on DataOn until I read bad things about them in the forum, so I am back to the drawing board here.

Once I connect my JBODs to the servers, will I be able to set up StarWind to sync the JBODs with each other? Am I missing anything? I know it's supposed to be straightforward, but I wanted to make sure

.

Thanks!
Norman

Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:13 am

So, basically you will have 2 servers, each one has JBOD, and you want to synchronize the data between those JBODs, correct? If so, I want to assure you that everything should work great - we had similar use cases on my experience.

normanallen · Fri Mar 27, 2015 12:22 pm

Correct, and thank you for the reply.

Since DataOn is basically not recommended, should I look at something from SuperMicro or Intel for the JBODs? Any objections or problems with these solutions?

Fri Mar 27, 2015 12:51 pm

Nope, not at all. Feel free to use them

normanallen · Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:07 pm

Hi Anatoly,

In the StarWind world, would it make sense to add SSD to the JBOD in addition to the SATA drives? I was looking at 2x256GB SSD, and 10x1TB SATA, for example. Each JBOD will be connected to the server via 12GB SAS. I just don't want to miss anything before I make my purchase.

Regards,
Norman

normanallen · Sat Mar 28, 2015 12:39 am

Lastly, I sent a sales request back on Wednesday and I haven't gotten a reply.

Sat Mar 28, 2015 12:54 am

Either DataOn had done their homework properly or people had stopped buying them )) Either way we don't have related complains tracked for quite some time. I'd suggest to run intensive tests before putting them (just like anybody else...) into production but definitely no point to switch JBOD vendor right away.

normanallen wrote:Correct, and thank you for the reply.

Since DataOn is basically not recommended, should I look at something from SuperMicro or Intel for the JBODs? Any objections or problems with these solutions?

Sat Mar 28, 2015 12:55 am

You can definitely do that but we prefer PCIe attached flash.

normanallen wrote:Hi Anatoly,

In the StarWind world, would it make sense to add SSD to the JBOD in addition to the SATA drives? I was looking at 2x256GB SSD, and 10x1TB SATA, for example. Each JBOD will be connected to the server via 12GB SAS. I just don't want to miss anything before I make my purchase.

Regards,
Norman

Sat Mar 28, 2015 12:56 am

Nice... Probably sales guys are busy counting their bonuses (( I apologize for inconvenience and I'll personally figure out what's wrong. Thank you for your patience Sir!

normanallen wrote:Lastly, I sent a sales request back on Wednesday and I haven't gotten a reply.

normanallen · Sun Mar 29, 2015 1:33 pm

I have some more questions as this project comes together.

1. Since each JBOD is going to be connected directly its server via SAS, is there any benefit to connecting the JBOD devices to each other?
2. In some posts, it says that there's no reason to use anything besides SATA drives. In others, it says to go with SAS. Wouldn't I be better off with SAS in terms of performance and reliability?
3. Do you have a reference document (hardware, architecture, best practices, etc?)?

I am intending to go with RAID 10 on the JBODs, regardless.

Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:04 pm

1) Not really...

2) It's OK to use SATA, SAS or NL-SAS as long as you get decent performance. Currently we indeed get better numbers with SAS but SATA is much cheaper. NL-SAS is somewhere in the middle. Drop me a message and I'll provide you with some internal test reports you could use as a starting point.

3) Sure. Did you check our Resource Library here: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library?

There are definitely Reference Design (Dell R730 as a base model) and Best Practices for different setups.

normanallen wrote:I have some more questions as this project comes together.

1. Since each JBOD is going to be connected directly its server via SAS, is there any benefit to connecting the JBOD devices to each other?
2. In some posts, it says that there's no reason to use anything besides SATA drives. In others, it says to go with SAS. Wouldn't I be better off with SAS in terms of performance and reliability?
3. Do you have a reference document (hardware, architecture, best practices, etc?)?

I am intending to go with RAID 10 on the JBODs, regardless.

normanallen · Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:47 am

PM sent. Thank you.

Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:16 pm

normanallen wrote:Lastly, I sent a sales request back on Wednesday and I haven't gotten a reply.

Hello Norman.

Unfortunately, lately we (@sales) did not get any e-mails from you. Will you be so kind to re-send it over to: sales@starwindsoftware.com or even better, give us a call: +44 207 193 8318;

normanallen · Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:51 pm

Thank you. I sent an email for now; I am on a conference call and will try to call later today.

Fri Apr 03, 2015 9:10 am

Quick update for everyone: we successfully contacted