October 17, 2005
(Computerworld)
Coppin State University in Baltimore early this year found itself facing a data explosion that had overwhelmed its two Fibre Channel storage arrays.
Thus the school's IT operation was forced to find a way to supply users with an easy-to-manage online storage system that wouldn't break the budget.
Once that search began, the IT group saw two possible solutions to fix the problem.
One option was to replace its two 3-year-old EMC high-end Symmetrix Fibre Channel storage arrays, which were plagued with problems due to incompatible switches, with new models that support far higher capacity. The second option was to use Internet SCSI technology to add a second storage-area network.
The school chose the latter option, and since implementing the SAN in June, Coppin's IT staff has become convinced that IP storage is critical, citing its relatively low cost and ease of use.
The university bought iSCSI SAN technology for the new network in June from LeftHand Networks Inc. Officials found the $100,000 price a steal compared with the potential costs of upgrading its Fibre Channel infrastructure, said Mitch PreVatte, director of network services at Coppin.
PreVatte noted that he has extensive support costs for the Fibre Channel systems. For example, PreVatte said he is looking at a $57,000 bill from EMC for servicing Coppin's SAN to fix problems that were caused by the lack of compatibility between switches from Brocade Communications Systems Inc. and McData Corp.
PreVatte said the switch problems stemmed from a third-party firm's recommendation that Coppin shift its Fibre Channel switch supplier from Brocade to McData, citing a need for the latter's high-end technology.
PreVatte also said that he has found the iSCSI technology far less complex than Fibre Channel.
"The iSCSI SAN was one of the smoothest installs I've ever done," PreVatte said. "Fibre Channel, on the other hand, is a complex animal and requires a lot of specialized knowledge. Installing our Fibre Channel SAN was just a nightmare. We had tons of grief and in fact still have tons of grief."
Market Growth
According to Gartner Inc., Coppin's iSCSI decision is part of a trend. Based on a Gartner survey, the consulting firm projects that by 2006, iSCSI technology will connect almost 1.5 million servers to SANs, more than any competing system.
Gartner analyst James Opfer said iSCSI won't replace Fibre Channel in the data center because of performance issues, but it will continue to grow substantially as a server consolidation technology, especially for low-end systems.
PreVatte said Coppin's new iSCSI SAN was installed in time to support a special project the school rolled out in June called Tegrity Notes. The program allows students to capture class notes digitally and then let the notes reside with recordings of the class that feature audio, video and notes presented by the instructor. The information is accessible on the Internet.
Overall, the school requires ever-increasing amounts of storage to support 1,400 computers on its data network, 650 IP-enabled phones and a new PeopleSoft deployment that eats up 8.6TB of storage space on the two Symmetrix arrays, PreVatte said.
PreVatte said the older Symmetrix arrays will continue to run Coppin's transactional databases that hold financial, human resources and student information, but there are no plans to add Fibre Channel capacity. Any new storage systems will be based on iSCSI technology, he said.
"I've had no problems with reliability of the EMC gear. Their storage has been extremely reliable," PreVatte said. "But I'm also dependent on outside resources, because if something doesn't do what it's supposed to be doing, I need someone who can fix the problems."