HP to link its newest storage with 3000s

XP256 RAID units, AutoRAID go online with MPE/iX

After years of relying on high-end storage devices built by outside companies, HP is ready to offer its own array of 3000-capable RAID devices under the HP SureStore E brand: the SureStore E XP256 Array and the SureStore E Array 12H.

HP first introduced support of the XP256 with a patch on top of MPE/iX 5.5 PowerPatch 7. Patch MPEKXL9 lets the 3000 support the XP256, along with Windows NT, Unix and mainframe environments. The XP256 also offers multiplatform Storage Area Network (SAN) support with connections to HP-UX, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX and NT environments. Patches MPEKXU3 and ARMKXW5 on top of MPE/iX 6.0 are required for using the Array 12H.

HP is connecting its newest storage devices to the HP 3000 through a SCSI-to-FiberChannel converter. These arrays use FiberChannel to connect to HP servers, but the 3000 won’t be supporting native FiberChannel for several years to come. A third-party device made by Vicom Systems (650.964.6200, www.vicom.com) bridges the protocol gap to give 3000s access to the XP256 units, which have capacity ranging from 60Gb up to 9 terabytes, and the Array 12H units, with capacities from 9Gb to 1.3 terabytes. HP standardized the naming of its storage units by changing the name of its HP AutoRAID devices to SureStore E 12H earlier this year.

The Vicom unit uses its own SLIC (Serial Loop IntraConnect) implementation of FC-AL, SSA, SCSI, and ANSI standards, transparent to users and administrators. It connects the HP 3000’s Fast/Wide SCSI ports to the Fiber Channel cabling, in either copper or fiber, supported by the SureStore devices.

HP spent the summer certifying the SCSI command set for the Vicom device, a command set which “is very wide, and not everybody uses the same parts of it,” said HP product marketing manager Alex Early. “Otherwise you’ll run into problems like having a command not being recognized by a target.” Early said HP was also certifying the SCSI command set in the bridge unit for HP’s DLT tape drives to the HP 3000.

“Our goal is for customers to be able to buy [the Vicom unit] from HP,” said engineer Walt McCullough of the 3000 division. “We had basic functionality for the XP256 in July.”

McCullough also said HP is taking steps to replace the EMC Symmetrix storage arrays with its own XP256 arrays, making substitutions for the specialized Symmetrix software features. Business Copy replaces EMC’s TimeFinder, to allow customers to make local copies of data for online backup, application development and testing. HP expects to have Business Copy ready for the 3000 this month.

SRDF, the continuous mirroring capability in the Symmetrix units, will take longer to replace. HP will use Continuous Access XP to mirror stored data at a remote locations for disaster recovery, but that software will be certified for HP 3000s in a release later than MPE/iX 6.0 Express 1.

HP has also released six other applications to support the XP256 units. Secure Manager secures data from unauthorized users when many servers access the same storage subsystem through a Storage Area Network (SAN). Performance Manager monitors, manages and reports the array’s performance. Remote Control enables remote access to the data and storage management features of the array. A LUN Configuration Manager allows the customer to define, configure and maintain open-systems logical units (LUNs), and a Cache LUN locks stored data in cache memory for fast access. Resource Manager allows true resource sharing for mixed mainframe and open systems configurations.

HP also plans to support the array’s RAID Manager software in the future for HP 3000s, server-based software that will allow customers to control Continuous Access XP and Business Copy XP.

Some 3000 customers are probably still looking at EMC’s Symmetrix units, McCullough said. “They make a good product, but we feel we now have a better one,” he said. Customers and analysts on the HP World show floor said they were looking forward to having a single point of supply for high-capacity RAID units. Some complained about the cost of the EMC solutions and the complexity of coordinating support for the devices.

Both the XP256 and Array 12H (AutoRAID) devices can be used as boot disks for the HP 3000, McCullough said. He warned that customers might encounter performance and capacity issues if using those devices configured as LDEV 1 — because of RAID 5 performance issues, and the fact that HP doesn’t support more than 4Gb on LDEV 1, even though a 12H or XP256 disk might be as large as 18Gb.

HP was also saying the XP256 units could be used for load balancing “if all you’re doing on the XP256 is offloading backup to another machine,” McCullough said.