HPE Storage Users Group

Hello. I am bew to this board, 3par.

I am buying a used 3par 7200 - HP demo sys. The array have 32 drive LTU's licensed and registered, plus base ltu ofcourse.

I tried to contact HP about this question, but where not able to get a decent answer.

The question is, if i need to buy 32 new LTU's before i can use the system? In my head, i cant see why that should be nessecary, given the LTU's have been registered to this array already (in another persons name)

Thanks
Regards Mikkel

The key thing is making sure the support gets transferred to your name. You REALLY want this addressed in advance of it becoming a problem.

Currently there is no extra support, only default 3y hardware support/warranty - do i need to transfer that aswell?

Can you reply to the ltu question?

You cannot buy these units without a support agreement. Ex-demo - I don't know.

If you don't have access to proper support, you're going to be in for an interesting ride with this hardware. I would heavily advise against its use in production. You can't look at these things without HP getting involved.



I couldn't find any reference anywhere - including within HP partner information - regarding whether these can legally be transferred. All I can suggest is it's a bit grey.

I think you are misunderstanding me. The array is with default 3 year hardware warranty. I will ofcourse buy software support aswell - the only thing i have in doubt is weather i need to buy new drive and base ltu, and no one can tell me this!

The way to buy a (gently) used 3PAR is via "HP Renew". This is a fully sanctioned way to get discounted HP gear. The person that put the quote together should be able to answer all of your pricing questions.

If you received a proper Renew quote, it should have all of the licensing included.

_________________
Jeff Gray
Chief Technologist
MASE MASE MASE MCSE
OneView Whisperer
Arlington Computer Products

Hi Jeff. This is not hp renew, but demo system from ho demo room through a broker.

I spoke with hp today, and they finally answered my question. The ltu's registered on the array is still usable, but not transferrable. Great! I can move on.

Jeff, i see you're a storage architect, is this system a good system compared to similiar netapp, in your opinion?

Ive heard that 3par take a perf hot on autonomic tiering. However, it was something a netapp guy told me..

I'm of the opinion that 3PAR is a better architecture than NetApp. 3PAR is designed for block level storage, whereas NetApp bolts block on top of a filesystem. (So yes, 3PAR's NAS functionality is file bolted onto block...)

There are some concerns over the reactive nature of 3PARs tiering. (Adaptive Optmization) I think that what you heard was a reference to that. Rumor has it that a new release will offer real-time AO.

Both systems have their strong points and weaknesses, but for 95% of the scenarios, I'd bet on 3PAR being a better cost/performance play.

_________________
Jeff Gray
Chief Technologist
MASE MASE MASE MCSE
OneView Whisperer
Arlington Computer Products

You'll get marketing material from both ends. I'm more qualified to talk about the 3PAR's capabilities, and I know for a fact several of the "issues" raised by our local Netapp salesman aren't truthful.

I think everyone is capable of giving a LUN to a Windows server and having that Windows server manage file - level shares, whereas, as per jgmke's statement, getting a Windows admin more involved with the SAN in order to deal with file-shares complicates things.

I did a side by side bake off between Netapp and 3PAR, and we chose 3PAR based on our benchmark results. If there is any truth in the Netapp claims against 3PAR performance, I would have to counter with the 3PAR is still faster, even with AO running its batch cycles, than a netapp for block level access.

Netapp storage tiering is not tiering, its caching in SSD, Compellent can do this too, and I would speculate that 3PAR is working on that too. One thing Netapp is bad about is tiering. It is very difficult to move a volume non-disruptively from and FC aggregate to a SATA aggregate, something almost everyone else does effortlessly and non disruptively.

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Richard Siemers
The views and opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.