In 2010, HPE attained 3PAR, which boosted their market share in the storage sector, giving them a competitive edge against the likes of EMC, DELL and IBM.
This particular flash optimised offering from HPE has been successfully implemented in mid-range and enterprise level storage arenas.
What is HPE 3PAR Storage?
Providing rapid automating provisioning the flash optimised storage from HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage is a family of flash optimised systems that leverages a multi-tenant design and has deduplicating capabilities from its hardware. HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage does all of this from a single tier 1 storage system created for availability and data security.
With 8-times faster provisioning compared to non-flash alternatives, StoreServoffers 75% capacity savings. By optimising your flash storage, you could be saying around $1.50 per usable GB depending on the StoreServ solution.
HPE 3PAR StoreServ has a variety of solutions enabling you to make sure you are getting the right fit for your business. Storage is not a one size fits all solution, so HPE 3PAR have designed different levels of capabilities so that you are not spending more than you need to when migrating to HPE 3PAR StoreServ. The mid-range and most affordable product is the StoreServ 8000 storage system and at the top of the scale, there is the StoreServ 20000 storage system. There is a StoreServ offering for every level of client.
Technical Overview
As mentioned previously the HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8000 is considered the more entry level offering. This flash (/hybrid) storage system offers up to four controller nodes and 4-24 host ports. It operates on 0-8 fibre channels, and has a maximum raw capacity of 750 to 3000TiBs.
The StoreServ 20000 on the other hand is a more advance machine, while still offering a flash and hybrid environment for enterprises looking to do massive storage consolidation. With double the controller nodes, it also can host up to 160 ports. Unlike the StoreServ 8000 the 20000 operates on -160 fibre channels and has a raw capacity of 3900 to 6000 TiB.
Integration
HPE 3PAR has been a partner with VMware for quite some time, meaning that integration is relatively seamless with VSphere and VCentre Server. By utilising plug-ins for provisioning, 3PAR storage integrates nicely with VMware solutions.
The following figure illustrates VMware VVols integration with shared storage:
Most companies looking to build or add to a SAN they have a mixed environment, which usually requires new technologies to integrate with existing platforms, hardware and software. Luckily, for those looking to more to a StoreServ offering HPE 3PAR does just that.
As well as supporting VMware integration, 3PAR also supports a number of Windows Server features, including Offline Data Transfer (ODX) and a host of data security features.
HPE 3PAR StoreServ Architecture Overview
Learn about the HPE 3PAR StoreServ storage architecture in this video:
HPE 3PAR StoreServ has been designed and created with scalability in mind. Offering products for a variety of client levels, 3PAR has scalable solutions that allow seamless upgrades from one level to another through innovative applications and workloads. It is worth noting that 3PAR can do this in one, automatically tiered storage array.
3PAR StoreServ, when combined with Rapid RAID, enables users to scale up to RAID mirroring storage capabilities. 3PAR StoreServ offers a thin built-in with their ASIC technology, which works extremely well in virtual environments, permitting double virtual-machine density for increased consolidation.
You get the best of both worlds with the Mesh-Active feature controller for virtualised, and cloud environments. This gives you the best of both modular and monolithic environments.
The architecture of HPE 3PAR StoreServ is mainly built around virtualisation and cloud environments, which is made clear from the fine-grained virtualisation and wide stripping architecture. With this technology, you can allocate units to virtual volumes.
Setting up HPE 3PAR Storage
Understandably most enterprise level HPE 3PAR clients will have the in-house capabilities to set up their storage arrays on premise, however if you don’t have the man power to implement this technology, we can offer trained and accredited professionals who can help with the migration or upgrade to HPE 3PAR.
