The Hewlett-Packard (HP) 3PAR StoreServ 7000 series is a line of large enterprise SAN arrays and a file controller that offers high data availability and reliability. The array comes in three configurations: StoreServ 7400, StoreServ 7200 for block storage and StoreServ File Controller for file storage.
The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 comes with two or four controller nodes, and carries up to four six-core 1.8 GHz processors. It has a total cache of 700 GB to 1,564 GB, of which 768 GB to 1,500 GB can be used for an optional flash cache. The total on-node cache is 32 GB to 64 GB. The StoreServ 7400 comes with 24 host ports, of which up to eight can be used as 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) iSCSI ports. Alternatively, users can assign all 24 ports as Fibre Channel (FC) host ports. The unit does not have 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) or 10 GbE network ports. It supports a maximum of 2,048 initiators, which are the endpoints in a data center that initiate an iSCSI session by sending an iSCSI command. The StoreServ 7400 also has a two 2U SAS-connected controller enclosure that supports up to a total of 480 disk drives, or 240 solid-state drives (SSDs), for up to 1.2 petabytes (PB) of raw capacity.
The StoreServ 7400 and 7200 support RAID in configurations 0, 1, 5 and 6.
The 3PAR StoreServ 7200 is one step below the 7400 model, and offers roughly half the capacity. It has two four-core processors at 1.8 GHz, with a total cache of 792 GB and an optional flash cache of 768 GB, with 24 GB of on-node cache. It has a maximum of 12 host ports, of which up to four can be assigned to 10 Gbps iSCSI. Alternatively, all 12 can be assigned as FC ports. Like the 7400, the 7200 does not support 1 GbE or 10 GbE network ports. It has a maximum of 1,024 SCSI initiators, and supports up to 240 disk drives or 120 SSDs, and has a total storage capacity of 400 TB.
The StoreServ 7400 and 7200 support RAID in configurations 0, 1, 5 and 6. They both offer 2:1 through 8:1 ratios of data-to-parity in RAID 5, and 4:2, 6:2, 8:2, 10:2 and 14:2 ratios in RAID 6. The StoreServ 7200 has a maximum of nine add-on drive enclosures, and the 7400 has up to 22. These drive enclosures can hold up to 24 drives in a 2U for small form factor drives or 4U for large form factor drives.
The StoreServ File Controller is a converged storage system on the StoreServ meant for file-level storage. It has up to eight controller nodes, up to 16 four-core processors at 2.4 GHz, and up to 128 1 GbE or 10 GbE network ports. It can support only two disk drives per node, with a maximum capacity of 300 GB for operating system mirroring. It supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 6, with the same data-to-parity ratios as the StoreServ 7400. It does not support SSDs.
The StoreServ units are covered by a three-year on-site warranty service, and 24/7 support with a remote response time of four hours and an on-site response for the next business day. StoreServ 7000 series units also have one year of HP Software Support during standard business hours. Pricing for the 3PAR StoreServ 7000 platform is confidential, but units can be found online for prices ranging between $6,000 and $40,000. HP also offers some units in the StoreServ 7000 series as smaller SAN kits, bundled with switches and other necessary accessories.
