SQL Server Magazine

iSCSI SAN Storage Hardware
EqualLogic PS300E/PS400E

In our company we were using a Fibre Channel SAN that simply wasn’t working out. Aside from the natural complexities of configuring and maintaining Fiber Channel LUNs, we were also having reliability issues with the IBM Inrange Fibre Channel Director. We went through round after round with IBM and third-party support but the solution never worked right. We needed another solution, and we decided on iSCSI SAN storage arrays.

I ran across EqualLogic at a local trade show many years ago. I wasn’t even looking for storage at the time; we had installed an IBM Fibre Channel SAN less than a year prior. It was about a year after that first meeting that we made the switch from Fibre Channel to iSCSI. We did a full review of the major iSCSI vendors and ultimately chose to buy an EqualLogic PS200 array.

The first array we purchased took a few hours to install due to misconfiguration of our Fibre Channel ports, but in general a new PS array can be out of the box and online within an hour. We’ve had no failures or major issues since implementing EqualLogic. We’re currently using several EqualLogic PS arrays, including one EqualLogic PS300E and two EqualLogic PS400E units.

What made us choose EqualLogic over other vendors was how easy it was to use, as well as a full feature set that moved it to the head of the pack in the “most bang for the buck” category. It was jaw-dropping to experience just how much more our new, inexpensive SAN could do than the old, expensive SAN for no additional cost, such as replication and snapshots. Linear scalability for both capacity and performance were also very appealing and have since proven to be valuable features.

The features I like best about the EqualLogic products are the simplicity, reliability, and performance. I don’t need to interface with the SAN on a daily basis, it doesn’t need lots of attention, and when I do work with it the experience is quick, intuitive, and reliable. Snapshots, replication, volume cloning, pooling, and tiering are all great features and have made EqualLogic a long-term investment for us.

There are some things I would like to see improved in future versions. I’d really love it if reboots were no longer necessary when doing firmware updates, and the reporting and monitoring interface could use some updates as well. Monitoring is probably the weakest area of the UI.

I couldn’t begin to calculate the amount of time and stress we’ve saved by using EqualLogic over Fibre Channel. The fact that we decided to completely phase out our Fibre Channel SAN before it was even completely paid for speaks volumes: It was replaced exclusively by EqualLogic Peer Storage.

Manage Network Resources via an Appliance
KACE Systems KBOX 1100

I was looking for a way to streamline the distribution of patches and improve our Help desk solution in our office IT environment. I’d learned about the KBOX appliance by reading an IT trade publication and decided to give it a try. We selected the KBOX 1100 appliance, which can track hardware and software inventory, set configuration policy, distribute software and patches, and which provides an integrated Help desk solution. All of the KBOX features are accessible through a Web-based interface.

Overall the KBOX 1100 was very easy to deploy. We did encounter a few issues with agent deployment but were able to resolve them fairly quickly with KACE Support. The Web-based management GUI makes the product very easy to use and administer. When we have needed technical support we’ve been happy with the results.

In terms of our Help desk activities, the KBOX does a great job of keeping a complete database of all of our Help tickets and their current status. It even integrates with our hardware and software inventory, and it also allows me to pull Help desk reports by users and departments. We can see if some users keep having the same problems and can then use that information to make a training recommendation. The KBOX Help desk feature has saved us a lot of time. Although it’s a little hard to measure the exact amount of time we’ve saved, having all the info we need to follow up on a ticket in one place has helped us respond more quickly and easily to Help requests.

The KBOX has many features, but a few of my favorites are the easy, reliable patching; the integrated inventory and Help desk; and the scripting engine. There is some room for improvement, and I think that the ability to save customized lists of users would be helpful. I also think the Web GUI tends to log off users too quickly, so I wish there was a setting we could adjust for that.

Those complaints aside, I have to say that I’ve been very happy with the KBOX 1100 and would be happy to recommend it to other IT managers.

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