Re: config for a low end 710 or 720

Everyone,

I was under the impression that mirroring was always faster than raid5
(specially in older systems with low cache controllers).
Did controllers get to a point where 4 drives in RAID5 are faster than
2 mirror pairs on the same controller?

Best Regards,


On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Pete Massiello - ML
<pmassiello-ml@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Jim,

I was a beta site for both the USB & SATA RDX. You can use the SATA with 6.1 plus some PTFS as well. You are correct in stating the USB requires V7R1 w/TR5.

There is certainly a cost difference between the LTO5 and the RDX, but we found the LTO5 to be more than twice as fast as well. Also, an LTO5 is 4,000 list as an internal tape device. The SATA was also faster than the USB attached from our tests. I think this is a good low-end technology, but I would say it is NOT a straight tape replacement. The RDX is a virtual optical, and you don't just use this as a tape drive replacement. To me, that is a problem for customers wanting to do an "easy" swap. You don't do an INZTAP against an RDX, you can't just do a SAVLIB to it, without treating it as an optical device.

While I really like the technology, I am concerned about the need to treat this as an optical vs a tape.

Pete

--
Pete Massiello
iTech Solutions
http://www.itechsol.com
http://www.iInTheCloud.com





-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jim Oberholtzer
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2012 7:40 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: config for a low end 710 or 720

I agree with Kirk, the 720. As many drives as you can stuff in there (remember disk arm performance) with RAID6 and your almost as safe as
mirroring. I don't see any mention of LPAR but remember with a 720 4
way, you need to host the LPARs on IBM i or VIOS if you need them. (Now your using an HMC or LVM as well)

I would have a real serious look at the internal RDX drive (the usb attach I have works but it's slower) for back up. Looks and reacts like a DVD on massive steroids. I've done all manner of testing with it and it does well. Two concerns; first the cartridges are more expensive than tape, but because they are really 2.5 inch hard drives they don't have some of the drawbacks of tape either. The second is speed. They are a bit slower than LTO but if that's not an issue.....

Now the real kicker. LTO5 internal on a 710/720 = $5000. RDX internal = (about, I have not seen final pricing) $700. You can buy a lot of RDX carts for that kind of money. RDX carts run from 360Gb to 1TB.

V7 with TR5 is required for the RDX units. They have a USB unit that plugs into any of the USB ports on the 720, sweet. As my customers all get to TR5 I'm using the RDX unit for PTF application etc. Avoids using the storage on the system and it's fast enough, particularly on systems with only a four drives, to make sense.

Sorry if this sounded a bit like a commercial but the technology is really cool, finally available to IBM i, and no one seems to be talking about it.

Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects


On 12/4/2012 9:07 PM, Kirk Goins wrote:

Jim,
Frankly from a performance point I do not like mirroring, maybe on the
720 with the cache it may be fine. Day to day use OK, but PTFs,
Upgrades etc I really like a 4 drive Raid set.

I don't think you can get less than 8Gb these days and as long as they
don't want to run WebQuery, WebSphere etc then 8 will be fine.

Tape if you can get then to spend the money then LTO is the way to go.
I have only sold 1 system with a DAT drive and it worked but compared
to LTO it took forever to do much of anything. the720's can have the
LTO5 internally and LTO4 media has gotten cheaper than 1/4inch media.

IBM will tell ya the 710 was designed for Linux/AIX and I am not sure
you can get a Deskside model

On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 6:52 PM, franz400<franz400@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Looking for recommendations (they already have the BP) for a low
end system, Replacing a couple Advanced 36 systems, one local,
other will be remote via vpn.
Will run programs in s36 mode, but hopefully they will add newer
features (email, advanced printing (pdf), some edi, light web
hosting) Each system currently has 3 - 5 users each.

Considering the 8202 DAT tape drive - i see they now offer a usb attach.
2- 146 Gig drives mirrored (maybe 4) - (is there a better option?
have occasional need for up to 80 gig useable) tower model (under
a desk)
i7.1
legacy dev tools
sql development tool
system i access
(having trouble finding weblink of software products avail to review...


How much memory needed to drive system and up to 10 users and
couple printers, with room to expand?
How limiting is the entry 710 vs entry 720?

Since it appears 1/4 inch cartridge tape not supported, am
expecting to ftp the libraries from an intermediary (520) system. Any other options?

Even though BP will answer these, I appreciate the experience on this list.

Jim Franz


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