| Q1. |
Why is HP offering the HP StorageWorks 60 Modular Smart Array (MSA60)? |
| A1. |
HP realizes the importance of common platforms in the enterprise and is simplifying product offerings for HP customers. Commonality, reduced complexity, and reduced risk help to form the basic building blocks of the HP vision of storage as a utility. HP is committed to providing the latest technology to improve enterprise performance: the new MSA60 Enclosure provides a 2U disk drive storage enclosure supporting 3.5 inch SAS, Serial ATA (SATA) or SAS MDL drives. |
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| Q2. |
Why should customers purchase the MSA60? |
| A2. |
The HP StorageWorks 60 Modular Smart Array provides an end-to-end SAS storage solution for customers looking for high capacity external direct attach storage with built-in high availability/redundancy, enhanced performance and tiered storage flexibility. MSA60 supports customers requiring the flexibility of mixing SAS and SATA drives in the same enclosure. At HP, we realize the storage enclosure is a key storage building block for your current and future data center. That is why the Modular Smart Array 60 Enclosure undergoes extensive testing and qualification to ensure the highest level of reliability, compatibility, and interoperability. |
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| Q3. |
Can I cascade enclosure using the MSA60? |
| A3. |
Yes. The MSA60 supports the cascading of enclosures in a 1+3 configuration to allow a maximum of 48 drives in an 8U configuration behind each of the two external ports on the Smart Array P800 or the Smart Array E500 controller for a total of 96 drives in 8 enclosures. Behind the single external port on the HP Smart Array P600 controller or the HP SC44Ge Host Bus Adapter 1+3 cascading allows a maximum of 48 drives in an 8U configuration. |
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| Q4. |
What procedures does HP recommend to remove power from the MSA60? |
| A4. |
Although not required, HP strongly recommends using a HP UPS (Uninterruptible Power System) in conjunction with any server or storage products. This allows for a graceful shutdown of the server or enclosure. It is also recommended to plug the Modular Smart Array 60 Enclosures into one load segment and servers into a different load segment on the UPS. This allows for the enclosures to be powered off while maintaining power to the servers and other equipment within the environment. Learn more about HP UPS's and load segment control. |
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| Q5. |
Are drives included in the MSA60? |
| A5. |
No, drives must be ordered separately. |
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| Q6. |
In which rack cabinets can I install the MSA60? |
| A6. |
The MSA60 can be mounted in the current generation of HP 10K G2 rack cabinets including the 42U and 36U racks. For additional details check the product QuickSpecs. |
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| Q7. |
What array controllers and HBAs will work with the MSA60? |
| A7. |
The HP Smart Array P800, HP Smart Array P600 and HP Smart Array E500 controllers and the HP SC44Ge Host Bus Adapter. |
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| Q8. |
Serial SCSI has point to point connectivity. Does that limit the number of drives that can be connected? |
| A8. |
Point to point connection to drives ensure the best performance. Using expanders helps connect a large number of drives. In fact the MSA60 can cascade to four enclosures behind a single SAS port. |
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| Q9. |
Who are the target customers for the MSA60 family? |
| A9. |
The MSA60 is the perfect complement for ProLiant servers in the SMB market. SMB businesses will have either a small IT with an average of 4 servers at either a centralized IT center or a remote office.
The target - The mail application in SMB businesses would be Exchange, which is constantly overflowing for small businesses. SMB’s cannot afford shutdowns due to reaching capacity limitations.
Target industries would be:
- Healthcare, where we find small businesses struggling with HIPPA, who have no time to be continuously managing Exchange servers running out of space.
- Manufacturing, where many small and medium manufacturers are overly burdened in growing business and becoming compliant with inventory management. Businesses have no time to spend planning their Exchange growth and need simple scalability in order to spend more time on ERP and compliance.
- Retail for inventory systems and data marts
- Real estate for small, but growing websites of rich media files
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| Q10. |
Why is HP moving from Parallel SCSI to Serial SCSI? |
| A10. |
Storage technology is moving from parallel to serial SCSI and HP is leading the transition from parallel SCSI to serial SCSI. |
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| Q11. |
Why is HP offering these MSA60 enclosures with hard drive bundles? |
| A11. |
Bundles of MSA60 enclosures with integrated hard drives allows customers to easily add storage when buying a server. Bundles allow for easier ordering providing single SKU ordering for MSA60 enclosure and hard drives. These bundles are priced lower than a la carte offerings, cost effective and drives are factory integrated. |
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| Q12. |
Are the new MSA60 enclosures with hard drive bundles available worldwide? |
| A12. |
The MSA60 with hard drive bundles will be available in the Americas, Asia Pacific (AP) and Japan. They will not be available in Europe, Middle East and Africa. |
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| Q13. |
What is HP StorageWorks Dual Domain I/O Module Option? |
| A13. |
HP StorageWorks Dual Domain I/O Module Option is a field upgrade Option for dual domain:
- Creates redundant pathways from servers to storage devices to reduce or eliminate single points of failure within the storage network, providing increased levels of high availability with redundant paths from the controller to the drives
- Dual Domain support on HP ProLiant servers - Dual Domain support is available for the HP Smart Array P800 attached to a MSA60 with the addition of the HP StorageWorks Dual Domain I/O Module Option (AG779A). Dual Domain support requires HP Smart Array firmware v5.10 or higher and dual port SAS drives.
- Adds support for Multi-Initiator JBOD Clusters. I/O Module Option with the HP SC44Ge Host Bus Adapter will support HP-UX and OpenVMS on selected HP Integrity servers only.
- Support for HP Serviceguard software on HP-UX with HP-UX 11iv2 and 11iv3 only.
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| Q14. |
What Host Bus Adapter is required for Dual Domain capability? |
| A14. |
The HP SC44Ge Host Bus Adapter |
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| Q15. |
What is Dual Domain? |
| A15. |
Dual domain SAS creates redundant pathways from servers to storage devices. The redundant paths created by these configurations reduce or eliminate single points of failure within the storage network. This provides increased levels of high availability with redundant paths from the controller to the drives. Dual domain SAS implementations make it possible to tolerate host bus adapter (HBA) failure, external cable failure, expander failure, failure in a spanned disk (JBOD) environments. |
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