HP StorageWorks SAN (formerly LeftHand Networks) is the right move

Name: YEFREM KOZIN
Title: Manager, College Information Systems
Company: Los Angeles Valley College
Location: Valley Glen, Calif.

Favorite data center product: LeftHand Networks' NSM iSCSI storage systems (now the HP StorageWorks P4000 SAN)

I don't remember the exact year – maybe 2003 – but as soon as the industry adopted the iSCSI protocol, we bought one of the first LeftHand Networks' units. Now we have HP/LeftHand NSM2120 R2 storage units, six using SAS [serial-attached SCSI] drives and another six units equipped with SATA [serial ATA] drives. We've also deployed HP BladeSystem c7000 enclosures with ProLiant BL460/465 blade servers, and having 10G Ethernet connectivity to a storage system using HP ProCurve 5400zl switches tremendously improves the throughput, reliability and security of our network.

The system meets new requirements, such as increasing needs by different departments for more storage. With this system in place, we don't need to worry too much about losing data. We use two- and three-way replication [between two data centers and, for the most critical data, across a VPN to a district office], plus thin provisioning, to protect the data, stay within our budget and at the same time save energy.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Name: YEFREM KOZIN
Title: Manager, College Information Systems
Company: Los Angeles Valley College
Location: Valley Glen, Calif.

Favorite data center product: LeftHand Networks' NSM iSCSI storage systems (now the HP StorageWorks P4000 SAN)

I don't remember the exact year – maybe 2003 – but as soon as the industry adopted the iSCSI protocol, we bought one of the first LeftHand Networks' units. Now we have HP/LeftHand NSM2120 R2 storage units, six using SAS [serial-attached SCSI] drives and another six units equipped with SATA [serial ATA] drives. We've also deployed HP BladeSystem c7000 enclosures with ProLiant BL460/465 blade servers, and having 10G Ethernet connectivity to a storage system using HP ProCurve 5400zl switches tremendously improves the throughput, reliability and security of our network.

The system meets new requirements, such as increasing needs by different departments for more storage. With this system in place, we don't need to worry too much about losing data. We use two- and three-way replication [between two data centers and, for the most critical data, across a VPN to a district office], plus thin provisioning, to protect the data, stay within our budget and at the same time save energy.

Thin provisioning really helps to manage storage resources, allocating storage space as needed, and saves the college money during this difficult economic time.

On deck: VMware View 4

We've already virtualized our dual-home data centers using VMware products and have deployed an HP BladeSystem Blade PC infrastructure, and we're looking forward to deploying a VDI infrastructure as another important key in keeping our data centers in a "green zone." We have 2,500 plus computers, and a very small IT department, so deploying HP Blade PCs, and eventually VDI, also will help us maintain this infrastructure.

We're in the process of ordering an HP ProLiant BL465 blade server with 48GB of memory to be prepared for a VDI deployment. Based on our experience with VMware, I would say that we will use VMware View 4, plus HP Compaq t5730W thin clients with 2GB of RAM.

Dream tool: Affordable, clean agent fire protection suppression system

This type of system is available, but it is still cost-prohibitive for deployment in data centers -- at least at our campus.

'Greenest' product: HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) and KVM switches

The built-in iLO capability [in ProLiant servers] gives us full remote access to all network equipment/infrastructure without requiring additional products, such as computers and monitors, and power demands. To have the HP KVM system in the data center allows using almost no power and having access to hundreds of servers.

Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.