Like most vendors websites HP’s is packed full of useful tools and information but sometimes finding it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. So over a number of posts I wanted to take a look at some of the tools available to help you plan and manage your HP 3Par SAN.
First up is the HP Storage Sizing Tool. The first thing to note about this it’s not just used for sizing HP 3Par but a large number of HP Storage products, the screenshot below shows the storage calculators tab, other tabs will let you size for backup products and SAN switches.
Of primary interest to us is of course the 3Par calculator, so let’s go ahead and launch it. It works in one of 2 modes to find requirements based on IOP’s or capacity. To enable you to put the calculator to work the key things you are going to need to know about your workload are:
- % of IOP’s coming from read v write
- Access method i.e. random v sequential
- Target response time
- Cache hit %.
Once your existing environments details have been input you then need to input a few more variables:
- The array type you will be using e.g. 7200
- The availability level you would like e.g. magazine
- Sparing Policy
- Plus the types of drive and RAID levels you are considering using
Next you decide how you want to size it on the basis of target IOP’s or capacity. Once you have entered your target for example 10, 000 IOP’s click add /save and the calculator will then display the number of disks and shelves you will need to meet this requirement. Also it will display key stats about the selected config such as capacity and backed IOP’s. A fully completed input is show below, in red is highlighted the required hardware and its key performance capabilities.
The good thing about the tool is its quick to run through a number of different scenarios and see which gives the best balance of performance, capacity and cost for you.
For the benefit of HP and their partners when you hit solve it will bring up a spreadsheet which will contain all the parts and services to be ordered and their cost. If you are a partner and would like to download The HP Storage Sizing Tool grab it from here . The tool also needs to be licenced (only available to HP and partners) you can find how to do this from the same link above.