Unitek NetApp Training Blog

For a change of pace, I would like some feedback from users of the new FAS2000 series storage controllers.

For those who are unfamiliar with the FAS2000 series, this is NetApp’s new low end solution, filling a similar role to the FAS200 “shrunken head” series systems.  These are systems whose electronics are actually housed in the back of a disk tray.  The 2020 is most similar to the existing 200 series machines, as it has no expansion slot.  The 2050 has space for more drives and also has one expansion slot, so this system is significantly more flexible than the old 200 series.

One aspect of the FAS2000 series that I find particularly interesting is that they use 2.5 inch SAS disk drives.  This is the first use of this technology by NetApp.  Also, I understand that these drivers are rotating at 15,000 rpm, so they should be quite fast.  Looking at Seagate’s website, Seagate claims these are the fastest drives they manufacture.  Coming from a DBA perspective I find these drives very attractive.  I am uncomfortable with the trend of ever larger drives placing more and more storage behind a single head.  This is fine for backup products like SnapVault, perhaps even for home directories, but not good for database performance.

So for any FAS2020 and FAS2050 users out there:  what are you using these systems for and, if you are using the new SAS drives, what are your impressions?  Are you pleased with the performance?  Any reliability issues?

Thanks for responding.