HP Left-Hand P4000 SAN trial offer

HP LeftHand P4000 SAN Solutions deliver enterprise functionality that enhances virtual environments, simplifies management, and reduces costs. Easy to deploy, scale and maintain, HP P4000 SANs ensure that crucial business data remains available. The innovative approach to storage provides unique double fault protection across the entire SAN, reducing vulnerability without driving up costs the way traditional SANs can.

HP LeftHand P4000 Product Overview

Your storage needs are growing. You need a SAN for virtualized servers, and you want your next investment to have a long term payoff.

The HP LeftHand P4000 SAN Solutions are optimized for database and email applications, as well as virtualized servers. With a pay-as-you-grow, all-inclusive pricing model and intuitive storage management software, the SAN is perfect for the budget-minded.

Do high availability and disaster recovery seem out of your reach? The P4000 eliminates single points of failure across the SAN with an innovative approach to data availability, reducing risk without driving up costs.

Unsure that current storage can meet your future needs? Built on a storage clustering architecture, the HP P4000 SAN allows you to scale capacity and performance linearly without incurring downtime or performance bottlenecks, or forcing expensive upgrades.

Need creative ways to stretch your IT budget? Reservationless thin provisioning substantially increases your storage efficiency, making you look like a rock star.

HP LeftHand P4000 SANs Models At a Glance:

• Family of highly scalable, easy to use storage solution with superior HA and DR capabilities
• Consolidate storage for Windows and Linux environments, and for server virtualization environments
• Rack mount chassis form factor for Starter, Virtualization and Multi-site SAN solution
• Based on HP LeftHand SAN/iQ storage software
• Models with SAS or SATA drives
• Software included support for
  • Network RAID Synchronous Replication
  • Snapshot with Built In Application Integration
  • Remote Copy Asynchronous Replication with Bandwidth Throttling
  • Multi-Site HA/DR Solution Synchronous Replication
  • Online Volume Migration and Software Upgrades
  • Self-Healing Storage
• Storage Controllers: minimum of 2 per SAN, a cluster of 3 Storage systems provides triple redundancy
• Network RAID Levels (per volume) 0,2, 3, 4 protect against double disk, system, and site failures
• Hardware RAID Levels 10, 5, 6
• Hardware Availability features
  • Hot-plug hard drives and redundant power
  • ECC memory
  • Integrated storage controller w/ battery-backed DDR2 cache
  • Hyper-redundant clustered storage

All inclusive feature set enables enterprise functionality at an affordable price

• Storage Clustering simplifies scalability
  Storage Clustering allows a customer to consolidate multiple storage nodes into pools of storage. All available capacity and performance is aggregated and available to every volume in the cluster. As storage needs increase the HP P4000 can scale performance and capacity on-line.
• Network RAID delivers new levels of data availability
  Network RAID stripes and mirrors multiple copies of data across a cluster of storage nodes, eliminating any single point of failure in the HP P4000 SAN. Applications have continuous data availability in the event of a power, network, disk, controller, or entire storage node failure.
• Thin Provisioning reduces costs by increasing storage efficiency
  Thin Provisioning allocates space only as data is actually written without requiring pre-allocation of storage. This raises the overall utilization and efficiency of the HP P4000 SAN and ultimately increases the ROI.
• Snapshots simplify data protection
  Snapshots create thinly provisioned, instant point-in-time copies of data on a per-volume basis. Built in application integrated snapshots enable automated quiescing for Microsoft VSS enabled applications. Administrators can access HP P4000 SAN snapshots to recover individual files/folders from the volume, or rollback an entire volume to a prior state.
• Remote Copy reduces costs for disaster recovery
  Remote Copy replicates snapshots between HP P4000 SANs at primary and remote locations. Copies are thinly provisioned with no space reservation required at the remote location. Remote Copy enables centralized backup and disaster recovery on a per-volume basis.

Superior availability and disaster recovery

• Data remains available during site failures
  HP P4000 SANs stripe and mirror multiple copies of data across a cluster of storage nodes, eliminating any single point of failure in the SAN. Applications have continuous data availability in the event of a power, network, disk, controller, or entire storage node failure.
• Integrated replication for disaster recovery
  HP P4000 SANs include integrated replication at no additional cost that simplifies management with simple failover and failback.
• Change configurations without incurring downtime
  Administrators can add capacity, increase performance, grow and migrate volumes between HP P4000 SAN clusters on the fly with no application downtime.

Scalable Performance

• Purchase only what you need today
  Avoid up-front cost and the potential performance constraints. Purchase only what's needed today, then grow the performance, capacity, and redundancy of your HP P4000 SAN online as storage requirements evolve. Buying storage only when needed simplifies planning and relieves budget pressures.
• Scale performance and capacity simultaneously
  Each time a storage node is added to the HP P4000 SAN, the capacity, performance, and redundancy of the entire storage solution increases.
• Avoid disruptive upgrades
  Add resources to the HP P4000 SAN non-disruptively as capacity and performance requirements increase. Applications remain online during maintenance events for best in class availability.

Easy to manage SANs for virtualized environments

• Centralized Management Console
  Multiple data centers and sites can be managed from an all inclusive "single pane-of-glass." All of the HP P4000 SAN features are managed from the Centralized Management Console (CMC) for simple, easy-to-manage storage.
• Business continuance with integrated HA and DR
  Every HP P4000 SAN includes integrated synchronous and asynchronous replication at no additional cost. This approach reduces costs and simplifies management of high availability/fault tolerant and disaster recovery storage solutions.

HP LeftHand P4000 All Inclusive Software

Storage Clustering

• SAN/iQ Storage Clustering allows a customer to create pools of storage by consolidating storage nodes on the network into clusters. Storage Clustering provides online scalability, both within a volume and across the entire storage pool. All available physical capacity is aggregated and available to the volumes created on the SAN.
• In order to scale capacity and/or performance, the IT administrator simply adds nodes to the storage cluster. SAN/iQ software automatically redistributes the data for optimal data availability and performance. All the capacity, processing power, and bandwidth included in each node are aggregated into the entire SAN, ensuring an increase in performance as the SAN grows. To make the process even easier, LeftHand P4000 SANs let IT administrators expand volumes and add storage nodes online, without taking the volumes offline or causing application downtime.
• For increased access to hardware, customers can install storage nodes anywhere on the IP network. Within a facility, storage nodes in a cluster can be spread out between the server room and a network closet. A single cluster can also be spread across physical sites or data centers to eliminate the risk of data loss from a site or data center failure.
• Customers can use SAN/iQ Storage Clustering to implement different tiers of storage in their SAN. For instance a storage cluster of SAS-based storage nodes can be implemented for performance while a storage cluster of SATA-based storage nodes is implemented for higher density, all managed from a single interface.

Network RAID

• SAN/iQ Network RAID stripes and mirrors multiple copies of data across a cluster of storage nodes, eliminating any single point of failure in the SAN. Applications have continuous data availability in the event of a power, network, disk, controller, or entire storage node failure.
• SAN administrators can manage redundancy on a per-volume basis to optimize storage utilization and match the data protection of the volume to the application data on that volume. Customers choose one, two, three or four copies of data across the storage nodes, only allocating additional storage space for data that warrants additional protection. For increased protection, Network RAID can also be integrated into environments where application servers are clustered, enabling true, seamless, geo-cluster solutions that provide both application and storage clustering across geographies.

Thin Provisioning

• Most SAN vendors place the provisioning burden on SAN administrators, asking them to predict how much space will be needed in the future for volumes, snapshots and remote copies, and what the SAN's expected growth rate will be. That information is required because most storage provisioning models call for pre-allocation of storage space on the SAN. Errors in estimation are inevitable, and can be expensive or cause snapshots and backups to fail. Worse yet, if administrators over-allocate storage, it is nearly impossible to reclaim that unused space.
• LeftHand P4000 SANs do not require pre-allocation of storage space. SAN/iQ software manages all the storage allocations underneath a given volume, and the Thin Provisioning feature allocates space only as data is actually written to that volume. SAN/iQ Thin Provisioning allows customers to purchase only the storage needed today and then add more storage to the clusters as application data grows. This raises the overall utilization and efficiency of the SAN and ultimately increases the ROI associated with the SAN.

Snapshots

• Snapshots create instant point-in-time copies of data on a per-volume basis. Snapshots can be created in a variety of ways to meet business or application requirements. Administrators can create them manually ad-hoc, on a scheduled or scripted basis, or via the Microsoft VSS framework, and can then access these point-in-time snapshots to recover individual files or folders from the volume, or rollback an entire volume. Unlike most SAN vendors that require a snapshot reserve, SAN/iQ Snapshots are always thin provisioned for efficiency, only consuming storage space on the SAN for the data written to the snapshot, eliminating any upfront space reservation or guesswork that could lead to snapshot and backup job failures.
• Built into the SAN and Centralized Management Console, application integrated snapshots provide automated quiescing for Microsoft VSS enabled applications without additional software or hardware requirements.

Remote Copy

• SAN/iQ Remote Copy lets customers replicate thin provisioned snapshots between primary and remote locations. Because LeftHand remote copies are thin provisioned no space reservation at the remote location is required. Remote Copy is used for centralized backup and disaster recovery and can be set up on a per-volume basis. Remote copies placed on a recurring schedule allow customers to achieve point-in-time asynchronous replication of the data between locations, sites, or data centers.
• Integrated into the SAN/iQ Remote Copy software is intelligent bandwidth management ensuring that the data traffic can be sent across shared WAN links without adversely impacting other network traffic. Administrators simply set the bandwidth limit for remote copies between the two sites and the SAN/iQ software holds that limit.
• A failover/failback wizard is also included with Remote Copy for step-by-step, easy to execute disaster recovery procedures when needed most.
• Remote-Copy leverages application integrated snapshots to enable Microsoft VSS applications to be replicated in a quiesced state, providing faster application recovery.

Performance Management

• The SAN/iQ Performance Management System is designed from the ground up to make it easy to obtain the performance metrics that customers need, when they need them. One click of the mouse and the Performance Monitor is up and running in the Centralized Management Console (CMC) so there is no external software to install. The monitor provides a short list of relevant statistics and counters, letting administrators obtain performance metrics rolled up to their preferred level of abstraction.
• The SAN/iQ Performance Monitor provides performance information on a per-application server/virtual machine, logical volume, snapshot, storage cluster, and storage node basis, so there's no wading through irrelevant statistics in search of pertinent information. The Performance Monitor's graphical user interface is simple and elegant, and each statistic includes a detailed explanation of what it means for SAN performance.

SmartClone Technology

• SAN/iQ SmartClone technology instantly replicates data volumes and data sets into virtual copies or "clones" without requiring additional storage space. Each volume clone lets administrators save time and space in a variety of environments and applications, from server and desktop provisioning, to boot-from-SAN provisioning, to the rapid copying of production data into test and development environments.
• SmartClone technology is based on the space-efficient SAN/iQ Thin Provisioning architecture, and the volume clones can be used without limitation along with all other SAN/iQ features like Network RAID, Thin Provisioning, Snapshot, and Remote Copy. The feature works by taking any volume or snapshot and making one or many clones in an instant. The cloning function makes a permanent, read/write volume on the SAN, pointing back to the original volume's blocks instead of duplicating the blocks. By managing each clone as a pervasive volume, SmartClone eliminates any requirement for a volume, snapshot, or any of its predecessors to exist after the clone has been created, and also eliminates the need to run de-duplication software, because there are no duplicate blocks. The clone shares the original volume's blocks and uses copy-on-write semantics. SmartClone technology reduces storage costs and increases overall storage efficiency. Administrators can store "gold-master" system images on the SAN for virtual desktop and boot-from-SAN implementations, and quickly provision test environments using real production data. To simplify management, administrators can view all of the relationships between clones, volumes, and snapshots graphically in the Control Management Console.
• SmartClone technology leverages application integrated snapshots to enable Microsoft VSS applications to be cloned in a quiesced state, providing easier application testing and recovery.

Control Management Console

• The entire LeftHand P4000 SAN is managed from the SAN/iQ Centralized Management Console (CMC). An administrator simply connects via the IP network to the storage nodes. Multiple data centers and sites of storage can be managed from a "single pane-of-glass" no matter where the nodes are physically located. The CMC also includes an integrated Performance Monitor providing administrator with detailed, real-time metrics and the ability to export statistics. All of the SAN/iQ features are managed from the CMC for simple, easy-to-manage storage.

HP LeftHand P4000 Optional Software

Replication for Remote Offices

• For IT departments struggling to implement Disaster Recovery at remote sites, the HP LeftHand P4000 Replication for Remote Offices Solution Pack delivers IP based replication from remote and branch offices for a corporate-wide, cost-effective solution. Leveraging the HP LeftHand P4000 Virtual SAN Appliance Software (VSA), no SAN hardware is required at the sites. All sites including other HP LeftHand P4000 SANs are managed from a single console through a simple, user-friendly interface. The Remote Office Solution Pack is certified with VMware's Site Recovery Manager, delivering efficient, affordable SAN replication and failover management.
• Requires VMware ESX at each remote site and a Physical HP LeftHand P4000 SAN (any model) as the replication target.
• Software phone support and software upgrades inherited from the active HP LeftHand P4000 SAN support contract at the replication target.

Applied Technologies are offering the opportunity to trial HP’s P4000 Left Hand storage solution in your own infrastructure. This is a no obligation trial that will allow you to use and experience all of the inclusive software and features of the solution.

The following terms and conditions apply to this offer:

1. A pre-qualification call with one of our pre-sales staff will determine if the P4000 is suitable for your intended project.
2. A valid business need and potential requirement must be established for the trail to be possible.
3. Trail period lasts seven days. A cost thereafter to be agreed before the Trial begins.
4. Installation is the client’s responsibility; however the P4000 is designed to be intuitive.
5. It is advised that the client utilises the P4000 in a test environment only. Applied Technologies are not responsible for its use or your data in any way.
6. The client is responsible for completely removing all data before returning the unit.
7. Throughout the term of the trial, the unit will be covered by HP warranty, but must be returned in full working order and without damage in its original packaging.
8. Access to the loan pool is at Covenco Applied Technologies discretion only and this offer is subject to continued availability.