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An RFP is the first step to SAN implementation

I am looking for a storage solution for a telecom company. Currently, servers are running on individual hardware boxes. We will move all of these servers to a standard high-end server and implement a SAN to store our data. Critical applications is billing software with 200GB database, currently running on SQL, will be migrated to oracle.

Please suggest how to implement a SAN with a data growth consideration of a few terabytes and access at the rate of 6 million transactions per day.

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Any SAN vendor should be able to provide you with a solution to meet your needs. If I were you, I would put out an "RFP" (request for proposal) to all the major SAN vendors in your area and see who comes back with the best solution at the right price for your budget. I cannot make specific recommendations for you since I am always vendor neutral in my responses here.

Your RFP should include detailed specifics about your requirements, and then ask the hard questions of your vendors:

* Product descriptions
* Company viability
* Supported platforms
* Performance
* Connectivity
* Disaster recovery
* Reliability
* Power consumption/Floor space requirements
* Product lifecycle
* Guarantees
* Warranties
* Costs
* Service/Support
* Training

In your case, the most important question would be about performance, since you need to support 6 Million TPD. Check out this previous ATE about the RFP process that may help.

Chris

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This was first published in February 2004

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