3PAR Joins IP SAN Party

3PAR became the latest vendor to jump into iSCSI today, offering it as a standalone IP SAN or as an option with its Fibre Channel InServe Storage Server.

3PAR enables iSCSI connectivity by building in dual-ported QLogic iSCSI HBAs for TCP/IP offloading. InServe Storage Server is available with up to 16 iSCSI ports. (See 3PAR Offers iSCSI.)

That iSCSI strategy is closest to Network Appliance and Compellent among the competitors. The likes of EMC, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM offer separate Fibre Channel and iSCSI systems, with iSCSI usually relegated to low-end systems. EqualLogic, LeftHand Networks, and a bunch of smaller vendors sell IP-only SANs.

3PAR sees iSCSI as a way to offer multiple tiers of storage in the same system. That's similar to NetApp's unified storage approach that gives customers the option of Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and NAS in the same box. 3PAR offers NAS through a partnership with OnStor. Pillar Data also combines Fibre Channel SAN and NAS, but not iSCI yet.

One analyst says 3PAR's entrance into iSCSI shows that while iSCSI was struggling for acceptance a year ago, it is rapidly becoming an essential offering for storage vendors, even those that target high-end customers such as 3PAR. 3PAR's iSCSI is built for the enterprise, rather than SMBs or shops looking to network a few direct attached servers into a small SAN."They don't want to be left out of the iSCSI play," Arun Taneja says of the Taneja Group. "Not having iSCSI would be considered a bad thing moving forward."

Fibre Channel SANs are superior performers to iSCSI, but Taneja says even companies that require top performance for core applications usually have at least a few servers where they can go with IP. "Even when I have relatively expensive storage, I might have some servers that may not need high performance," he says. "If I have some spare capacity I can use, that's always better than having to go and buy something new."

Mark Douglas, VP of technology at online dating site eHarmony, envisions using 3PAR's iSCSI option to reduce Fibre Channel ports and save money. eHarmony became a 3PAR customer 14 months ago and has since expanded from 8 TBytes to 60 Tbytes spread over two large arrays. Douglas is adding eight iSCSI ports to each array.

Douglas is already running OnStor NAS gateways, and will use iSCSI to further reduce his reliance on Fibre Channel. He says he's been waiting for 3PAR to roll out iSCSI since he became a customer.

"We're trying to minimize the amount of Fibre we use; it's expensive," Douglas says. "We don't have an actual SAN network. 3PAR has an abundance of Fibre Channel ports built into its controllers. We prefer TCP/IP networks. As vendors bring out iSCSI, I think you're going to see people buy a lot less Fibre."Any savings on 3PAR's iSCSI won't come from the price of the system. The starting price is $115,000 for four iSCSI ports, which is comparable to pricing for its Fibre Channel prices. Douglas says the savings come from being able to use fewer Fibre Channel HBA and switch ports.

"NAS is not as fast as iSCSI, but it's easier to attach," Douglas says. "iSCSI gives us midrange performance for block-level storage. We use it where NAS would not be fast enough. Then, we use Fibre for database servers."

Dave Raffo, News Editor, Byte and Switch