= DoC Private Cloud: Commodity Storage Servers =

CSG are investigating the hardware that could be used to realise the DoC cloud.  This page describes
various commodity hardware options for storage nodes.

Under this category, we require servers with many disk-slots.  We chose a 2.5in disk form-factor over a 3.5in one since we prefer more spindles rather than raw capacity.  In addition, RAID re-build speeds will be faster with smaller-capacity 2.5in disks.  The current maximum capacity of Enterprise 2.5in drives, however, is 1TB.

We considered HP, Dell, IBM and Oracle (Sun):

== HP ProLiant DL380p Gen 8 Server ==

[[http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF05a/15351-15351-3328412-241475-241475-5177957.html?dnr=1|HP ProLiant DL380p Gen 8 Server spec]]

Quote from ProLinx (ICT's server supplier): '''£10,208.00'''.

 . 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2650 2.00GHz, eight-core CPUs.
 . Sixteen 2.5in drive-bay slots (populated with 1TB SAS 7200RPM hard-disks). 
 . 64GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz ECC RAM.

== Dell PowerEdge R720xd option 1 ==

[[http://www.dell.com/uk/enterprise/p/poweredge-r720xd/pd|Dell PowerEdge R720xd spec]]

Quote from Dell: '''£7,173.99'''.
 . 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2640 six-core 2.5Ghz CPUs
 . Twenty-four 2.5in drive-bay slots (populated with 1TB SAS 7200RPM hard-disks). 
 . Two rear 2.5in drive-bay slots (populated with 146GB SAS 15000RPM hard-disks).
 . 64GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz ECC RAM.
 . 2 x 10GbE NICs.

== Dell PowerEdge R720xd option 2 - different disk option ==

[[http://www.dell.com/uk/enterprise/p/poweredge-r720xd/pd|Dell PowerEdge R720xd spec]]

Alternatively, the same model Dell costs '''£1,200.00''' less for the same configuration with twelve 3.5in drive-bay slots populated with 2TB SAS 7200RPM hard-disks,
viz:

Quote from Dell: '''£5,965.00'''.
 . 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2640 six-core 2.5Ghz CPUs
 . Twelve 3.5in drive-bay slots (populated with 2TB SAS 7200RPM hard-disks). 
 . Two rear 2.5in drive-bay slots (populated with 146GB SAS 15000RPM hard-disks).
 . 64GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz ECC RAM.
 . 2 x 10GbE NICs.

This is significantly cheaper, and potentially the 3.5in drive bays could take 3TB (and bigger in future) hard disks for future expansion.
On the other hand, there are only 12 disk spindles rather than 24, performance is often directly proportional to spindles.

== IBM System x3650 M4 ==

[[http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/uk/x/hardware/rack/x3650m4/index.html|IBM System x3650 M4 spec]]

Quote from QAssociates: '''£10,188.70'''.

 . 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2640 six-core 2.5Ghz CPUs.
 . fourteen 2.5in 1TB SAS 7200RPM hard-disks.
 . two 146GB SAS 15000RPM hard-disks.
 . 64GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz ECC RAM.
 . 2 x 10GbE NICs.

== Oracle Sun Fire X4270 M3 Server ==

[[https://shop.oracle.com/pls/ostore/f?p=dstore:product:3661837664325387::NO:RP,6:P6_LPI,P6_PPI:114383329111691951956617|Sun Fire X4270 M3 Server spec]]

No quote; known to be quite expensive, and we have not bought Suns since Oracle bought the company and withdrew most of the server range.  Can be configured like the Dell PowerEdge R720xd.