Product Reviews

HP has traditionally preferred to rub shoulders with mid-sized businesses and enterprises for its network storage products. But the latest StorageWorks all-in-one products mark a sea change, being aimed squarely at the SMB. The family consists of two models, and in this exclusive review we take a closer look at the top-of-the-range AiO600.

The philosophy behind AiO products is providing SMBs with easily managed network storage that can be swiftly configured and deployed. The AiO600's main focus is on application serving, and as such provides iSCSI targets for storage and automated data migration for Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server systems. It does support other apps, but these need to be defined manually to the appliance. It also functions as a NAS appliance, and supports the CIFS/SMB and NFS protocols for Windows, Linux and Unix clients. Data protection is on the menu too: along with snapshot services over iSCSI, HP's StorageWorks Data Protector Express is integrated.

The AiO600's foundation is a capable ProLiant ML350 G5 server equipped with six high-performance SAS hard disks mounted in hot-swap carriers. The power behind this particular throne is a customised Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 R2. For installation and general management, you have a number of paths, and the easy option is to stick a monitor and keyboard on the appliance and manage it locally. For standard remote management, a key feature of WSS2003 R2 is that the old, blocky web interface of its predecessor is gone, as the appliance is now accessed via RDP connections. However, along with the Windows Remote Desktop Connection tool, you can access the appliance with a browser, which will automatically download an RDP ActiveX control. As all ProLiant servers now come with an iLO2 (integrated Lights-Out 2) chip, you can also access the server remotely through its secure management port.

For initial setup, a rapid startup wizard gets you quickly through the boring bits. Wizards are available for Exchange and SQL servers, defining other apps and creating shared folders. Before you can play with the first two options, an AiO

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agent must be installed on the relevant servers. This also loads the Microsoft iSCSI initiator and the volume shadow copy iSCSI provider to allow snapshots to be taken. We tested using a server running MDSE2000, which the routine spotted, offering to migrate the database onto the appliance. The host system's iSCSI initiator is automatically configured with two targets for the DAT and log files, and the transition is almost seamless. We also migrated a Backup Exec SQL database across to the appliance; the software warned it had lost contact with its database, but after restarting the services it reconnected successfully and was none the wiser that its data and log files were now on an IP SAN.

The wizard also offers options for directly configuring the backup software and creating a backup schedule. You can configure snapshots here, which can be fired off at predetermined times. Apart from integrating with the hosted service wizards, though, Data Protector Express is a separate entity used to schedule general backup and data-restoration tasks and create virtual tape libraries. Virtual tape drives over iSCSI aren't supported, but you can also create your own iSCSI virtual disks from Microsoft's iSCSITarget plug-in and decide which initiators are allowed to access them.

Along with the extras from HP, you get all the usual trimmings from WSS2003 R2, including file and volume quotas. Templates make light work of this task and you can decide whether they should be hard or soft. The former blocks users from accessing more space if they've exceeded their quota, the latter merely reports the breach. The file-screening option lets you decide which files are allowed on the appliance, and the storage report tools are also thrown in.

We've always found WSS2003 R2 easy to use when delivering shared storage, so before committing to the HP AiO600 take a look at alternatives based on this OS (also read the review of the AiO400 on our sister website, www.itpro.co.uk). The data-protection and snapshot features will prove useful, but file-sharing wizards are already implemented in the base OS, so HP's tools don't add any real value for NAS.

The key extra benefits the AiO appliances offer are the ability to migrate data from active apps onto a central repository, and ease of implementation - no-one else offers this single-box solution. HP's ProLiant ML350, together with the fast and reliable SAS hard disks, make this an excellent platform too, and add to the AiO600's feeling of value. In particular, firms with existing Exchange or SQL Server services will find the AiO600 offers an easy way to move critical data onto a dedicated appliance.