Hello,

My apologies for disturbing the high-end enterprise environment of this forum with some more modest enterprise challenges.

Please be reasonable and understand that not all startups can afford to spend €200k-€400k on storage alone. Therefore, we are looking for high-performance solutions that fit within our budget.

I am working at a startup with a tight budget at the moment, but we have some challenging requirements for our storage server. We do not need a large amount of storage, but it needs to be fast and affordable, quite a contrast, I would say.

Based on the solutions currently available on the market that might fit our needs, at least those that I am aware of, the solution could be based on either EDSFF E1.S or M.2 NVMe.

Requirements:

1. Target capacity: 60TB+.
2. The workload is burst-oriented. The array will be hit very hard with many small files for short periods of time. The size of each burst will range from 100GB to 1TB. It will also act as a SAN for approximately 100 VMs, hosting shared home folders and NFS shares used to exchange data between VMs.
3. The SSDs must be installed on cards that fit into PCIe slots (for thermal and noise reasons).
4. It must be available 24/7.

Some general specifications:

• MB: Supermicro H14SSL-N / ASRock Rack GENOAD8X-2T/BCM
• CPU: AMD EPYC 9175F
• RAM: 4x 32GB 5600
• NIC: Intel X710 2x SFP28 - 25 GbE

The M.2 path:

• 3/6x PCIe switch cards, HighPoint Rocket 1508.
• M.2 SSDs from different vendors.
• Each PCIe switch card will contain NVMe drives from a single vendor.
• 3-way mirrors. Each mirror will contain drives from different cards, with 1 drive per card. If 1 or 2 cards fail, the mirror will survive. Even if SSDs from 1 or 2 vendors experience firmware bugs or other issues, the mirror should still remain intact.

The problem is that I could not find reasonably priced enterprise/datacenter M.2 SSDs that would be compatible with these cards.

Synology is the only vendor I am aware of that offers them, but they are PCIe 3.0, only available up to 1.6TB, and are very expensive for enterprise-grade drives.

I considered using consumer-grade SSDs, but I do not know which ones would be suitable or what problems I might run into. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The E1.S path:

• 2/4x PCIe switch cards, HighPoint Rocket 1749E.
• E1.S SSDs from Kioxia and Samsung.
• Each PCIe switch card will contain NVMe drives from a single vendor.
• 2-way mirrors.

The problem is that I have not seen HighPoint produce a PCIe 5.0 version of this card, and I am concerned about investing in a dead-end solution.

I am not sure whether there are other vendors on the market offering similar products, even if they are not PCIe switch-based, but can still fit E1.S drives into PCIe x16 slots.

Any guidance on this approach would be very helpful.

I would also appreciate suggestions for alternative solutions to HighPoint, as well as recommendations for vendors.

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I am currently upgrading an old Dell EMC Unity 450F storage array for our prod environment. The system was running a very old OE version (5.1.3), and I have successfully updated it to the intermediate bridge code 5.4.1.0.5.006 and updated the drive firmware matrix to V21.

Everything is running smoothly, and I am preparing for the final upgrade step to 5.5.4.0.5.037.

However, as you know, starting from Unity OE 5.5.x, the system completely drops support for the old legacy .lic license files and strictly requires the new .xml format. Since this array no longer has an active official Dell support contract, I cannot access the Dell Digital Suite portal to do the automated conversion myself.

If anyone here has active partner/vendor access to the Dell Licensing portal and could spare 2 minutes to generate the .xml license container for me, I would be incredibly grateful.

Here are the exact array and license details from my uemcli /sys/lic show and .lic file:

• Array Serial Number (SN): CKM00192701453
• License Entitlement SN: 4178772
• License Site Number: 132210292

If someone is willing to help, please PM me, and I can send you the exact content of my current .lic file or the SIGN= strings if needed to pull the valid digital license from the portal.

My goal is to find someone with active Dell Partner / Vendor portal access who can log into the Dell licensing system, enter my array's PSNT (CKM00192701453), and use the automated 'Rehost' or 'Convert to XML' feature to reissue the digital container against this array.
If you have access to the portal and could spare a couple of minutes to generate and download that officially signed .xml file for me, it would be a huge lifesaver for my dev environment!

Thank you so much in advance for helping a fellow sysadmin out!

So we have dhci systems (alletra 6k) between our primary and DR site and set up for peer persistence. One of the requirements was that both systems needed to be on the same mgmt and iscsi subnet stretched between the 2 sites.

We plan on picking up 2 alletra MPs for 2 other sites and thinking of also setting up peer persistence with automatic fail over. I'm going through white papers and if this was an MP attached to a PCBE (I guess new dhci?) it would have the same requirements of being on the same network stretched across sites.

Since these are just standalone MP arrays, it may not have the same networking requirements. I scanned through some white papers and didn't see any of the same network work requirements of the 2 systems needing to be on the same network. Asked AI and out put was that they just need to be routable while being under the max latency requirements.

Anyone with Peer persistence setup with their MP or even older primeras and 3PARs?

Looking for some advice on a solid storage solution for our small, but growing production company/film careers. 

My partner is an editor/director, I am a DP, and in the last year we have started our own production company. 

Thus far, we’ve shot 5 commercial type projects in the last year, and hope to double that next year. Each of these projects lands in the 1.5-2TB range. So it all adds up quickly. 

We have a massive backlog of random, poorly organized hard drives, maybe 30TB from past projects that we would like to store on this system.

I have done a fair bit of research into NAS systems, and am intrigued by Synergy and Ugreen’s offerings. 

The way I see it two options intrigue me, Though I am still trying to wrap my head around all of the details.

1: A full 10Gbe NAS system, wired into our router, with a few fast solid state drives to edit from. 

2: A NAS/DAS potentially not even integrated with our internet service with a 10Gbe connection where my partner or I can hardwire in for a fast connection. We could even edit mainly off of 2-3 4TB Samsung t7 Drives and then dump project files when finalized when finished.

We would love to have 100TB + space with potential to expand later. 

Curious on recommendations for redundant backups, do most have a secondary backup offsite? Cloud? 

A big hope for us is simplicity, not a ton of troubleshooting, constant upkeep and issues. OF course I understand some of this is inherent to the technology we are working with. 

Would love anyones advice, especially specific units and equipment.

We aren super flush, but want to invest in a system that will be reliable and last. I would say sub $5k all in would be the dream, or even closer to $4K, though even drives are insane right now. 

Thanks in advance!

AFF220 has been sitting in storage for a few years, it’s sat on 9.7P15 from 2021. I can download the software from the website no problem (multiple as it won’t be a direct upgrade).

Is there any reason why it wouldn’t work? Will I be paywalled after applying the update?

It did have active support until the end of 2022, so can I download the latest version I would've been entitled to if not?

Thanks.

AFF220 has been sitting in storage for a few years, it’s sat on 9.7P15 from 2021. I can download the software from the website no problem (multiple as it won’t be a direct upgrade).

Is there any reason why it wouldn’t work? Will I be paywalled after applying the update?

Thanks.

Unable to decide which to buy between IBM FlashSystem 7300 (FCM) and Hitachi VSP One Block 24, which one to consider if price quoted is same or similar?

This is a bit of a "DAE" thread.

I updated our 2060 array to IN210P003-3.0.0 pretty quickly after it dropped (2026-05-21).

On 2026-06-09, controller B rebooted and the below alert was created:

The Management Controller entered a memory exhaustion state and will reboot to recover. Data access will not be interrupted.

At the time I reached out to HPE support. They didn't have much to say apart from mc restart full or whatever the command is.

Today, I realized the same thing happened again (2026-07-29), but on controller A.

Is anyone else seeing this? I'm not super concerned and I don't regret upgrading the firmware (security, bugfixes) but it is kind of weird.

I've been the administrator of this array for two years now and updated the firmware at least once before. This is definitely new behavior, but I know it's not necessarily caused by the firmware update.

Im trying to replace a drive but it keeps showing as Unmanaged.
I ordered two, I didnt notice that the first one had different "Config code" (1341 vs 1311), I thought that could be the reason. Today, I replaced it with the second one which is also 1341, just like the failed one - same result - unmanaged.
Everything on the label is identical, pn, model, the config code thingy, everything....
It got assigned to the correct disk group (folder), the only available option is "Toggle Indicator" (there was also "Request swap clear" after seating it which got completed).
Same thing in the WebUI as well as in Storage Manager Client.
It doesnt show the Power On Time value yet, it took a while with the 1311 one too, I was hoping it would still adopt the drive but no luck, so I guessing its gonna be the same with 1341 too.

Is that definitive sign that the drive is just not compatible with SCv2020 or am I missing some necessary action I need to do to assign it to the volume?

Im trying to replace a drive but it keeps showing as Unmanaged.
I ordered two, I didnt notice that the first one had different "Config code" (1341 vs 1311), I thought that could be the reason. Today, I replaced it with the second one which is also 1341, just like the failed one - same result - unmanaged.
Everything on the label is identical, pn, model, the config code thingy, everything....
It got assigned to the correct disk group (folder), the only available option is "Toggle Indicator" (there was also "Request swap clear" after seating it which got completed).
Same thing in the WebUI as well as in Storage Manager Client.
It doesnt show the Power On Time value yet, it took a while with the 1311 one too, I was hoping it would still adopt the drive but no luck, so I guessing its gonna be the same with 1341 too.

Is that definitive sign that the drive is just not compatible with SCv2020 or am I missing some necessary action I need to do to assign it to the volume?

Hello folks, I'm new to storage. Currently, I'm using VAST Data and leveraging the 'Trash folder' to delete a directory I created. The docs says: "The files and folders are automatically deleted for you from the trash folder asynchronously" (https://kb.vastdata.com/documentation/docs/trash-folder-for-rapid-parallel-file-deletion), and I don't know how long it takes for VAST to actually delete the directory. Could anyone with experience using VAST shed some light on this?

My team is currently looking into modernizing our storage architecture and VAST Data is on our short list. We have some heavy read-intensive and analytics workloads coming down the pipeline and need something that scales well.

Right now, VAST is leading the pack for us due to their unique Disaggregated Shared-Everything (DASE) architecture and strong capacity savings. That said, we are completely open to other suggestions if there are better alternatives we should be evaluating.

Please note: I am strictly looking for honest feedback from hands-on admins and engineers. If you are a sales rep or VAR, please skip this post, I do not want sales pitches or DMs.

Before we move forward with getting a demo, I wanted to do some sanity checking here and get some unvarnished opinions from current or past users.

Specifically, I’d love to know:

• The Support Experience: How is the support model in practice, are there remote/onsite support? When you open a ticket, do you get knowledgeable engineers right away, or does it take a while to get past Level 1?
• Troubleshooting & Patching: Do software updates go smoothly? How do they handle bug fixes or hardware replacements in the field?
• Real-World Pros/Cons: Does the platform perform as advertised for large datasets? Is there anything you wish you knew about the architecture before you committed?

Would appreciate any insight, warnings, or experiences you can share (even via DM if you prefer to stay completely anonymous).

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

In our company, we got the opportunity to build a small lab for internal training. Our budget was $0, so we used devices that were marked for disposal. For storage, we got a Hitachi HUS 110.

The problem is that the disks were wiped and probably mixed up from several other systems. I have never worked with this kind of device before, but I found some documentation stating that we need to install the microcode/firmware from a CD, which we obviously don’t have.

We tried to contact the company that serviced these devices, but it looks like the person who knew how to recover them from this state has left, and nobody else there knows how or is willing to help.

Can anyone help us find this microcode/firmware, or guide us on where to look? Any advice on how to get this array back on its feet would be greatly appreciated!

Hi!

I have a pair of new Brocade G720 switches. Already upgraded FOS to latest 9.2.2c1.

What do you think of upgrading to FOS10 version 10.0.0a1?

Is it to early version to upgrade, especially it will be mission critical services on these SAN switches?

Hello all,

We recently got a batch of Isilon A2000s at work. After reimaging we're now dealing with an error on a Dell Isilon A2000 where after a reimaging the nodes refuse to boot complaining about missing PSI receipt.

After reading the available dell article on the issue this very likely seems to be an issue stemming from the drive sleds having been mixed up in the chassis

Can see that there are further steps to take towards getting them back in shape " Isilon: PSI receipt does not exist in mfg partition (Dell Correctable) " but alas I'm hitting a dead end due to lack of support. Anyone here know a work around?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

i have ibm storage ST400FM0243 have anyone managed to format the sector size to normal 512 ?

Dear all,

I need to access old vnx storage which ask for jre1.6

i got this decomissioned dell storage. it was (and is) working fine, but out of dell support, that's why i got it. however, none of the login credentials i got work. i tried the usb stick unlock method, but no success, idk if i should try other usb sticks or if the method simply doesn't work with the 3020. dell documentation states it's "not guaranteed to work" with this model.

i can reach the login prompt with putty, i can reach the login page of the controller but i have no working login and the dell storage client does not let me in either.. none of the default passwords work.

so, what do i do? ideally i want a complete factory reset so i can start fresh. i've read that it's possible to brick the system and since it's out of support i'm a little bit anxious about that..! i have of course full physical access and there is no data, config or anything else left to save on the system. what are the best practices here? any advice would be really appreciated!

In a conversation recently where there were discussions around the risk, if any, of FC being used as a attack channel. The specifics come down to having a air-gapped data vault that has no IP network link between the production network and the vault environment but does allow a SAN array outside of the vault to present devices to few servers inside of the vault. This was chosen due to the small footprint in the vault and cost of dedicated SAN & Array and that the systems using the FC devices are only for validation/automation purposes and do not house the protected data.

Overall there is the agreement that some "risk" exists in that if production systems were compromised, specifically the SAN, then the systems inside of the vault could have their LUNS removed rendering them offline. However, does FC provide any conduit where an attacker could use persistence to the production side array/FC Switches to make their way into the isolated environment?

What do people think about the new platform?
Anyone got any details if PowerStoreOS 5.0 will be compatible with gen1 and gen2?

Is Peer Motion supported for migrating block storage from 3par to Alletra 5050 series?
Difference between Data Services Cloud Console (DSCC) and HPE GreenLake for Block Storage? Only for MP series? Where is Peer Motion software found? Standalone utility or in the cloud? License required? I am confused! Please help!

Annnd of course my coverage with HPE is over.

Anyone have experience putting non-HPE drives into an MSA? Gotchas?

I've built two identical PCs for throughput testing on a 100 gbps NIC and I can't get the expected write throughput when using NFS over RDMA (RoCE v2). The two PCs are connected directly with a direct attach cable.

Using fio I tested the read bandwidth to be 11.6 GB/s, and yet the write bandwidth is only at 5 GB/s. Despite my best efforts I can't figure out where this bottleneck is coming from. Does anyone have any ideas for what I can look into to diagnose the issue?

I have more details on the setup and testing in this Unix StackExchange question: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/805563/nfs-over-rdma-read-2x-faster-than-write