Very impressed with Netapp Metrocluster
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
[NetApp] MetroCluster is being used by the bank to service critical NFS applications which require zero downtime. It was purchased and is being used by one LOB which own these set of critical applications. The business problem it addresses is that is allows you to move the data replication layer away from multiple server host operating systems to a centralized NetApp [MetroCluster].
Pros
- Data deduplication, compression, and compaction provide great savings compared to traditional host based storage
- Multiprotocol support (NAS and SAN) provide great flexibility
- Ability to easily run your workloads from either data center with minimal effort and no disruption was the key selling point
Cons
- I would like to see more highly intelligent monitoring that can help determine where latency is coming from. Eg. Host, Array, Network or Fabric issues
Likelihood to Recommend
NetApp MetroCluster is suited for applications which require 100% uptime with no data loss. It is suitable for organizations who have the need to move their NAS services and workloads to another data center with minimal downtime and configuration. Due to the cost of the product, it is not well suited for NAS file shares that require greater than zero RPO and RTO's. NetApp asynchronous is better suited for this type of data.
