Disk solution for the small Oracle shop....shared disk space options for Linux servers???

All,

This is not really an Oracle question but a server or (Linux) hardware configuration solution question.

I have a client that has grown to the point where internal storage can not handle everything. They are a 24X7 Oracle shop.

Let me get right to the point...we need shared space for low end PRODUCTION (Dell) Linux servers. The average Linux db server cost is about $5k and the average external storage cost is about the same $5k. Also, 1TB of total usable shared space would be a lot of space for the near term environment. Please keep this in mind when offering suggestions.

What we want to do/do not to with the space;

• Share the disk space among 4 db servers
• Will *NOT* put Oracle datafiles on this space
• Put RMAN backups on this space
• Maybe have 2nd ARCH DEST on this space
• Maybe backup to tape from this space

We hope that having shared space will;

• Free other (internal) disk space
• Reduce gzip and scp that happens now
• Add or enhance greater recoverably options

We believe the priorities to be these, in this order;

• Simplicity (install and maintenance)
• Reliability
• Price
• Throughput
• Availability
• Redundancy

HA & Redundancy is not necessarily critical...beneficial, but not critical.

I believe we have 3 options;

1.) SAN
We are finding the SAN at any level is really expensive, but SAN is a long term solution and supports Oracle (files).

2.) NAS
We believe the inexpensive low-low end NAS (EMC NetWin, Dell POWERVAULT 745N) is only for a work-group or dept. env? We believe that the low-end "cheaper than SAN" (EMC, NetApp) will in the end *not* be very cheap.

3.) JBOD-NFS (home grown)
We believe that home grown JBOD-PRIVATE NETWORK-NFS (Poor mans NAS) will give us to much trouble and reliability issues. We don't want to waste time with inexperience and poorly designed, half brained ideas.

What do you think?

What do you think of our need and use for this space?

What is being used in the real world for the small Oracle shop?

First hand experience, configurations and pricing is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris Marquez
Oracle DBA

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