Question : Problem: CX300 Vs MSA1500 comparison

Anyone got any links to comparisons between the two, they're aimed at the same place in the marketplace and all I have at the moment is HP's comparison which is of course biassed towards their own kit.

Also is there any difference between the Dell and EMC version of the CX300 except that Dell build it under license? Is the build quality the same?

Personal opinions are welcome but not too much use to me since I can't tell the customer that experta thinks Dell suck or expertb has had good experiences with an EMC box. Suppose I could point them to this thread though.

Answer : Problem: CX300 Vs MSA1500 comparison

Both arrays are similar in function and either one should perform just fine for what you need.  I perform installs for both HP and EMC, and the only major differences are the cache--2GB for the CX300 and 256MB for the MSA1500.  As long as you are going to use SCSI or FC disks, the cache will not be a major factor, but if you are considering SATA the CX300 may help some.  The problem is that the cache 1 GB per service processor, meaning that if you are going to write anything larger that 1GB in a transaction, the cache will fill up quickly.

Both are based on Intel hardware (EMC's boards are literally built by Intel) and run a Windows kernel on the storage processor.  HP actually uses their DL series servers as the basis for their controllers.  EMC has custom built chassis for theirs.  Both offer add on software for snap copies, etc.  The two can be compared roughly below:

Vendor:             EMC                          HP
Model:              CX300                        MSA 1500
CPU's:               2 x 800 MHz               Intel (dont know what speed)
Cache:              2GB                            256 MB (can upgrade to 512MB)
Host Ports:        4                                 2
Back end ports:  2 (FC)                         4 (SCSI)
Max drives:        60 FC or SATA            96 SATA or 56 SCSI
                        Total 4 shelves             Total 8 shelves SATA or 4 SCSI
Max hosts:        128 (single attached)    

Again, both are similar in performance, so many of my customers choose the cheapest one.  I don't sell them, I only do installs, so I don't know how their prices compare.  Remember BOTH EMC and HP state that their SATA drives are to be used for SECONDARY storage only.  That means that they will not guarantee the performance for production storage, only offline and backup to tape.

HP's data sheet is here:

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11945_na/11945_na.html

EMC's is here:

http://www.emc.com/products/systems/clariion_cx300/pdf/C1078_cx300_ss_ldv.pdf