Review: Data Robotics DroboElite

Good day all, it is I the BOFH of Anger Central, the Angry Systems Administrator. Today I’m going to talk about a new item I got to play with. It’s called the DroboElite. The DroboElite is basically a low end storage array with some pretty nifty features.

The Elite model is a recent product and uses an ISCSI interface. It can hold up to 8 2TB drives and depending how you set it up, can utilize almost all of that space. (There’s always a bit lost to overhead of course) Additionally, you don’t have to use drives that are the same size. If you have a 2TB drive and a couple of 500GB drives and and a single 100GB drive, you can put them all in and the Drobo will set it up as a single volume. If you have some old hard drives laying around, you can put them to use.

The physical box is about the size of a toaster oven.  Out of the box it isn’t rack mountable, although you can order a rack mounting kit. Once you have the Drobo mounted, (or sitting on a table), you install the Drobo management console and then plug in the USB cable.

Here is the weakest link, but it’s not enough to say “Goodbye!” Installing and setting up the management software was a pain. Since I had other things to do, I wasn’t paying attention to the installer. The app asked me to reboot the server before the full install was completed. Since the installer window for the management software was under the reboot window, I didn’t think about it and clicked OK. Once I noticed the check box I told the installer not to reboot the installation completed.

Another issue was the Windows ISCSI application. Out of the box, (or in this case, from the CD), it didn’t work on the 64-bit version of Windows server 2003. I had to search through Data Robotics online knowledge base to find the link to get the latest version from Microsoft. It took far to long to find that on the Drobo site.

After I installed the correct ISCSI connector I was able to access the management console over the USB cable and start the configuration. Since I was doing this on a weekend, and I was also reconfiguring the server rack with a minion who agreed to work for food, I left before fully understanding what needed to be done.

Whoops!

You need to use the USB connection to configure the static IP addresses used by the Drobo, then you UNPLUG the USB connector so the server can see the Drobo over the network. I couldn’t log in form home and finish configuring it.

Once I got in Monday I was able to complete the set up. I’ve connected it to a couple of servers and the company DBA has loaded the development databases on it.

One down side was one of the new 2TB drives failed after less then a week. The up side is the Drobo handles the loss perfectly. Once the replacement hard drive comes in, I’ll just slap it in and it will be pulled into the volume. How cool is that? 🙂

Even though I think the management console could use a bit of work, I think the Drobo is perfect for a small office. Two or three Drobo’s would be even better. 🙂

Now the Drobo is NOT a replacement for a dedicated SAN. I’ve installed one of those where I work for a production environment and we needed it for speed, reliability and ability to expand it. For that you want something like an HP EVA4400 which will set you back major bucks.

So if you need extra storage space with the reliability of an expensive array, I would heartily recommend a Drobo.

~The Angry Systems Administrator~

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