A customer has multiple eight-node SQL clusters that are currently connected to three HP EVA 8400 storage systems. The customer has I/O latency problems on the servers and sees high queue depths on…

HP 3PAR StoreServ 10000 is a high-performance, enterprise-grade SAN array with a massively parallel architecture designed to handle demanding workloads like SQL clusters with low latency. Providing 32 host ports significantly increases the front-end connectivity and distributes the I/O load, directly mitigating high queue depths and improving overall I/O throughput and latency.

HP StoreVirtual, while scalable and supporting FC, is generally a software-defined storage solution better suited for virtualized environments and may not provide the extreme low-latency performance required for multiple demanding SQL clusters compared to a dedicated 3PAR array.

Switching to iSCSI with HP StoreVirtual does not inherently eliminate queue depths or guarantee lower latency; the underlying storage architecture and its ability to process I/O are the primary factors in resolving performance bottlenecks, and FC often offers lower latency than iSCSI for demanding workloads.

An HP EVA P6000, while a newer generation, still shares architectural similarities with the EVA 8400 and might face similar controller and port bottlenecks under heavy load; simply allowing "higher queue depths" does not solve the fundamental I/O processing issue and latency.