Storage Comparison: Performance vs Budget in the HP MSA 2040 & MSA 1040

July 31, 2015 - Stacey Vanden Boogart-Romenesko
In the SMB world, HP has been a consistent industry leader in offering innovative engineering in flexible, reliable, and manageable storage systems. The new 4th Generation line of MSA SAN storage, featuring the MSA 2040 and the MSA 1040, is no exception. HP has covered their bases in these new offerings with the MSA 2040 delivering flexible, high performance storage, and the MSA 1040 offering solid performance at a low entry price point. Both models are great options for SMBs interested in consolidation or virtualization, remote office deployments, and snapshot or archive repositories. Let’s take a deeper look at where each model shines.

MSA 1040: Budget-Optimized Storage for the SMB

The MSA 1040 is an exciting addition to the MSA family. This model delivers simple, solid performance and expandable storage at a budget-friendly price. A major highlight of the lower-cost MSA 1040 is that HP offers an easy upgrade path to the MSA 2040 platform with no data migration required. A simple, 15-minute controller swap is all that is required for a data-in-place upgrade, making this a perfect stepping stone for SMBs with tight budgets and a need for fast 12Gb SAS, 1GbE or 10GbE iSCSI, or 8Gb Fibre Channel shared storage.

MSA 2040: Performance-Optimized Converged SAN with Ultimate Expandability

The MSA 2040 builds on the performance-driven framework previously seen in it's predecessor, the P2000 G3. In addition to the 12Gb SAS, 1GbE or 10GbE iSCSI, or 8Gb Fibre Channel options offered in the MSA 1040, the MSA 2040 also offers 16Gb Fibre Channel connectivity. Another unique feature of the MSA 2040 is the converged SAN controllers, which allow user-defined interfaces based on the choice of SFP, including mixed-mode FC/iSCSI. Converged SAN networking significantly improves manageability and scalability, reduces power and cooling needs, and provides an agile environment for virtual and physical servers. Flexible network options also mean you can adjust your connectivity as your needs and applications change. Additional features found in the MSA 2040 include SSD support, twice the number of host ports, and twice the expandability over the MSA 1040. Performance boosts are offered in the MSA 2040’s advanced virtualization, automated tiering, and provisioning capabilities. The MSA 2040 is ideal for customers with high performance needs.

Technical Spec Breakdown:

Whether you’re looking for a budget friendly stepping stone for future expansion, or a high performance storage array for your virtualization or consolidation needs, HP’s MSA 1040 and MSA 2040 have you covered. Please visit our selection of MSA 1040 storage models with 1GbE iSCSI, 8Gb FC, 10GbE iSCSI, or 12Gb/s SAS. We also carry the MSA 2040 12Gb/s SAS model, as well as the MSA 2040 SAN model, which offers 1Gb iSCSI, 8Gb FC, 10Gb iSCSI or 16GB FC depending on your SFP choice. For alternative models, please browse our other HP storage systems on our website.

Check out our on-demand webinar "Storage Options for the SMB: HP MSA 1040 vs. MSA 2040" or browse the slides below.

Storage Options for SMBs: HP MSA 1040 vs. MSA 2040 from Aventis Systems, Inc.