Monster comparison of Storwize V3700, V5000 and V7000.
There are other comparisons of Storwize specs out there, but we have not come across one that is near this complete.
We still move a lot of Storwize controllers, expansions, drives and misc hardware, and this is a Cheat Sheet that comes in handy for us, so we are hoping it helps you.
We can’t really list pricing on blog posts because they are forever, and pricing on Storwize hardware changes regularly (usually downward).
So, to check pricing, availability, or have our experts configure a system for you, it’s often easiest to just call (231-492-0286).
Or, use the form at the end of the page for our current individual and bulk pricing.
Storwize V3700, V5000 and V7000 Specs Comparison:
| IBM Storwize V3700 for Lenovo | IBM Storwize V5000 for Lenovo | IBM Storwize V7000 for Lenovo | |
| Form factor | Controller Unit: 2U rack mount | Same | Same |
| Expansion Unit: 2U rack mount | Same | Same | |
| Controller unit configuration | Dual controller config. | Dual controller config per control enclosure. Two control enclosures can be combined into a single Storwize V5000 clustered system (or cluster). | Dual controller config per controller unit. Two or four controller units can be combined into a Storwize V7000 clustered system (or cluster). |
| RAID levels | RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10; Distributed RAID 5 and 6 | Same | Same |
| Controller cache | 8 GB per system (4 GB per node canister) upgradeable to 16 GB (8 GB per node canister). Battery-backed cache protection. | 16 GB per single system (8 GB per node canister); 32 GB per cluster. Battery-backed cache protection. | 64 GB per controller unit (32 GB per node canister) upgradeable to 128 GB (64 GB per node canister) or 256 GB (128 GB per node canister; supported by Model HC1 only). Up to 1 TB per cluster. Battery-backed cache protection. |
| Drive bays | Up to 240 SFF drive bays per storage system: | Up to 480 SFF drive bays per single system (up to 960 SFF drive bays per cluster): | Up to 504 SFF drive bays per single system: |
| 24 SFF drive bays in the controller unit | Same | Same | |
| 24 SFF drive bays in the expansion unit; up to 9x expansion units | 24 SFF drive bays in the expansion enclosure; up to 19x expansion enclosures | 24 SFF drive bays in the SFF expansion unit; up to 20x SFF expansion units | |
| Up to 120 LFF drive bays per storage system: | Up to 240 LFF drive bays per single system (up to 480 LFF drive bays per cluster): | Up to 24 SFF and 240 LFF drive bays per single system: | |
| 12 LFF drive bays in the controller unit | Same | Same | |
| 12 LFF drive bays in the expansion unit; up to 9x expansion units | 12 LFF drive bays in the expansion enclosure; up to 19x expansion enclosures | 12 LFF drive bays in the LFF expansion unit; up to 20x LFF expansion units | |
| Intermix of SFF and LFF units is supported. | Same | Same | |
| Up to 2016 SFF drives in a four-way clustered configuration. | |||
| Up to 96 SFF drives and 960 LFF drives in a four-way clustered configuration. | |||
| Drive technology | SAS and NL SAS HDDs and SAS SSDs. Can mix HDDs and SSDs. | Same | Same |
| Drive connectivity | Dual-ported 6 Gb SAS drive attachment infrastructure. | Same | Dual-ported 12 Gb SAS drive attachment infrastructure. |
| Controller unit with two node canisters (ports per one node canister): | Same | Same | |
| 24x 6 Gb SAS internal drive ports (SFF enclosure) | Same | 24x 12 Gb SAS internal drive ports | |
| 12x 6 Gb SAS internal drive ports (LFF enclosure) | Same | 2x 12 Gb SAS x4 (Mini-SAS HD SFF-8644) expansion ports for the attachment of the expansion units | |
| 1x 6 Gb SAS x4 (Mini-SAS HD SFF-8644) expansion port for the attachment of the expansion units | 2x 6 Gb SAS x4 (Mini-SAS SFF-8644) expansion port for the attachment of the external enclosures | ||
| Expansion unit with two expansion canisters (ports per one expansion canister): | Same | Same | |
| 24x 6 Gb SAS internal drive ports (SFF enclosure) | Same | 24x 12 Gb SAS internal drive ports (SFF unit) | |
| 12x 6 Gb SAS internal drive ports (LFF enclosure) | Same | 12x 12 Gb SAS internal drive ports (LFF unit) | |
| 2x 6 Gb SAS x4 (Mini-SAS HD SFF-8644) expansion ports for the daisy chained attachment of the expansion units | Same | 2x 12 Gb SAS x4 (Mini-SAS HD SFF-8644) expansion ports (IN and OUT) for the daisy chained attachment of the expansion units | |
| Drives | SFF drives: | SFF drives: | SFF drives: |
| 200 GB, 400 GB, 800 GB, 1.6 TB, and 3.2 TB SAS SSDs | Same | Same | |
| 300 GB and 600 GB 15K rpm SAS HDDs | Same | 1.92 TB, 3.84 TB, 7.68 TB, and 15.36 TB read-optimized SAS SSDs | |
| 600 GB, 900 GB, 1.2 TB, and 1.8 TB 10K rpm SAS HDDs | Same | Same | |
| 2 TB 7.2K rpm NL SAS HDDs | Same | Same | |
| 900 GB, 1.2 TB, 1.8 TB, and 2.4 TB 10K rpm SAS HDDs | |||
| LFF drives: | LFF drives: | LFF drives: | |
| 300 GB and 600 GB 15K rpm SAS HDDs | Same | 3 TB, 4 TB, 6 TB, 8 TB, 10 TB, and 12 TB 7.2K rpm NL SAS HDDs | |
| 900 GB, 1.2 TB, and 1.8 TB 10K rpm SAS HDDs | Same | ||
| 4 TB, 6 TB, and 8 TB 7.2K rpm NL SAS HDDs | Same | ||
| Storage capacity | Up to 960 TB (120x 8 TB NL SAS HDDs) | Up to 1.92 PB (240x 8 TB NL SAS HDDs) per single system | Up to 7.74 PB (504x 15.36 TB SFF SSDs) per one controller unit |
| Up to 3.84 PB (480x 8 TB NL SAS HDDs) per cluster | Up to 30.96 PB (2016x 15.36 TB SFF SSDs) per cluster | ||
| Host connectivity | Standard ports (per controller unit with two node canisters): | Same | Standard ports (per controller unit with two node canisters): 6x 1 Gb iSCSI (UTP, RJ-45) (3 ports per node canister). |
| 6x 6 Gb SAS host ports (Mini-SAS HD, SFF-8644) (3 ports per node canister) | Same | ||
| 4x 1 Gb iSCSI host ports (UTP, RJ-45) (2 ports per node canister) | Same | ||
| Optional additional ports on host interface cards (per controller unit with two node canisters): | Extra ports must be configured by selecting one of the following host port options (per control enclosure with two node canisters): | Extra ports must be configured by selecting at least one of the following host port options, or a combination of one iSCSI or FCoE option and one of the FC options, or two FC options, or two iSCSI or FCoE options (Model HC1 only) (per controller unit with two node canisters): | |
| 8x 6 Gb SAS host ports (Mini-SAS HD, SFF-8644) (4 ports per node canister) | 4x 10 Gb iSCSI or FCoE SFP+ host ports (SW fiber optics, LC) (2 ports per node canister) | 8x 10 Gb iSCSI or FCoE SFP+ host ports (SW fiber optics, LC) (4 ports per node canister) | |
| 8x 1 Gb iSCSI host ports (UTP, RJ-45) (4 ports per node canister) | 8x 8 Gb FC SFP host ports (SW or LW fiber optics, LC) (4 ports per node canister) | 8x 8 Gb FC SFP host ports (SW or LW fiber optics, LC) (4 ports per node canister) | |
| 4x 10 Gb iSCSI or FCoE SFP+ host ports (SW fiber optics, LC) (2 ports per node canister) | 4x 16 Gb FC SFP host ports (SW or LW fiber optics, LC) (2 ports per node canister) | ||
| 8x 8 Gb FC SFP host ports (SW or LW fiber optics, LC) (4 ports per node canister) | 8x 16 Gb FC SFP host ports (SW or LW fiber optics, LC) (4 ports per node canister) | ||
| 4x 25 Gb iSCSI (RoCE) SFP28 host ports (SW fiber, LC) (2 ports per node canister)# | |||
| 4x 25 Gb iSCSI (iWARP) SFP28 host ports (SW fiber, LC) (2 ports per node canister)# | |||
| Host OS | Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012 and 2012 R2; Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5, 6, and 7; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10, 11, and 12; VMware vSphere 5.0, 5.1, 5.5, and 6.0. | Same | Same |
| Standard software features | Virtualization of internal storage, Thin Provisioning, One-way Data Migration, FlashCopy snapshots (up to 64 targets). | Virtualization of internal storage, Thin provisioning, One-way data migration, Dual-system clustering, HyperSwap (requires a Remote Mirroring license) | Virtualization of internal storage, Thin provisioning, Data reduction pools, Deduplication, One-way data migration, Four-system clustering, HyperSwap (requires an optional Remote Mirroring license), Comprestimator. |
| Optional features | Turbo Performance, Easy Tier, Remote Mirroring, FlashCopy snapshots (up to 2,040 targets). | Easy Tier, FlashCopy, Remote Mirroring, External Virtualization. | Easy Tier, FlashCopy, Remote Mirroring, Real-time Compression, Encryption, External Virtualization, Transparent Cloud Tiering. |
| Performance (non-Turbo / Turbo) | Up to 200,000 / 295,000 cache read IOPS | Up to 500,000 cache read IOPS | Up to 1 250 000 cache read IOPS |
| Up to 45,000 / 67,000 disk read IOPS | Up to 100,000 disk read IOPS | Up to 450 000 disk read IOPS | |
| Up to 12,300 / 14,000 disk write IOPS | Up to 20,000 disk write IOPS | Up to 110 000 disk write IOPS | |
| Up to 23,000 / 33,000 disk mixed (70% read/30% write) IOPS | Up to 45,000 disk mixed (70% read/30% write) IOPS | Up to 220 000 disk mixed (70% read/30% write) IOPS | |
| Up to 3.3 / 5.95 GBps sequential cache read throughput | Up to 5.7 GBps sequential cache read throughput | Up to 12 GBps sequential disk read throughput | |
| Up to 2.5 / 4.1 GBps sequential disk read throughput | Up to 5.6 GBps sequential disk read throughput | Up to 5.2 GBps sequential disk write throughput | |
| Up to 0.81 / 1.4 GBps sequential disk write throughput | Up to 1.8 GBps sequential disk write throughput | ||
| Storage capacity | Up to 960 TB (120x 8 TB NL SAS HDDs) | including virtualized external storage: 32 PB | Same |
| Configuration maximums | Per system: | Per one control enclosure (I/O group) / cluster (if different): | Per one controller unit (I/O group) / cluster (if different): |
| Maximum number of storage pools: 1,024 | Same | Same | |
| Maximum number of logical volumes: 2,048 | Maximum number of logical volumes: 2,048 / 4,096 | Maximum number of logical volumes: 10000 | |
| Maximum logical volume size: 256 TB | Same | Maximum number of compressed volumes: 512 / 2048 (requires an optional license) | |
| Maximum logical volume size: 256 TB | |||
| Maximum number of drives in a RAID array: 16 | Same | Same | |
| Maximum number of drives in a distributed RAID array: 128 (including up to 4 spares) | Same | Same | |
| Maximum number of RAID arrays: 128 | Same | Same | |
| Maximum number of distributed RAID arrays: 10 | Maximum number of distributed RAID arrays: 10 / 20 | Maximum number of distributed RAID arrays: 10 / 32 | |
| Maximum hot spare drives: No limit | Same | Same | |
| Maximum number of host ports: 2,048 | Maximum number of host ports: 2,048 / 4,096 | Maximum number of host ports: 2048 / 8192 | |
| Maximum number of hosts: 256 | Maximum number of hosts: 256 / 512 | Maximum number of hosts: 512 / 2048 | |
| Maximum number of host ports per one host: 32 | Same | Same | |
| Maximum number of snapshots: 2,040 (requires an optional license) | Maximum number of snapshots: 2,048 / 4,096 (requires an optional license) | Maximum number of snapshots: 5000 (requires an optional license) | |
| Maximum number of remote mirroring relationships: 2,048 (requires an optional license) | Maximum number of remote mirroring relationships: 2,048 / 4,096 (requires an optional license) | Maximum number of remote mirroring relationships: 8192 (requires an optional license) | |
| Cooling | Redundant cooling with the fan modules that are built into power supplies. | Same | Same |
| Power supply | Two redundant hot-swap 735 W AC or 800 W DC power supplies. | Two redundant hot-swap 800 W AC power supplies. | Controller Unit: Two redundant hot-swap 1200 W AC power supplies |
| Expansion Unit: Two redundant hot-swap 800 W AC power supplies | |||
| Hot-swap parts | Node canisters, expansion canisters, SFP/SFP+ transceivers, drives, power supplies with fans. | Same | Same |
| Management interfaces | 2x 1 GbE ports (UTP, RJ-45) in a primary/redundant configuration. | Same | Same |
| Web-based GUI; SSH CLI; SMI-S; SNMP and email notifications. | Same | Same | |
| Security features | Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Secure Shell (SSH), user level security, LDAP authentication | Same | Same |
| Dimensions | Cntr. unit: Height: 87 mm (3.4 in.); width: 483 mm (19.0 in.), depth: 744 mm (29.3 in.) | Same | Same |
| Exp. unit: Height: 87 mm (3.4 in.); width: 483 mm (19.0 in.); depth: 556 mm (21.9 in.) | Same | Same | |
| Weight | 3.5-inch controller unit: Empty: 18.0 kg (39.6 lb); Fully configured: 28.3 kg (62.2 lb) | Same | Controller Unit: Empty: 31.8 kg (70.0 lb); Fully configured: 36.7 kg (80.7 lb) |
| 3.5-inch expansion unit: Empty: 16.4 kg (36.1 lb); Fully configured: 26.7 kg (58.8 lb) | Same | Same | |
| 2.5-inch controller unit: Empty: 19.0 kg (41.8 lb); Fully configured: 27.3 kg (60.0 lb) | Same | – | |
| 2.5-inch expansion unit: Empty: 16.7 kg (36.7 lb); Fully configured: 25.0 kg (55.2 lb) | Same | Same |