Hewlett Packard Enterprise MSA 2040 Disk Array

HPE MSA 2040 – High Performance Entry Level Storage Array

The HPE MSA 2040 is a high-performance, entry-level storage array designed to bring enterprise-class storage capabilities to small and medium-sized businesses, branch offices, and remote sites, all at a cost-effective price. It combines speed, reliability, flexibility, and scalability in a compact 2U rackmount chassis, making it an ideal solution for organisations seeking professional-grade storage without the complexity or expense of larger enterprise systems.

Whether you are running virtualised workloads, business-critical databases, or file servers, the HPE MSA 2040 delivers consistent, predictable performance while keeping management simple. It is particularly well-suited for organisations that require enterprise-level features but do not have dedicated storage teams or the budget for high-end storage infrastructure.

Product Configuration

• Model: HPE MSA 2040
• Drive Bays: 24 × 2.5″ Small Form Factor (SFF)
• Installed Drives: 24 × 600GB 6G SAS (10,000 RPM)
• Total Raw Capacity: 14.4TB
• Controllers: Dual-controller active-active configuration for high availability

This configuration provides a strong balance of speed, storage capacity, and reliability, ready to support both current business needs and future growth.

Enterprise-Class Performance

One of the most notable features of the MSA 2040 is its high-performance architecture, configured with 24 high-speed 600GB 6G SAS drives spinning at 10,000 RPM. This setup ensures excellent input/output operations per second (IOPS) and low latency, providing reliable, fast access to data even under demanding workloads.

The MSA 2040 performs exceptionally well in virtualised environments, where multiple virtual machines access storage simultaneously. It also handles SQL databases and other business-critical applications with ease, delivering consistent response times and minimal delays.

Unlike traditional storage arrays that can be complicated to manage and tune, the MSA 2040’s architecture is designed for simplicity while still maintaining enterprise-grade performance. The combination of SAS drives and dual controllers ensures the system can handle multiple concurrent requests efficiently, making it ideal for modern IT environments that demand both speed and reliability.

High Availability and Redundancy

Data availability is a key concern for any business, and the HPE MSA 2040 is designed with high availability in mind. Its dual-controller active-active configuration ensures that if one controller fails, the other immediately takes over, providing uninterrupted access to stored data. This feature is critical in business environments where downtime can have significant financial and operational consequences.

In addition to dual controllers, the MSA 2040 includes redundant power supplies, which help protect the system from power-related issues, and hot-swappable drives, allowing administrators to replace or upgrade drives without shutting down the array. These redundancy features make the MSA 2040 highly resilient, reducing potential downtime and giving IT teams confidence that business-critical data remains safe and accessible at all times.

Flexible Connectivity

The MSA 2040 is designed to integrate seamlessly into a variety of IT environments. Depending on the controller configuration, it can support multiple host connectivity options, including Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and SAS. This flexibility makes it compatible with most server and storage infrastructures, whether your organisation uses HP ProLiant servers, other x86 servers, or virtualised platforms.

The ability to connect via different protocols ensures that businesses can leverage existing hardware investments while still taking advantage of modern storage performance. IT teams can choose the connectivity option that best suits their environment, whether prioritising speed, reliability, or cost efficiency.

Scalable and Future-Proof

As business storage needs grow, the MSA 2040 is designed to scale easily. Additional MSA drive enclosures can be added to expand capacity without major changes to the existing infrastructure. The system supports a mix of SAS, MDL SAS, and SSD drives, enabling organisations to implement tiered storage strategies. This allows frequently accessed data to reside on faster drives, while less critical information can be stored on higher-capacity, lower-cost drives.

This scalability makes the MSA 2040 a future-proof solution, capable of supporting growing workloads, increased virtualisation, or larger datasets without requiring a full storage replacement. Organisations can start with a modest configuration and expand as business demands increase, protecting their initial investment.

Advanced Data Services

The HPE MSA 2040 offers a range of optional advanced data services to enhance data protection and disaster recovery capabilities. Features such as snapshots, volume copy, and remote replication allow businesses to safeguard their critical information, restore data quickly in case of loss, and replicate storage across multiple sites for business continuity.

Snapshots provide instant copies of data at a specific point in time, which is particularly useful for recovering files or rolling back changes after updates. Volume copy enables administrators to replicate entire datasets efficiently, while remote replication allows data to be mirrored to an off-site storage system. These features combine to provide a robust, enterprise-level approach to data protection, even in smaller-scale deployments.

Ideal Use Cases

The MSA 2040 is well-suited for a variety of applications, including:

• Virtualised environments such as VMware or Hyper-V
• SQL and business databases, where performance and reliability are critical
• File and application servers, supporting daily operational workloads
• Backup and disaster recovery repositories, ensuring data protection and business continuity

Whether your organisation is running multiple virtual machines, managing databases, or storing important business files, the MSA 2040 provides a versatile and reliable storage platform.

Why Choose the HPE MSA 2040?

The HPE MSA 2040 delivers a powerful combination of performance, resilience, and scalability. With 24 × 600GB 6G SAS drives and dual active-active controllers, it provides enterprise-grade capabilities without the complexity or cost of traditional enterprise storage arrays.

It is an ideal solution for organisations looking to:

• Expand a small branch office or remote site
• Implement a virtualised infrastructure efficiently
• Build a reliable backup or disaster recovery system
• Provide predictable, high-performance storage that can grow with the business

The MSA 2040 balances high performance with simplicity, enabling IT teams to manage storage effectively without specialised expertise. Its modular, scalable architecture means organisations can adapt their storage environment as requirements change, ensuring long-term value and flexibility.

By choosing the HPE MSA 2040, businesses benefit from enterprise-class storage, designed to deliver reliable, high-speed access to critical data, simplify management, and support growth, all while remaining cost-effective.