We have the FC AX100 and are using it with Interbase.

> We would probably buy Dell stuff and according to their

specifications

> the iSCSI version of their SAN box only supports 2 servers. Their

Fibre

> channel one supports 8, though.

Both the iSCSI and the FC versions support multiple hosts. The
numbers you indicate are what can be directly connected to the SAN.
Larger numbers of hosts can be supported by using a switch. FC
switches, though, are pretty expensive. iSCSI can use Ethernet
switches, which are dirt cheap.

The AX100 comes in two models, one with 1 processor, and one with
2. Each processor supports two direct connections.

> Can 8 db servers really share one
> SAN box and not overwhelm it?

The AX100 is EMC's low-end SAN. I'm sure it's possible to overwhelm
it with 8 heavy-duty servers. EMC makes larger SAN's that probably
won't even hiccup with 8 servers attached.

Your basic problem will be how much bandwidth you can run to the
SAN. With 2 processors, you'll theoretically have 8GB of bandwidth
(4 FC connections @ 2GB each).

Dan