HP MSA 2050 24-Bay SFF 2U SAN Storage Disk Enclosure

The HP MSA 2050 (Q1J07A) is a 2U rack-mounted SAN storage enclosure offering 24 Small Form Factor (SFF) drive bays with dual controller architecture, supporting SAS and SSD drives for enterprise block storage in SMB and mid-range data center environments.

Key Features

• 24 x SFF (2.5-inch) drive bays in a compact 2U rack form factor
• Dual active-active controllers for high availability and load balancing
• Supports SAS HDD and SSD mix for tiered storage configurations
• iSCSI and FC host connectivity options (model dependent)
• HP MSA Health Check and Storage Management Utility for simplified administration

Product Specifications

• Part Number: Q1J07A
• Manufacturer: HP
• Drive Bays: 24 x SFF (2.5-inch)
• Form Factor: 2U Rack-mountable
• Controller: Dual active-active
• Drive Support: SAS HDD, SAS SSD
• Max Raw Capacity: Up to 76.8TB (with 3.2TB SSDs)

Storage Specifications

• Host Interface: iSCSI 1GbE / 10GbE or FC 8Gb/16Gb (model dependent)
• Drive Interface: SAS 12Gb/s (internal)
• Cache: 4GB mirrored write cache (2GB per controller)
• RAID Levels: RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
• Tiering: Automated tiering between SSD and SAS (with license)
• Hot-Swap Drives: Yes

Performance Specifications

• Max IOPS: Up to 380,000 (all-SSD configuration)
• Max Throughput: Up to 4.2 GB/s
• Latency: Sub-millisecond (SSD tier)
• Drive Rebuild: Online, non-disruptive

Use Cases

• SMB and mid-range SAN block storage for virtualization (VMware, Hyper-V)
• Database primary storage requiring dual-controller HA and SSD tiering
• Shared storage for server clusters with iSCSI or Fibre Channel connectivity
• Mixed SAS/SSD tiered storage for cost-optimized performance

Compatibility

• Compatible with HP ProLiant and HPE servers via iSCSI or FC HBA
• Supports VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Linux multipath storage
• Managed via HP MSA Storage Management Utility (SMU) or REST API
• Expandable with HP MSA 2050 disk enclosures for additional capacity

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between the HP MSA 2050 and MSA 2052?

The MSA 2052 adds SSD read cache acceleration as a standard feature, while the MSA 2050 requires optional licensing for automated tiering. Both share the same 24-bay SFF enclosure hardware.

Does Q1J07A support NVMe drives?

No — the MSA 2050 uses SAS 12Gb/s internal drive interface and supports SAS HDDs and SSDs. NVMe drives are supported on the newer HPE MSA 2060/2062 platforms.

Can the MSA 2050 be expanded beyond 24 bays?

Yes — the MSA 2050 supports connection of additional HP MSA disk expansion enclosures to increase total drive count and raw capacity beyond the base 24 bays.

The HP MSA 2050 Q1J07A delivers enterprise-grade dual-controller SAN storage in an accessible 2U package — providing SMBs and growing data centers with the tiered performance, HA redundancy, and flexible host connectivity needed to support demanding virtualization and database workloads.