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

The HP MSA 2050 Q1J07B is a 2U rack-mounted SAN storage enclosure offering 24 Small Form Factor drive bays with dual active-active controllers and Fibre Channel host connectivity, built for enterprise block storage in SMB and mid-range data centers requiring high-availability FC SAN infrastructure.

Key Features

• 24 x SFF (2.5-inch) hot-swap drive bays in a compact 2U rack form factor
• Dual active-active controllers for high availability and load balancing
• Fibre Channel host interface for low-latency FC SAN connectivity
• Supports SAS HDD and SAS SSD mix for tiered storage configurations
• Automated tiering between SSD and SAS with optional license

Product Specifications

• Part Number: Q1J07B
• Manufacturer: HP
• Drive Bays: 24 x SFF (2.5-inch) hot-swap
• Form Factor: 2U Rack-mountable
• Controller: Dual active-active
• Host Interface: Fibre Channel (FC)
• Drive Interface: SAS 12Gb/s (internal)

Storage Specifications

• Drive Support: SAS HDD, SAS SSD
• Max Raw Capacity: Up to 76.8TB (with 3.2TB SSDs)
• Cache: 4GB mirrored write cache (2GB per controller)
• RAID Levels: RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
• Hot-Swap: Yes (drives and controllers)
• Expansion: Supports HP MSA disk expansion enclosures

Performance Specifications

• Max IOPS: Up to 380,000 (all-SSD configuration)
• Max Throughput: Up to 4.2 GB/s
• Latency: Sub-millisecond (SSD tier)
• FC Port Speed: 16Gb/s per port

Use Cases

• Fibre Channel SAN block storage for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V
• Database primary storage requiring FC connectivity and dual-controller HA
• Shared FC storage for server clusters in mid-range data center environments
• Mixed SAS/SSD tiered storage for cost-optimized FC SAN performance

Compatibility

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

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Q1J07A and Q1J07B?

The Q1J07A model features iSCSI host connectivity, while the Q1J07B provides Fibre Channel (FC) host ports. Both share the same 24-bay SFF enclosure hardware and dual-controller architecture.

What FC speed does the Q1J07B support?

The MSA 2050 Q1J07B supports 16Gb/s Fibre Channel host ports, with backward compatibility to 8Gb/s FC HBAs in mixed-speed SAN fabric environments.

Can the MSA 2050 be expanded beyond 24 bays?

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

The HP MSA 2050 Q1J07B delivers Fibre Channel SAN performance and dual-controller high availability in a cost-effective 2U package — giving SMBs and growing data centers an enterprise-grade FC storage platform that scales with workload demands and integrates cleanly into existing SAN fabrics.