Greetings,

I've been running EqualLogic storage since 2006 (when ESX iSCSI initiator support came out in 3.02). Performance has always been stellar for my setup (I deployed Qlogic initiators in my ESX, SQL and file server hosts to reduce CPU loads on the physical boxes).

Regarding your post: yes- you want tempdb away from everything else (virtually or physically) also it is a good idea to keep MDFs and LDFs separate too. Their docs explain best practices. I have virtualized SQL 2005 data storage (still run a physical box with iSCSI initiator for OS and tempDB).

Prod db's max IOPS occur during backup windows (a snapshot of it) in my environment. Under typical load during "daytime hours" it is < 10% of the max values. Note: I do not have particularly large db's, just LOTS of them.

I have a virtualized Exchange 2007 instance running and avg IOPS over last 30 days = 500 (for comparison, LDF SQL 2005 mount point, IOPS over last 30 days = 550). I've dealt with EMC and NetApp in the past... If I had to deploy a new iSCSI setup all over, I'd pick EqualLogic again based on my experience with product, performance and support (thankfully DELL has left them the heck alone for the most part thus far YAY!). My only beef is having to deal with sales people who try to BS and waste my time on price.