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Alternative to Apple RAID using XSan and HD
I’m looking for an alternative for Apples RAID when we wants to make a setup using XSan for 4 machines and working with uncompressed HD (140 MB/sec).
Does XSan works with RAIDs based on SATA connection or does it have to be fibre ?
IF SATA could work, I’ve been looking af Caldigits products, and IF it demands fibre, I’ve been looking at Eonstores products, but are there any experience/recommendations, or other things we should be aware of ?
I’ve also heard that it isn’t good to use more than 70% of the disks, but that means a lot of overflow. How about using 80 OR perhaps 90% of the disks ?
It’s for a danish filmcompany, and if there are any European film companies that are working with uncompressed HD using XSan, we would like to ask, if we could be allowed to come and visit, and hear about both the good AND bad experience, so we can have a complete overview 😉
(We only needs 3-4 Terabyte material)
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7 Replies
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Per,
The general rule of thumb with HD & Xsan is one XSR per client. Now you say you only need 3-4 terrabytes which is actually quite a small ammount of storage these days. So 4 clients = 4 XSR to get the speed you need. Also one half of one XSR will be taken up with metadata. You need fibre connection for speed and the fact that you can put a fibre channel switch in to connect all XSR’s & clients.
Can you use sata? yes its very quick, but you wont be able to share any of the media between clients. Check the RAID configs for these big boxes, what happens when a disk fails?
Please be aware of the difference between a volume based and a file based SAN – I would not recommend a volume based unless you get a really, really good deal. Having to unmount/remount drives to see new media is a pain in the a**. SanMP being one of the offenders
If you decide the Xsan route, please go to a supplier who has previous experience of installing it – its not plug and play and although I can tackle most stuff on OSX, I stay out of Xsan configuration. I recommend ROOT6 here in the UK, give them a call and they will probably take you to some of their intsallations. https://www.root6.com/Home/index.htm
Also take a look at Tiger’s Metasan which is file based & doesn’t require metadata controllers.
Now just to confuse things further, the Apple XSR is getting a bit old, so who knows, maybe an update soon 🙂
Peter
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Hi Peter!
Thank’s for Your replies, and I can see I wasn’t clear enough in my description:
We need to work on the same files from the different machines, so as I understand it need to be a fiber RAID, and as You mention, then it have to be a file based SAN.What do You mean with “XSR” ? Do You mean the XSan software, or ..?
The initial system is only 3-4 TB, but afterward we needs more space, and that also why we would prefer a scalable system.
I’ll look at Tiger’s, the description looks good, but otherwise I have a non-logic preference for Apple’s own hard- software, even that XSan SW demands a Metadata controller 😉
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XSR = XserveRaid
With a volume based SAN you can access material from other clients, but it takes a ‘snapshot’ of the volume when you mount it.
This means that if another client creates new media, you have to unmount then remount the volume to see it. I was using SanMP earlier in the week and trust me its a pain as you can’t unmount without quitting all the apps that reference that volume first.With a file based system, files just appear on the disk and any client can access them without the above hassle.
Its all down to price really as Xsan is more expensive than say SanMP.Remember you will need speed if you have 4 HDclients, thats why you will probably need a few XSR’s
Peter
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Oh yes, that’s also why I’m looking for some alternatives with disks that run 10K rpm and fibre with 4 Gb, instead of Apple’s 7.200 rpm and 2 Gb
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[Per Ottesen] “Oh yes, that’s also why I’m looking for some alternatives with disks that run 10K rpm and fibre with 4 Gb, instead of Apple’s 7.200 rpm and 2 Gb”
Have you looked at the TerraBlock system by Facilis Technology? I’m not sure if its foreign capable BUT its all that you want and best of all, no XServe attached. Its a completely self-contained unit that will edit everything including 2k material. I looked at a demo at NAB where they showed a 2k feature film on it. It absolutely amazed me! It comes in any size configuration and can easily hookup multiple boxes for additional storage. If you still doubt me, contact Gary Adcock. He has tons of storage using this system.
We are getting ours installed next week.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
[Per Ottesen] “Oh yes, that’s also why I’m looking for some alternatives with disks that run 10K rpm and fibre with 4 Gb, instead of Apple’s 7.200 rpm and 2 Gb”
Have you looked at the TerraBlock system by Facilis Technology? I’m not sure if its foreign capable BUT its all that you want and best of all, no XServe attached. Its a completely self-contained unit that will edit everything including 2k material. I looked at a demo at NAB where they showed a 2k feature film on it. It absolutely amazed me! It comes in any size configuration and can easily hookup multiple boxes for additional storage. If you still doubt me, contact Gary Adcock. He has tons of storage using this system.
We are getting ours installed next week.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
Well.. as previously mentioned in this thread. Apples Raids will probably be updated in the near future.. It hasn’t seen an update in ages.. Maybe that will solve your problems.
Anders
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