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Bob: which one works for me ?
Hi Bob ,
and all ,i would like to ask what san cheap solution might work for me :
all i have to share the data between is :
-1 Win7 workstation (running Scratch )
-2 Mac Pro (running FCP Studio and Davinci )at the moment i have the PC and the MacPro connected using a noral 1gbit ethernet router ,
obviosly i am getting “only 90MB/sec mac speed , and i am only reading a MAC 4TB shared disc on the PC (using map network drive on win 7 (and MacDrive is installed to read HSF)) , so this allow me to have the 2 machines linked together and share mediaNow that i have davinci on 1 of the 2 MacPro , i wold like to increase the bandwidth of sharing to be able to playback around 250MB/sec (only one stream at the same time is fine fo me )
As my inderstanding (quite small ) about SAN , a true solution Fibre based , using an external storage + switch etch will cost 15K minimum …and my need of this shared storage does not justify this expense , so i am wndering if i can build something with around 5K ,
My idea is use an attached Raid system to one of this 3 computers and then share that ,
i am wondering :
if i equipped all 3 computer with a 10GbE card , can i share a RAID attached to a MacPro between this 3 computer ?do i need a Switch ?
thanks !!g
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9 Replies
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A 10 Gig system will work for you. Your current bottleneck will not be the 10Gig ethernet (which can do 350MB/sec) – it’s the drive array. Most generic modern drive arrays can’t go faster than 700MB/sec, and the fancy schmancy versions from JMR peak out at 1200MB/sec. You can only go as fast as your shared drive array.
This will all change when 6 Gig SATA gets released (beta units are at dealers right now, to my understanding).
You will pay under 30 grand for a 10 Gig system with 16 Terabytes of storage, but again, with todays drive arrays, you will peak out at 700MB/sec read, unless you want to spend even MORE money.
You can’t build anything for 15 grand – and for 5 grand – are you kidding me ? A decent RAID 5 array is 5 grand.
Bob Zelin
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Hi bob i do have already working Raid array on both mac workstation and PC workstation , now i just need to share ,
as my understanding i can link mac and PC using a 10gGbE card (on both computer ) and share thier raid between each other ,
but my question is : can add a 3rd machine ?thanks
g
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as my understanding i can link mac and PC using a 10gGbE card (on both computer ) and share thier raid between each other ,
but my question is : can add a 3rd machine ?REPLY –
can you add a third machine – of course you can. Do you know what a network is ? You build a network. You use a MAC (for example) as your server, stick a multiport 10Gig card in the server, plug your drives into the server, and now attach your 3 machines to the multiport 10Gig card. Can you do this without a dedicated server – NO ! You use SMB to allow the PC to see the MAC server.If you need someone to help you do this, well, you know who to call.
Bob Zelin
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I see ,
The 3rd machine is an extra that I can avoid …
So just linking 1 Mac and one PC sharing their on raid ,it will cost 2.5 K (10gbE) and I should be fine for my need (which is is use one machine or the other at the same time ,but being able to acess at the same media if I need to) Am I wrong ?
Thanks
g -
you can put a 10Gig ethernet card in each computer. Run Thursby DAVE (not Apple’s SMB) on your MAC, and connect via .smb. You can use a Twinax cable (30 feet maximum distance) to connect between the MAC and the PC. This will avoid the costs of the more expensive Fibre 10Gig cards (and transceivers, and fibre cable).
The minute you want to add the third machine, it becomes more complicated.
Bob Zelin
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Thanks a lot Bob ,
that exactly what i meant , just 2 cards …cheap solution , and yes i can exclude the 3rd computer (no really need to be in this network)but talking cheap :i was looking for some 10gbE card on ebay …
do i have to buy some specific model ?
1 port or 2 port ?
any minimum feature on the card that i really want ?
does have to be the same card on both the machine?how about this one?
thanks a lot
g
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and where are you going to get MAC drivers for these cards ?
Did you even think of this ?
bob Zelin
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ops…
but can i get one for the PC?
or because i am linking a MAC and a PC they have to be the same and maybe with some certain features?thabks!
g
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Hi Gabriele,
Small Tree does stuff like this all the time. As Bob mentions the 10Gb network will be very fast. It will be the storage that lags.You will definitely need a dedicated system if you intend to have 3 stations working at once. A system trying to do FCP and share the storage will cause lots of problems. No one will be happy.
I would have you get a new mac pro, and we would put a RAID card and 10Gb network card in there. (we have a 4 and 6 port 10Gb Ethernet card). Then you could direct attach your clients with no switch.
You will definitely want our 6Gb based SATA storage. Nothing else is going to keep the latency numbers low enough to support 10Gb. We can quote those pieces now.
A word of warning. The 6Gb SATA stuff has a lot of nuances. The drives are still 3Gb and you need a lot of spindles to get the required low latency. You also have to watch the Read Error rate because as you add spindles, you’ll have a higher probability of a double failure (during a rebuild for example).
We have it working and are very happy with the numbers.
Steve
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