FC SAN setup with Windows box

[Bob Zelin]

what you are REALLY asking is “I have a PC lying around here, and we want to use it as a server – will this work”. I doubt that you are interested in buying the latest fastest blade server for this application.

Cheap setups don’t work. Even the systems that I describe don’t work unless you put a lot of “stuff” into them, like expensive RAM, fast disk drives, etc. There is a big difference between “working” and “working reliably” .

Bob Zelin

[Parker Gowan]

“what you are REALLY asking is “I have a PC lying around here, and we want to use it as a server – will this work”

I don’t want to do the recycle thing exactly – although whatever we DO have and can use – the bettter. I am honestly interested in what it would take to make this setup work with a PC at the center and not a mac. I have read your posts and realize that you have not tried this directly – was hoping you or someone you know – or someone else here on the forum might have found success in this area – primarily because i do have strong IT support – but strong in the windows world.

“. I doubt that you are interested in buying the latest fastest blade server for this application.”

So what you say about the simple Mac computer you don’t think applies to a windows comp at the center – I’m talking using all the additions you mention – 4 port card – managed switch and applicable software – will that PC heart and Mac muscle make for a fully functioning SAN man?

[Bob Zelin]

the basis of everything I talked about is APPLE FILE SHARING which is on the “server”. Microsoft doesnt offer Apple File Sharing. Can you use Microsoft Networking, and then enable the SMB function on the MAC’s to make it see the PC server. I don’t know – maybe – ask your “muscle” IT WinXP department. You don’t need to buy anthing to try this. You can try it right now, with what you own. IF you can read a write a single quicktime file, and then read it back from the PC server at your company off your MAC (even if it’s not fast enough to play back in real time), then it will work.

Bob Zelin

[Sean Oneil]

Parker,

SMB file sharing is too slow on the Mac end. Don’t even bother trying it. I think there’s an app for AFP on Windows, but it’s expensive (like more than a Mac Pro would cost). MetaLAN runs on Windows. You could look into that.

You can also Google “FreeNAS”. That’s the only practical option for AFP sharing on a PC server. It’s not as fast as using a real Mac server though.

The reason I’ve experimented with all this stuff is not because I had a cheap PC lying around. I happen to already have several high-end server PCs, quad and dual-port gigabit cards, several RAID cards, tons of drives, and a managed switch. I’ve tried to make good use of this stuff for the sake of not being wasteful. Tons of options for “shared editing” but to have reliable capture and layback at the same time – it hasn’t happened yet. If I needed reliable high-performance shared storage today, I’d purchase a fibre channel SAN and update my MetaSAN licenses. My point being, if you don’t already have all that stuff, don’t bother getting a PC working as a server for Macs. Not worth it.

Sean

[Parker Gowan]

Much help,

Thank you Bob and Sean for taking the time to respond – will lobby the money dudes for the extra mac and software – so prob won’t happen in the next 6 months!

[Mark Raudonis]

If you’re looking to spend a lot of money, and these days, who isn’t, you can check out
“Stornext” which is the PC version of Apple’s X-SAN. These two file systems are “allegedly” compatible, but I’ve never tried it myself.

https://www.quantum.com/Products/Software/StorNext/Index.aspx

mark