Freenas, AFP and a lot of time

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Ismael,

this is how to do it. I will not give you any further details. If you want free, it requires research and knowlege, all of which takes everyone a long time to figure out. If you have computer IT people that know how to do what I am about to tell you, it will make things go quicker.

Get a MAC Pro running OS-X 10.5. Get a managed ethernet switch that supports link aggregation. Get a multi port ethernet card. Put the card in the MAC Pro (for tests, you can just use the 2 ethernet ports built into the MAC Pro). Link aggregate the ports in the switch and on the MAC Pro, and connect ethernet cables between them (if you have 2 ports, you need 2 cables, if you have 4 ports, you need 4 cables). Once this is working, simply put in a cheap internal SATA drive (about $100) in your MAC Pro, as the “test” drive for your shared storage. Turn on FILE SHARING on this MAC Pro. Enable Jumbo frames. Assign a static IP address to your link aggregated port in the MAC Pro.

Once you do this, run ethernet cables to your FCP MAC computers
from your managed ethernet switch(these can be Mac books, or iMAC’s -you dont’ need powerful computers). Enable jumbo frames. Click on Go>Connect To Server on your FCP MAC’s, and enter in the link aggregate port IP address on the server.

That’s it. You now have shared storage. You don’t need any software. You just use a MAC Pro, a managed ethernet switch, a multiport ethernet card (or the 2 internal ports on the MAC Pro), and some cheap ethernet cables. Your software is Apple File Sharing.

Is this cheap enough for you to get started ? Once you get this working, stick any larger drive array on your MAC Pro server, and you have real working system.

You said “a lot of time”. This is what it takes to actually get this working – time. Learning all about networking, link aggregation, setting up switches – this is what professionals so. They spend a lot of time learing all this stuff, and once they know how to do it, they charge people money for their services.

Good luck.

bob Zelin

[Ismael Issa]

Thank you Bob,

I´ll take your advice for future testings but at this moment i m just testing with the hardware and software I have without spending too much money!

Now I have my OPENFILER SAN server runing and still trying to setup my computers to work.

If I get some results i´ll post all the information, good or bad…

you said: “You said “a lot of time”. This is what it takes to actually get this working – time. Learning all about networking, link aggregation, setting up switches – this is what professionals so. They spend a lot of time learing all this stuff, and once they know how to do it, they charge people money for their services.”

Time is the most expensive good we have on life and I am excited spending some on this project!

Today I´ll try FREENAS because AFP is perfectly integrated on it.

I´ll be back.

Thank you Bob for you effort and quick response.

Ismael Issa

[Chris Blair]

Is it just me…or do a lot of people post questions about how to setup a SAN or NAS system, get very specific answers from people who have done it, then reply that they’re going to do it their way anyway?

Am I just reading the replies from people incorrectly or is that what others are reading?

I like helping people with whatever knowledge and experience I have, and lord knows there are several others on this list with a LOT more real-world video and file sharing experience than me, but if people that post and get answers aren’t going to follow the advice they’re given, it seems sort of pointless to post in the first place.

So folks..if you post with questions about how to do something, especially building a DIY SAN, the people on this list have done it. They’ve done the trial and error for you. They’ve failed over and over and figured out why stuff works or doesn’t work. Why on earth would you want to waste your time making the mistakes others have already made and figured out how to fix??

Ok…I feel better. Just had to get that off my chest.

Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com

[Bob Zelin]

you know the answer. There is only one SAN solution that everyone wants – a FREE SAN solution. Why can’t it be free. Why can’t storage be free. Why can’t I record uncompressed HD on the internal hard drive of my Mac Book? Why do I need AJA and Blackmagic cards? Why do I need a TV monitor? Why do I need speakers, or a mixer? Exactly what is a Digi Beta VTR? Can’t I just deliver my Firewire 400 drive to the TV station?

It’s always the same bottom line answer. this is the reason for all of my smart ass answers. Can I get free health care coverage ? Can anyone help me with this ?

Bob Zelin

[Ismael Issa]

Chris, excuse me if I heart you with my first post….maybe my english is not too comprehensive…. But i m trying to improve it.

When I came here my first impression was: wow, such a perfect comunity to share knwoledge between professionals and people like me (amateur)… This is not just a hobby, I understand that but I think you put me on a basket without reading my first post: I dont want you, or Bob Zelin to come to Spain, to my house, and do all thework for me. I ll be glad to have you both here with a beer on each hand….

I want to know if there is someone out there who has efficiently shared video files between two Mac systems running FCP using a FREENAS server.

I know the correct/faster/troubelless way to do that is expending money, same thing as in my professional carreer, you want to have nice footage, forget DVX-100 or p2 go HD or panavision…….

So after that long explanation of what I want to ask here, I m trying to make you understand that if I wanted to make money with my server, raid, room I ll never doubt on expending 20 000€ or wathever my special needs will be, but at this moment I just want to try.

Thank you for your responses, even if they seem out of order I understand how painfull must be to make understand people out there how the real world works.

Ismael Issa

[Bob Zelin]

Ismael,
your english is excellent. My spanish is terrible. You have not said how many FCP workstations you want to share. I cannot being to stress to you that you probably do not need ANY software – free or not. Apple AFP is very powerful, and you already own it.

If you setup a managed switch with link aggregation, and stick this on a MAC Pro server, and enable file sharing, you will have what you want.

you write –
I dont want you, or Bob Zelin to come to Spain, to my house

but I would LOVE to come to Spain ! If you fly me there, I will be happy to help you setup your system for free!

Bob Zelin

[Sean Oneil]

[Ismael Issa] “I want to know if there is someone out there who has efficiently shared video files between two Mac systems running FCP using a FREENAS server.”

I have UNSUCCESSFULLY done it. Performance is much worse than using a real Mac. You can search the forum for “FreeNAS” to learn more.

Sean

[Chris Blair]

Ismael,

We’re not knocking you for wanting to try to build a shared storage system for as little money as possible. That’s what Bob’s article was all about in the first place. But what we continually see on the forum is people (not just you…but many people) asking for advice…getting very specific answers, and then responding that they’re going to do it their way anyway. They also want to take “spare parts” they’ve got lying around and build a working NAS or SAN for video editing…like it’s some sort of science project. Working systems tax even high-end hardware and software…so it’s just crazy to expect old hardware to do the job.

It makes no sense to come to a forum asking for FREE advice, get it…then not follow it. The information that people dole out in here is information that IT companies charge $100/hour and up for. The majority of the advice is based on real-world experience in working facilities.

So don’t misunderstand anyone’s intent here. We all want to help. But when people don’t listen and follow the recommendations, it starts to feel like we’re all beating our heads against a wall. Sharing video across fibre channel is hard enough. Doing it across ethernet is even harder. Everything has to be configured properly for it to work, and robust hardware and software has to be used.

So…we want you to succeed. And I’ll help Bob configure it for free if you fly me to Spain with him!

Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com

[Eyad Hamam]

After reading a few articles on the Cow I decided to try setting up something myself, before buying new hardware, and so far it works really well:

I have two imacs connected to the built-in Ethernet ports of a Macpro. One imac is used as a capture/viewing station (mainly DV, HDV and some XDcam) and the other imac is an edit station and the Macpro doubles as server/edit station.

File Sharing is switched on in the Macpro, but everything else is set to automatic in the network settings. The Macpro has a 4 terabyte Caldigit Element connected to it which is used as shared storage.

We’re getting speeds of 104 Mb/s per channel according to Blackmagic Speed Test, and something like 55 Mb/s according to HD speed test. We’re simultaneously editing 4 or 5 streams of DV/HDV footage on each of the two edit stations while capturing on the third, so it’s not too bad. No dropped frames in the past 2 weeks.

Granted, I will eventually buy the small-tree card and switch, a dedicated server and a faster shared storage unit, but you can test the setup without them.

regards.

regards

eyad hamam
http://www.eyadhh.com

[Caspian Brand]

I have used FreeNAS, and am in the process of migrating to OpenFiler.

Reason: FreeNAS doesn’t support User Level or Folder Level Security, which is very important when trying to share projects.

While AFP may be simple and somewhat powerful, I personally don’t care to bind myself to it. NFS and SMB can be faster, though they can be a bit more trouble to setup the first time, not that you’ll necessarily reach that speed comparison depending on how powerful your storage back end is and what codecs you’re using and how many clients are hitting it.

OpenFiler also supports SAN/NAS, which I think is a nicer approach for those attempting to roll their own on a shoestring budget. You have the options of both platforms in one solution. Plus though OpenFiler is Open Source and “free” you can pay for support and get it if you want it, which to me would be important to have an extra tech resource for such a system.

It may be a little more time and headache to setup the first time, but you’d be amazed what you can get out of a NAS built on older PIII and P4 hardware with a decent RAID controller card. All hail Linux!

Just my 2 cents.