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metalan server – impressed to say the least
We’re just in the process of setting up a gig-e connected nearline storage server using metalan server and metalan clients as a method for us to keep finished projects online for a few weeks after completion before being passed off to deep archive (we use Bru PE with LTO4). We are using entirely off the shelf, 100% repurposed hardware that we’ve put together ourselves. The switch is a used netgear GSM7224R we picked up for ~ $300, the server NIC was pulled from our Flame, the computer was being used as an extra windows workstation when we needed one, etc, etc.
DIY server specs as follows:
• Gigabyte EX58-UD4P motherboard with an Intel i7 920 cpu and 12gb DDR3 ram.
• LSI MegaRAID 9280-8e SAS raid 6 controller
• Supermicro 24bay 6gb/s SAS expander JBOD with 15 Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB SATA drives installed
• Broadcom 57xx based 4-port pci-e gigabit ethernet NIC
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation 64bitThe 24TB RAID6 volume is pulling 1200 – 1400 MB/s according to the AJA, ATTO and Blackmagic system test applications, as well as HD Tune Pro.
The clients consist of several nehalem and westmere mac pro’s as well as a linux based Flame.
The port bond on the server side was created via Broadcom’s software.
After getting everything up and connected this afternoon, we decided to run a few quicktime playback tests from the macs as a quick check for stability, throughput, etc.
The result of this test was watching 3 mac pro’s each playing back separate 1080p 23.98fps 8bit YUV uncompressed movies with stereo PCM audio in realtime simultaneously, while the server never peaked above 9% cpu usage.
Seeing multiple streams of uncompressed HD quicktime movies being pulled in stable realtime for such little cost, over gigabit ethernet is quite amazing. Add to this the fact that this is a windows based server with mac based clients, and seeing Finder transfers to and from the server happen at 110MB/s… It’s just flat out crazy. Hat’s off to the talent at Tiger Technology.
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18 Replies
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Thumbs up!
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welcome to ethernet shared storage. “Everyone” says you have to have fibre, and ethernet
doesn’t really work. Well, you have just proved this for yourself.This is why the following companies, who make ethernet based shared storage solutions, are teriffic –
Maxx Digital
Small Tree
Apace Systems
EditShare
(and AVID Unity ISIS 5000)your performance limitation will be your multi port ethernet cards performance.
Put in some 10 gig cards and you will do even better.Bob Zelin
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I’m not sure i catch your drift Bob. I’d say this ethernet config works pretty damn well for what it is.
R. Adam Berk
Managing Director
Creative Technology San Francisco
http://www.CT-SF.com -
[Adam Berk] “3 mac pro’s each playing back separate 1080p 23.98fps 8bit YUV uncompressed movies with stereo PCM audio in realtime simultaneously…
…seeing Finder transfers to and from the server happen at 110MB/s… It’s just flat out crazy.”
Congrats on getting fantastic performance at a great value. Getting GigE bus 100% saturated is no small feat. Maybe even 110%? 🙂
What speeds does AHA System Test report this setup, from MetaLAN clients to your shared storage?
Can you still run standard networking on MetaLAN-controlled NIC, or does MetaLAN completely take over it?
Alex.
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sorry for not being clear Alex –
I am saying that ethernet shared storage works beautifully, and you have proved it to yourself.
Many people say “oh, those guys are full of it” – well, we are NOT full of it – it works great – just
like you found.Bob Zelin
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For sure.
I’m hoping to gradually transition to, or perhaps just supplement this system with 10gig-e direct links to certain throughput hungry workstations, ie our flame, resolve, etc. I will be discussing what of this is possible with Tiger this week. I started this config using a separate switch, nics and subnet for the metalan but this caused problems with the server. The SAN members were showing up on the wrong NIC’s, etc, so I just moved the entire house network + the metalan over to the one fully managed switch and it seems to be working perfectly fine. Our network is pretty small in the grand scheme of things. It’s not like we’ve got 200 people all surfing the web and listening to internet radio all day, etc. The regular “house” network traffic shouldn’t be so substantial that it would cause any problem with the metalan co-existing on the same subnet, switch and NIC’s. I could be wrong about this, but I would be surprised.
R. Adam Berk
Managing Director
Creative Technology San Francisco
http://www.CT-SF.com -
The AJA test on the macs is consistently reporting between 105MB/s and 110MB/s for both read and write. This system has been integrated into our single switch with our regular house network. Same subnet, no vlans, etc. The clients connect to the network via a single NIC. The metalan seems to be happily coexisting with the rest of the regular internet and lan traffic.
Finder transfer speeds are now peaking up to 117MB/s.
R. Adam Berk
Managing Director
Creative Technology San Francisco
http://www.CT-SF.com -
MetaLan is Hammer Software, and MetaSan is Tiger technology. Which one are you using?
Kevin
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Both have products named the same thing. Duh!!
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Yeah. This is Tiger Technology’s MetaLan Server/Client system we’re talking about.
R. Adam Berk
Managing Director
Creative Technology San Francisco
http://www.CT-SF.com
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