Need a server for FCP

[Bob Zelin]

if it’s NTSC DV25 only, this is 3.6 MB/sec, and you can probably get away with a cheap NAS system from a mail order catalog for 2 clients only.

However, if you are working at resolutions higher than DV25, this won’t work, and you need a shared storage system. This is going to cost you over $10,000 – even for 2 users.

Bob Zelin

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Emanuel Ach] “I usually end up with 1-2 full harddrives of DV lectures to edit. I would like to put those 2 hardrives on a server and edit them with FCP using a local network. And at this point ideally would be that 2 or more editors would be able to work on the same files at the same time. Is it possible?”

Certainly not impossible – and I’d follow Bob Zelin’s advice in terms of watching for throughput bottlenecks.

Well configured GigE LANs can have an aggregate throughput of 50-60 MB/s – enough for several DV25 streams. Poorly configured – a small fraction of that. Try running a throughput test from your edit station to a server – time a transfer of a large file. If it transfers at over 20MB/s, there is a fighting chance you can do it.

Alex
DV411

[Alex Gerulaitis]

Somewhere on this forum is Matt Geier of Small Tree – manufacturer of multi-port NICs designed to improve networking for editing and streaming purposes – a sure-fire inexpensive way to improve station-to-server transfer rates.

Alex
DV411

[Bob Zelin]

If you put in a Small Tree multiport card into a “server”, and connect to your 2 or more clients, you STILL need a fast drive array for your file server, because a $300 G-Tech FW800 drive is not a shared storage volume, and will not work.

Bob Zelin

[Emanuel Ach]

Thank you all for your comments.

In an year from now, we will upgrade to HD so that again will change things.

The size of the HDs on the server can be anywhere from 4 to 10 TB.

So the box with the hardrives will connect to a mac which will be the server and from there we should be able to connect through fiber optic at least 3 but maybe 6 macs. We are using final cut pro 7, which is not really much into sharing, but we will work on different files which will be in the same place, on the server.

Is there something wrong with this picture?

Where can I see how much speed requires each stream for DV and HD or Prores?

If any of you has any suggestions on which rack for harddrives is the best in this situation, please give me a link 🙂

Thanks again!

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Emanuel Ach] “So the box with the hardrives will connect to a mac which will be the server and from there we should be able to connect through fiber optic at least 3 but maybe 6 macs.”

Do you already have fibre optical adapters in your Macs, SAN management software, switch, wiring?

If not, you’d probably want to contract a SAN specialist (like Bob Zelin) to do a full installation and configuration, as SAN configuration and management isn’t as simple as, say LAN.

That would be the first priority to figure out; the box – secondary.

Alex
DV411

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Emanuel Ach] “Where can I see how much speed requires each stream for DV and HD or Prores?”

Here is one calculator:

https://www.digitalrebellion.com/webapps/video_calc.html

Just put “1 second” in “Video Length” field, and that will give you the required raw bandwidth.

Alex
DV411

[Emanuel Ach]

Thank you both for your replies.

@Alex very useful link, thank you so much