Promise SanSwitch

[Jordan Woods]

You need to have AFP running, and your volume shared in order to connect to it from the other machines on your ethernet network. There are other ways to do this, but this is by far the easiest.

-jw

[Majid Tavassoli]

Dear Jordan,
Thanks very much for the clue , I’ll check out to see if the AFP on my Xserve is running , but how do I make sure if the san volume is shared ?

1- would you let me know which SanSwitch I should get to get the ethernet and Fibre network out of it simultaneously ?
I mean some sort of SanSwitch to give me output for ethernet and the Fibre cabling ?

2-Do I have to use Xsan software per workstations to get the maximum bottleneck on my network ?

3-Do I need the Xsan for all the machines or only for the machines with Fibre channel card ?

Best Regards,
Majid Tavassoli

[Jordan Woods]

hmmm… to get this to be a legitimate fibre based SAN you will need a bit of leg work, often advised to be done by an industry professional that specializes in SAN networks. If it is just an ethernet network with an AFP share, no problem. But for your SAN you will need fibre and ethernet to all the bays, Qlogic fibre switch(or other), XSAN license per seat, and probably at least one more server. That is only the surface, there are books written about this stuff. Short answer, if you really need speed per bay, the XSAN setup will be your fastest option. You have to evaluate how much bandwidth per station you need and how much you are allocated to spend to get that. XSAN will be infinitely more expensive then turning on the AFP button.

If I were you, I would look into getting an integrator to help you on this.

-Jordan

[Majid Tavassoli]

Thanks again for your concern , Please note I have set up my network as DAS . I’m so happy about the performance and the speed . For the next update on my network I also have ordered a SanSwitch , Ethernet switch and the Xsans as well . I will try to set up the SAN as well .

M.Tavassoli

[Eric Hansen]

if you leave your storage as DAS, and only have the other computers connect via ethernet, then setup is relatively easy. you will need a 4 or 6 port ethernet card for your Xserve, and an Layer 2 managed ethernet switch such as an EdgeCore ES4528V. turn on AFP file sharing and go. no additional software needed. you will need to setup your switch with custom settings though.

if you want to build a fibre-based SAN such as Xsan, find an installer/integrator to help you, as Jordan suggested. Xsan is not plug and play. the ethernet system isnt plug and play either, but Xsan is a completely different animal. AppleCare wont talk you through it. there are books like Jordan says, but even the most detailed ones still assume that you have some outside networking knowledge such as how IP addressing works and how to up a DNS server for reverse look ups. Or setting zones on a FC switch. i learned at the feet of a certified Xsan installer. i also hit the books pretty hard. and even then, i didnt have the guts to install one myself until over 2 years later.

e