Proposed San System

[Dan Lachevre]

Forgot to mention we Cut Mainly in HD Pro Rez and 10 Bit uncompressed.

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Dan –
the list you have below is completely incorrect ? Who created this list ? Have you been glancing at this forum for the past year ?

My system will do ProRes422, ProRes422HQ, and uncompressed 10 bit STANDARD DEF – it will not do uncompressed HD – not 8 bit, not even one stream.

I will respond below, but your list is complete INCORRECT –

You do not need an Apple XServe – this is a big mistake. Apple OS-X server software will easily allow you to do above 10 clients (AFP on regular MAC OS-X will do up to 10 clients), but why do you think you need an XServe ? Who told you this ? You want a simple machine, that has slots for your SAS/SATA card, and multi port ethernet card.

REPLY – Cal Digit makes FANTASTIC drive arrays. However, they do not offer expandable SAS/SATA enclosures. This means that if you get 12 TB, or 16 TB or whatever, and are SUCCESSFUL, you will want to add additional storage. I urge you to look for a product that offers SAS/SATA expandable storage. I have discussed this over and over on this forum.

you write –

Our config now is:

1 x Quad Core 2.5 Ghz G5 / 4.5Gb with AJA Kona3
1 x Mac Pro Dual Quad Core 3 Ghz / 4 Gb with AJA Kona 3
1 x Mac Pro Dual Quad Core 3 Ghz
1 x Dual G5 2.5 Ghz / 3.5 Ghz
1 x INTEL 2.8 Ghz iMac [Admin]
1 x 1 Ghz Power PC G4 [Admin]

REPLY – you cannot use your G4. Throw it in the garbage. Your G5 will need a Small Tree PXG1D card. Your other MAC’s need nothing.

You write –

When busy we hire 1 or 2 extra machines to cut on which we would need to add to the system.

REPLY – go right ahead. You can plug in iMAC’s, or MAC book Pro’s if you want – they will work just fine.

you write –
Internal Hard Drive 3.5″ SATA, 640GB, 7200RPM
2 Drives as Mirrored System Drive

REPLY – this is rediculous. You don’t need your boot drive to be mirrored.

YOU WRITE –
CalDigit HDOne-D-12000 12TB with eLane-1e 1 Port PCI-e host card 3
year warranty
Approx 9.4TB Usable using RAID5

REPLY – this is a great drive array for a single station. It is the wrong drive array for shared storage.

YOU WRITE –
SAN Network Hardware + Software
Small Tree 24-port L3 Gigabit Ethernet stackable switch ES4626

REPLY – where di dyou get this from ? You need the ES4528V

YOU WRITE –
Small Tree PCIe 4 Port Copper Gigabit Ethernet – For Server
REPLY – you need the PEG6, which is a 6 port card.

YOU WRITE –
Small Tree PCIe 2 Port Copper Gigabit Ethernet – For Mac Pro
REPLY – whoever is helping you with this has no clue how to do this. You do not need this card, or any card for your MAC Pro. You will use Ethernet port 2 which is built into your MAC Pro.

You write –
Small Tree PCIX 2 Port Copper Gigabit Ethernet – For G5
REPLY – again, wrong. You need the PXG1D card.

You write –
MetaSAN Cross Platform High-speed File sharing for SAN workgroup
MetaLAN Multi-point gateway connects enterprise LAN with high-speed
SAN

REPLY – for simple FCP shared storage systems, you should simply use built in File Sharing free from Apple. You do not need MetaLAN for this simple application.

I don’t know where you got these parts from, but it’s the wrong list. There are many companies that are currenty advertising on this forum that sell shared storage systems. They are all excellent. I work with https://www.maxxdigital.com for turnkey systems, but you can see from Creative Cow’s ad’s and press releases that there are lots of companies that are doing this all the time, that can do this for you, without issue, and without the silly list that you have provided.

I am here if you have more questions.

Bob zelin

[Martin Jaeger]

I’d recommend you simply call Maxx Digital and have them design, pre-configure and personally install your system. Setting this thing up is not a trivial undertaking (for me anyway). IMHO the fees they charge will more than offset the hassle of doing it yourself. They have all the requisite hardware, make very nice expandable storage and they freakin call every once in a while just to say hi, check how things are going and make sure you’re happy with their stuff… Outrageous!!

Martin

[Ron Amborn]

Hello Dan,
Please feel free to contact me directly at 714-713-4492 or rpn@maxxdigital.com. We would love to help you with your San solution. We can offer onsite or remote install at very competitive pricing. Just contact me and either Bob Z or myself can give you a long list of satisfied customers with our Final Share system. Bob Zelin will personally do a pre sale call with you and we can fine tune your needs from there. I look forward to hearing from you soon. We are available all weekend as well.

Sincerely,
Ron Amborn President
Maxx Entertainment Digital
21562 Newland Street
Huntington Beach , Ca 92646
Direct 714-374-4944
Cell 714-713-4492 Fax 714-374-3404
ron@maxxdigital.com
http://www.maxxdigital.com

[Ron Amborn]

Corrected email : ron@maxxdigital.com . Sorry for the typo.

Sincerely,
Ron Amborn President
Maxx Entertainment Digital
21562 Newland Street
Huntington Beach , Ca 92646
Direct 714-374-4944
Cell 714-713-4492 Fax 714-374-3404
ron@maxxdigital.com
http://www.maxxdigital.com

[Nathaniel Cooper]

Hey Dan,

I’d highly encourage looking at a few options. Check out my companies website https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/products/product_detail.php?pi=12

We introduced our SAN software SANmp 7 years ago, and it’s been going strong ever since. We also have our own line of hardware EVO, which combines Fibre Channel and iSCSI into a single box. This really helps with flexibility. They are a killer combo as far as performance vs. price in the Video world and it’s great for integration as we manufacture and support all of the hardware and software ourselves.

If you’re looking for something on the higher end, I do some work with IBM and EMC. Both have some great options depending on your needs.

Feel free to call me, I can always come on site or send one of my counterparts – depending on where you are located.

Best of Luck!

Nate Cooper
ncooper@studionetworksolutions.com
818.209.1331

[Steve Cox]

Hi Dan,
Well as Bob Z has so aptly pointed out it is easy to get this wrong. Good council is worth it’s weight in gold. CommandSoft has over a decade of experience in SAN Management and design. We would be glad to put that experience to work for you. Our FibreJet software is working in hundreds of facilities large and small on a variety of proven hardware platforms. We have hardware partners that can help you achieve your goals and stay on budget as well. Please feel free to contact us directly.
Steve Cox
VP of Operations
CommandSoft, Inc.
610 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

URL: https://www.commandsoft.com
Email: steve_cox@commandsoft.com

Tel: 805.730.7772
Fax: 805.730.7779

[Dan Lachevre]

Hi all

Thanks for your responses to this. This is a major investment for a small outfit like us so I’m really glad I asked the question.
We’ve asked for a number of quotes from different providers and found it difficult to get what we needed.

We like Bob’s setup so will probably find out what the best way is forward in this direction. The only problem is we’re in Sydney Australia so hopefully there is someone locally who’s done it a few times.

Thanks again for all the responses

Danny

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Sydney Australia. Hmmm

I’m in Mumbai, India a bit closer to you than LA, if my geography is right. Its about an 8 hour flight, Maxx Digital can ship the parts direct to you and I could fly down and set it up. I could stay on till its working which I suspect would me no more than a few days.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India