SAN for Pro Tools

[Chuck Mcmakin]

Hi Simon.

You mention using FibreJet with SATA storage over Ethernet…

CommandSoft (the maker’s of FibreJet) work with several different companies that each provide a variety of different hardware infrastructure options. That being said, in the Pro Tools market most of those solutions tend to be fibre-based instead of over Ethernet.

My understanding (which I must confess is a bit limited since I’m just one of our “sales slugs” over here) is that Pro Tools is extremely sensitive to latency issues in shared storage configurations. If the track counts you are using are low enough you may get away with infrastructure choices other than fibre.

I know of at least one firm that is promoting FibreJet with a complimentary ATA-over-Ethernet (AOE) software solution that allows them to use SATA drive arrays over Ethernet networks. They say they have a couple “happy” Pro Tools users that have deployed that hardware.

Ultimately, I would expect you probably plan to base your next series of buying decisions on your total cost to get that small 3-seat SAN up and running…

Do you already own the storage that you intend to use? If not, have you considered iSCSI options? I ask because CommandSoft also offers an iSCSI-only FibreJet client option with an MSRP of just $599/seat. Perhaps that is a combination that would keep the costs down for you?

Please feel free to contact us any time if you would like to explore these options further.

Chuck McMakin
CommandSoft, Inc. /
Phone: (805)730-7772 /
Email: chuck@commandsoft.com

[Matt Geier]

Simon,

Matt here from Small Tree –

We have some Gigabit and 10Gb AoE Storage Solutions that may work for you depending on what exact requirements need to be met.

So far, we’ve had Pro Tools experts testing our AoE Storage Solution. You’ll probably get more out of this then I have – This testing was done this last December.

1] Key Sampling rate — the preset values are 44.1Khz – CD, 48 Khz – DAT tape, 96 Khz – DVD standard and 192 Khz — best possible quality

2] Tracks — the number of tracks supported concurrently — 128 is the maximum number supported by Pro Tools

3] Buffer size — Pro Tools supports 5 buffer sizes — [I think they are] 32, 64, 128, 256 and 1024]

A low buffer is much better than a larger one because latency between the monitored audio and what ends up on disk is the lowest.

AOE could only do 64 tracks.

We also had tests run with 192 Khz sampling rate. It was 16 tracks maximum (for iSCSI) and I think we ran the buffer rate pretty low. I think 128 worked.

AOE could not do 192Khz tracks.

That’s some of the information I have in front of me. If you’d like to dig into some details with me, I’ll leave you my number and you can call if you like to discuss what you’re doing exactly and other details.

Regards,

Matt G – 651-209-6509 x 1

Matt G.

[Simon Leadley]

Dear Matt.
thanks for the response. We are using some small Tree Cards supplied by Robin Frost at 2 degrees frost. We have a small workgroup that needs to access common shared storage but with pretty low stress. The sessions are for animation and are typically no more that 30-40 tracks at 48/24. We have tried the 2 degrees stuff for our film work and that, so far seems to be OK. But I am looking for a lower cost simpler option. The A$ has dived and $25k is a no go. We hoped an old G5 as a server and some software and cards in the edit macs and a fast switch might work with iSCSI or MOE. We envisage 3 edit stations to the server and a few mountable volumes that can also be mounted read only for Video, this alone would save copying the Video files to local drives. Having the SFX library on the SAN would also be good. But the main thing here is low cost. The MOE drivers then the server software seem to be the missing link. How does your system work, and what ball park costs.
thanks in advance
Simon Leadley
http://www.trackdown.com.au

[Tony Mueller]

You should also check out Studio Network Solutions. They specialize in shared storage for Pro Tools… it was the reason they started the company. They’ll work with you to put together a system that fits your needs.

Tony Mueller
Senior Editor
STL TV

[Matt Geier]

Simon,

There are two options that come to mind when we start talking about Pro Tools here at Small Tree. One is AoE (which is what the Frost Solution is using) and the other is iSCSI (which is more robust and a little more expensive then AoE) –

The nice thing about both AoE and iSCSI as you may know is that they run over Ethernet. That said, you have some implementation options;

AoE on a Server –
If you put it on a Server: You mount a volume or multiple volumes and all of your read and write requests move through the server. This is good because you only need a single AoE License for the server. Clients can see the storage, the mounts, read to them, write to them, etc …

AoE on a Switch –
You have to have licenses for each client, and you also can only have one volume mounted at one client at a time.

The same is basically said for iSCSI.

AoE currently currently a bug in Apple O/S that will prevent AoE from using larger then 2TB volumes. For most people (at least the ones I’ve talked to.. this is not a problem) but if you need larger then 2TB volume access, you should consider iSCSI, or some other thing like a Fibre Channel storage device etc …

Small Tree can work with you to get whatever you need from end to end.

Let me know if you’d like to talk further about this project you have going on and I’d be glad to discuss.

Matt G – 651-209-6509 x 1
Small Tree

Matt G.