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Switched Fibre Topology, mixing platforms, etc
We have dual 24tb servers with 4gbit Atto fibre cards and about 35 Mac Pros connected via 3 Sanbox switches.
We have been having issues with the proprietary SAN software that run on those two boxes, and picked up a 48tb Win 2008 r2 server to move video over so we can wipe the smaller servers and start from scratch.
My question is fundamentally basic: How do I go about adding another server to the infrastructure, and in doing so will this new server simply ‘be visible’?
I’ve spent hours and hours scouring the internet, and have pretty much figured out how the new server needs to be connected and how zoning works, but since this is all very new to me (the other half of our office is ethernet, domain server, exchange, etc) I feel as though I’m missing something.
I’m considering purchasing books on the subject simply because I’m having trouble finding just the right information. (Which is very unusual)
Any guidance you can provide would be extremely helpful.
Best,
Mike
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3 Replies
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Oh, and for the record: The ‘proprietary software’ is Facilis, which we’ve been using for years and due to the utter failure of their long awaited ‘multi-write’ feature, we’ve decided to get rid of it.
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Mike,
If your 48TB Windows 2008 Server server is going to present any iSCSI or Fibre Channel Targets of it’s storage at the Block level, then you will need some sort of SAN management software in place to manage access to the storage, otherwise it’s file system will be corrupted by multiple users accessing it at the same time with nothing telling them when or where to write.
Software such as SANmp, which my company provides, can be used to manage many external, “non-proprietary” storage arrays connecting at the block level in a shared environment. You can download a free trial of it here:
https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/trysanmp.php
If you are using this Windows Server as a dedicated NAS, then you do not need SAN management software, however, I would not expect SAN editing speeds from such a configuration.
Basically, at the block-level for SAN connectivity, you need some sort of SAN management software on all the client machines connecting to the storage.
Hope this helps, and good luck.
-Caspian
Studio Network Solutions -
The easiest thing to do is to add the Windows 2k8 server as another client. Install an Atto Fibre card, and TerraBlock Manager on your Windows 2k8 Server, and mount the Facilis volumes as read-only on the desktop. Then copy the data you need from each volume to the 48TB of local storage on the server, and you’re done.
JM
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