Bart Harrison
Forum Replies Created
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[Francois Stark] “When sharing over SMB to PC’s we can only access the user;desktop etc. We can not see any non-boot drives. So we’d have to get os X server software.”
I generally use Thursby DAVE if there’s a need to share other OS X drives/folders via SMB (as opposed to SAMBA). Whenever posible, though, I prefer using NFS.
Bart
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Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221 -
[chrispy] “Have you tried the ATTO Celerity series ?”
It’s my first choice. The Celerity writes faster to stripe sets than the Astera (ala dual-link RGB HD). My concern is that Atto is using parts of the Apple API meaning it might work fine today and then stop working all-together with a point upgrade of the OS.
Bart
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Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221 -
[Francois Stark] Jeff: “half the LUNs would not mount due to the way OS X changed the behavior in LUN discovery.”
With the Astera 3000 it’s the card/driver that does the LUN discovery not OS X. When using the Apple/LSI cards you’re subject to the whims of Apple who as you know are continuously changing things (driver revs, OS revs, hardware revs). This is why I’ve always preferred the Astera card. Unfortunately I’m not sure if they’re going to be making them any more.
[Francois Stark] “Why NFS? Maybe NTFS? for PC graphics machines? (we all make typo’s sometimes…) or is it really NFS?”
Yes, NFS (the Unix Network File System). Because of it’s Unix core NFS networking is already built into OS X. Of course if their are a lot of XP systems I’d go with SMB, but in a primarily OS X or Unix/Linux environment nothing beats NFS for convenience. Please be mindful this has nothing to do with the underlying disk format. You can share a Mac OS Extended, FAT 32, or NTFS volume via any networking topology you have available. If you excuse the expression, “they are apples and oranges”.
[Francois Stark] “Remember, only 10 drives (two 5 drive raid 0’s striped using apple disk util), not a fully populated ADTX yet.”
I have never recommended any 10 drive array in a shared-storage SAN environment. Every SAN installation I have is set up with 7 drives on one controller (Raid 5) and 7 drives on the other. I create 12 LUNS on each side and stripe them together to create 12 OS X volumes. The 15th drive is used as a hot spare.
[Francois Stark] “On your ADTX settings: What is your setting for cache pre-read streams? Mine is set to 32 at the moment, default is 8. If I remember right it can go up to 128?”
I set the ADTX with Cache’ Mirroring off, Write Cache Enabled, and the Look Ahead Table to 128 Entries. I arrived at these settings through extensive performance testing and consultation with ADTX and Astera engineeing. (Of course, your’re milage may vary.)
Hope this helps !
Bart
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221 -
[Francois Stark] “What version of os X are you running?”
I have versons of OSX ranging from 10.3.4 to 10.3.7. I’ll be upgrading the 10.3.4 installation (my oldest) to FCP 5 next week. We might try 10.4.1 just as a test although we’ll probably go with 10.3.9 for the time being. I’ll keep you posted.
Bart
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221 -
[Francois Stark] “Q: Did you notice any difference between G4 and G5 machines on the Astera cards? What version of os X are you running?”
Sorry, we retired/repurposed the G4’s at all my SAN installation so far.
[Francois Stark] “Hopefully, if I can get this fibre array working very reliably, I can sell the UL4D and Huge array”
What I’ve done at a number of SAN installations is to set up one of the old G4’s and the Huge array as a support server tied to all the editing/graphic systems via an inexpensive Gbit Ethernet switch. I set them up as an NFS volume which appears on each of the editing systems as an “internal” folder on their system drive. At one site this server is hosting 700MB of music (about six music libraries) plus all of their still graphics assets. The music and graphics play right off of the support server without consuming any of the valuable SAN resources.
Bart
P.S. When running a dual controller ADTX, a QLogic 5200 switch, and a dual channel Astera 3000 (with dual 2Gbit fibre) we usually see well over 300MB/sec read and write at every workstation. If you’re only seeing 150MB/sec then something is definately wrong !
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221 -
For years I have recommended against EDITING in DV format. For those who ACQUIRE in DV format move it into a DV50 or an uncompressed environment for editing. This is why PROFESSIONAL level DV decks have component and even SDI outputs.
For many of the same reasons I highly recommend against EDITING in HDV format. For those who ACQUIRE in HDV format move it into a DV100 or an uncompressed environment for editing. Even those who don’t invest in an editing deck can use the component outputs of their HDV camera (through an AJA HD10A) and go into their NLE as HDSDI. AJA has just reduced the price of the HD10A which make this workflow even more attractive.
In my opinion HDV has a limited place as a professional acquisition format and no place at all as a professional editing format. Of course to each his own !!!
Bart
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221 -
Hi Francois.
I wish I had time for a quick trip to SA. I’d love to get to the bottom of this problem you’re having. I’ve got many ADTX/SanMP installations all over North America some running perfectly for more than eighteen months. For me it’s been the real winning combination. Other than the fact that I refuse to use the Apple/LSI HBA’s I don’t see that you’re doing anything different. Why don’t you see if someone can loan you an Astera Rhino 3000 or an Atto Celerity 22XH to test out. FYI: the Astera card uses it’s own proprietary set of drivers while the Atto card uses parts of the Apple FCAL library. Either way it’d be a good test. By-the-way which version of the Apple cards do you have ? Rev 2 has a /B in the part number and Rev 4 has a /D in the part number. The /D cards were a nightmare of unexplainable problems for me, LUNS showing up somtimes and not showing up at other times (sound familier). I switched to the Astera cards and now everything works.
Bart
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221 -
[Paul Thurston] “Would something like this work with the above Gbit cards seen at NAB?”
P.S. Fibre Channel and Ethernet are different/uncompatible technologies.
Bart
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221 -
[Paul Thurston] “Would somebody remember the manufacturer or the model number of the cards?”
The only shipping 4Gb FC cards I’m aware of are the Atto Celerity. Huge Systems was showing their 4Gb arrays playing uncompressed 4K film rez material using the Atto card. (They aren’t cheap.)
[Paul Thurston] “Yesterday I visited the Fujitsu website and they where describing a new product that seemed to be a 10 Gbps switch box? Would something like this work with the above Gbit cards seen at NAB?”
GbE and 10GbE technology pairs nicely with iSCSI (pronounced “eye scuzzy”) products, sometimes referred to as SAN Junior. iSCSI is a promising technology that may come into it’s own once 10GbE becomes cost effective.
Bart
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221 -
Yeah Rah !! Thank you Ron !!! 🙂
Bart
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Bart Harrison
MPA – The HD SuiteAmerica’s VAR
TurnKey Editing Systems, Storage Area Networks
HD Consulting, Production & Post, Exhibition & Distribution
http://www.hdsuite.com
954-894-1221