Bob Zelin
7
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RAID 6 is what I use with every system.
If you don’t like that, use RAID 5.
Forget RAID 50. Just my stupid opinion.Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
Ryan –
I see that you are a new member of Creative Cow. If you have looked at posts on Creative Cow in the past, you will see that I am often quite rude to many people. I will now unfortunately be rude to you. I don’t know you, and I don’t know your background, but it is clear to me from your reply that you are unfamiliar with much of the equipment that you have, and you need PROFESSIONAL help.The system that you own is the Cal Digit Super Share. Cal Digit never made this system – it is the Accusys Exasan which is exactly the system that Edgar was talking about. Exasan is a SAN system that requires software like Apple XSAN or Tiger MetaSAN to work. If you contact Bernard and Tiger Technology, you will quickly see that MetaSAN has evolved into a new product called Tiger Share. It’s the 2015 version of what you own. MetaSAN did not go away – it evolved, just like all products in our industry evolve, and after a period of time, things become outdated. I assure you that Tiger Share works with Apple Yosemite.
But perhaps some of your hardware does not. Accusys Exasan evolves also, and you may own older hardware.
Accusys makes a Thunderbolt to QSFP adaptor, that works with the Exasan system.I don’t know how to contact you, so I can’t give you more aggressive assistance with this.
Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
Hi Enrique –
because you are running OS X Snow Leopard 10.6, I am going to assume that you are on a budget. You may find that when you look at these software packages, you may feel that they are charging a lot of money, and you may ask “isn’t there anything for free out there that I can use”. There is – it’s called HP StorOpen, and it’s a free download. However – IT IS COMPLETE GARBAGE, it won’t work for you, and you will be wasting your time. Buy the correct software that has been recommended to you in this post, and you will have no issues. You can do a free trial download to try them out, but DO NOT use the free software, as it is a waste of your time, and will only cause you aggravation.Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
Hi Ryan –
first off, there are lots of companies, like Sonnet and Magma that make PCIe expansion chassis for any new Mac Pro that has Thunderbolt only, so you can stick all your cards into one of these chassis, and keep going. And of course, there are lots of companies that make Thunderbolt to Fibre adaptors (Promise SanLink) so you can continue to use what you are doing now.There are lots of companies that make large Thunderbolt drive arrays (G-Tech, Promise, Maxx Digital,Netstor etc.) that can be used for shared storage.
When you say buying a Corning optical cable for $600 is expensive – that is the least of your expenses if you are considering buying a new large thunderbolt drive array, or new shared storage system, which will cost you a LOT of money.
You can absolutely have a shared storage system that uses Cat6 cable that will be FASTER than 4 or 8 Gig Fibre. There are lots of companies, like Facilis, Maxx Digital, Studio Network Solutions, Small Tree, ProMax, etc. that will be more than happy to sell you a wonderful very fast shared storage system that will connect via Cat6 cable and 10Gig Ethernet. These systems are readily available, and work wonderfully, and are much faster than anything you have previously owned.
The system described by Edgar is the Accusys Exasan system, which now offers Thunderbolt to QSFP adaptors, that can attach to new Mac Pro or iMac computers with thunderbolt, and attach to an Exasan switch via optical cable. The shared drive arrays which can be 8, 12 or 16 bay, also attach to the switch, and you can have up to 4 drive arrays with their system. Edgars solution works with Apple XSAN, but Accusys also works wonderfully with Tiger Technology Tiger Share, using the Tiger Serve 1, which will allow you to use easier to use client and admin software, without having to setup an XSAN system.
Let me be clear about one thing. The only things that WILL NOT WORK is by purchasing a new Mac Pro, and running Thunderbolt cables from the client computers to the new Mac Pro, and trying to do shared storage that way. This is the only combination that will not work. Thunderbolt networking DOES NOT WORK for your application.
If you find all of this confusing, all of the companies I mentioned in this post can help you. And so can I. Just reach out.
Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
David is of course correct. You are over thinking this.
Buy the Pegasus. Don’t think. Leave it exactly the way it is. Plug it into your Mac, and go to work.
It comes out of the box RAID 5. Don’t do anything. Don’t be a brain surgeon. Just plug it in and
go to work. You need to make money, not think about the theoretical aspects of a RAID that works
perfectly fine right out of the box.Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
It is easy.
Use a Mac Book Pro as your server. Connect a Thunderbolt drive array to your Mac Book Pro.
Connect a 10G Thunderbolt Box. Connect a 10G switch to your Thunderbolt box.That’s it.
Plug in your client computers (let’s say all Mac Book Pro Clients). Want 10G speed – plug in a 10G Thunderbolt box to that client Mac Book Pro. Yes, at a certain point you will start to choke the bandwidth because you only have one thunderbolt buss on your server Mac Pro (unlike a new Mac Pro with three thunderbolt busses, or the old Mac Pro tower with PCIe slots).But you can use just Mac Book Pro’s for this. The only non portable item is the disk drive array, which needs to be an 8 bay drive array. And that is smaller than the suitcase that you carry your clothing in.
Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
Hi –
while I am not a big fan of the Synology/Thecus/QNAP as a solution, if you have at least one of these systems with a minimum of 8 drives, and the 10G switch, and the 10G card inside the Synology/Thecus/QNAP, then yes, you can get this to work.Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
Hi Neil –
I didn’t even know the article was up.
It’s the exact system that I build all the time. There is a dedicated SERVER (in this case for Universal, and old Mac Pro). This has a 10G card inside it (I am using the ATTO 10G card). Each client has the new Sonnet Twin10G, but this can be any 10G product on the client computer. You don’t have to have 10G – you just get the slower speeds. The server 10G card connects to the 10G switch, and now all the clients connect to the 10G switch.You just can’t daisy chain a bunch of dual port 10G boxes, and have a working SAN or NAS. The rules are the same.
Want a tiny system – Mac Mini (tiny, correct ?) – with one of these Sonnet boxes. Don’t forget your Thunderbolt drive array ! This ain’t gonna work on an internal drive inside the Mac Mini ! There are lots of companies (Maxx, G-Tech, Promise, etc.) that are making fast 8 bay Thunderbolt arrays. Now plug that sonnet box directly into each client computer, or if you want the fast speeds, plug into a 10G switch.
SO, you want portable – the mac mini is tiny, the switch is 1 rack unit. These Sonnet boxes are tiny. The only thing NOT tiny is the 8 bay DISK DRIVE ARRAY. But is this drive array any larger than the camera rig ?
Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
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