Help need building a very basic SAN with Fibre Channel 8gbs

[Asif Limbada]

Guys,

Promise Vtrack x30 for Mac or ActiveRaid or HP or Fujitsu FC RAID Storage

After a near EPIC catastrophe with my EPIC footage (I am more of a camera guy). I need to protect those assets. Why would I need to get the Promise Vtrack x30 or ActiveRaid for my mac, why shouldnt I get a standard Fibre channel based raid system from HP or Fujitsu.

If you guys can share me a fool proof economical solution based on FibreChannel SAN, 16TB+ RAID 3U Rack + FC Swtich. a list would be amazing.

 

[Asif Limbada]

any advice guys

 

[Timothy Eaton]

Asif,

I'm selling this on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/300612870327?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

 

[Stephen Lovett]

Hi Asif,

I think one of the reasons you are not getting many replies is that there isn't really much information about what you are trying to accomplish in your initial post.

If this is simply to assure you have your "negative" backed up, I think what you are talking about here is overkill.

For that a direct attached storage solution that is raid 5 or 6, plus an LTO drive would likely be a better solution.

But not if you are looking for a shared storage solution.

Fill us in on what your needs are and I'll bet you'll get better answers.

Hope this helped,

All the best,

Steve

 

[Erich Ocean]

If you guys can share me a fool proof economical solution based on FibreChannel SAN, 16TB+ RAID 3U Rack + FC Swtich. a list would be amazing.

In my experience, these systems all require active monitoring/maintenance and a bit of experience. At that level, nothing is plug and play.

Get an LTO drive and back up to tape. It's cheap (once you have the drive) and a hell of a lot more reliable than spinning disks.

 

[Asif Limbada]

Sorry for not replying guys, there is some issue with my subscribing the post. I made up my mind, fast on what was required. I wanted build a Resolve system as well, hence I needed bandwidth and scalability between my Thunderbolt based devices and Workstation.

I will be investing in an LTO drive very soon!

I know it needs more expert know how. However, my go to IT guy, suggested this setup:

1. Promise VTrack x30 Dual Controller 8gbps FC 32TB (Very economical comparing to other systems other, trust me, I checked)
2. QLogic V5800 8gbps Full Fabric Switch (20 ports) 8 Ports Activated with SFP Modules for LC to LC connectors (When required can use the same switch and licenses + SFP modules for the port.
3. Dual Channel QLogic HBA Card.
4. Promise R6 x 2
5. Promise SANLink (to connect Thunderbolt based devices to the SAN, with 4gbps bandwidth duplex) x 2
6. LTO based backup (I will have to research on this)

What do you think guys!

 

[Nick Pasquariello]

Depends on the size of your setup. If you've got 10+ editors feeding off this stuff, then that setup is probably sending you in the right direction, though at that point, you'll probably want to get some consulting in to figure out the best SAN or NAS solution, and then shop around from various SAN or NAS providers. It's a long process, and an expensive one, and overkill for a one-man-show.

However, on the LTO front, I'd take a look at Cache-A. We use a Cache-A Pro Cache 5 at work, for over a year now, and it's pretty rock solid. A few minor quirks, and it doesn't give too much feedback, but it's easy to search for files and writes to LTO 5 tapes (1.5 GB for about $80-120 per tape). We've filled about 70 tapes so far, and have pulled files back off maybe half of those. Haven't had an issue un-archiving a file yet.

EDIT: Also, if you end up needing a Digital Asset Management system, Cache-A dovetails with CatDV. We're not using CatDV, but from what I've seen of it, it'd be nice.

 

[Asif Limbada]

Depends on the size of your setup. If you've got 10+ editors feeding off this stuff, then that setup is probably sending you in the right direction, though at that point, you'll probably want to get some consulting in to figure out the best SAN or NAS solution, and then shop around from various SAN or NAS providers. It's a long process, and an expensive one, and overkill for a one-man-show.

Dear Nick,

The problem here is that there are very few resellers in this niche market of AV. Their solutions are very brand-centric, especially when they distribute that particular brand. Getting to know the right solution from a reseller is very hard to come by. I was sold ActiveStorage is "the" solution for SAN, even when it is limited with 4gbps FC. I was sold that ATTO cards are "the only" one compatible in Mac Pro tower with Cubix "the only reliable" expander for a Resolve station. After reading REDUSER's setups, things are different

However, even the Promise guys say that the solutions they have is the the most compatible to the macs (I know there are others, however, they gave me an amazing price for the feature set, hence I got that)

As for being an overkill, I almost lost data on my scratch disk between post work. The projects I get are worth a lot. I am responsible for the data for the clients.

I would not mind using LTO for archiving, but during the post work, I need constant backups, with big space and bandwidth for data transfers. I would have gone with a very average system. This just makes me future proof in terms of infrastructure of an enterprise. Which I am aiming towards.

Like I said earlier, I need some advice on how does LTO-5 archiving works, what are the components that are required? many many questions at a very basic level. Your explanation would be very helpful.