Promise Pegasus R6, Thunderbolt & Fibre Channel

[Steve Johnson]

Okay, found out some nice things. Not sure if anything has been posted about it, couldn't find anything on the forum.

If your like me and have a slightly older MacPro (I'm talking anything from 2009) and you still want to utilise the machine and connect to a Thunderbolt Device such as the Promise Pegasus R6, then I have had some good news from the Promise Sales Team.

If you visit this link, http://www.promise.com/storage/raid...n-US&m=574&sub_m=sub_m_8&rsn=40&statistic=Mac then you'll see that you can connect from a Thunderbolt enabled MacBookPro / iMac (soon to be MacPro) to a Pegusus R6 using Thunderbolt. Alternatively, if you are using a SAN on Fibre Channel, then you can use the SANLink to go from Thunderbolt on the Mac to Fibre Channel on the SAN.

Well, I queried with them if you could do it in reverse....

So I have a 2009 8-Core MacPro with a 4GB Fibre Channel Card and wanted to use the SANLink to go from the Fibre Channel Card to the Pegasus R6 Thunderbolt. They answered yes, it can be done in reverse. So if you don't have that much money and want to user a R6 with an older device, then if you don't have one, it will cost you a 4GB Fibre Channel Card and the SANLink, which I think comes in cheaper than a new MacPro.

Okay, you will probably want a faster machine, etc. but for anyone looking at this as a storage possability, then there is a solution.

Just sharing what I have found...

 

[Eric Santiago]

So I have a 2009 8-Core MacPro with a 4GB Fibre Channel Card and wanted to use the SANLink to go from the Fibre Channel Card to the Pegasus R6 Thunderbolt...

Thanks Steve, this helps

 

[Tom.Wong]

still hoping for a dedicated thunderbolt pci e card, or a sas to thunderbolt connector...

 

[Steve Johnson]

@Eric - no problems

@Tim - not sure depending if its true that the Thunderbolt connection is actually on the motherboard. If so, might be difficult - but there again, I'm no techie!

 

[Tom.Wong]

really shouldn't make a difference, bandwidth is bandwidth, they just need to translate the signal. you can have fw800 cards, even ssd's in your pci e. it's just something someone has to make. I'm gonna have to get the new mac pro's with TB down the line, but I'd like to keep my 2009 octo core running till the die it implodes. and if I can throw in a TB card in there, it stays more useful on and off set. I'm sure it will come out in the coming months, there will be a huge demand for it.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Why buy a TB RAID and then a TB to FC adapter? Why not just buy the same or similar RAID that they already sell with a FC interface?

 

[Douglas Learner]

really shouldn't make a difference, bandwidth is bandwidth, they just need to translate the signal. you can have fw800 cards, even ssd's in your pci e. it's just something someone has to make. I'm gonna have to get the new mac pro's with TB down the line, but I'd like to keep my 2009 octo core running till the die it implodes. and if I can throw in a TB card in there, it stays more useful on and off set. I'm sure it will come out in the coming months, there will be a huge demand for it.

As I understand it, Thunderbolt technology is intertwined with both PCI Express and DisplayPort which necessitates the motherboard implementation. Thunderbolt maps both display I/O and data I/O protocols into a single meta protocol, and the Thunderbolt controller manages communication with the PCI Express and DisplayPort controllers as well as with the Thunderbolt controller on the other end of the Thunderbolt cable.

Since Thunderbolt maps PCI-E and DisplayPort protocols the connected devices look like PCI-Express or DisplayPort devices to the OS and can use standard drives. This also means Thunderbolt can support non-Thunderbolt technology, such as eSATA and Fibre Channel, via adapters. The latter is presumably what Promise is doing with its SANLink adapter, which is scheduled for release this Summer.



A couple of things to consider in regards to using SANLink as a way to connect a Thunderbolt device such as Pegasus to your current Mac Pro. SANLink uses 4Gbps Fibre Channel technology, so you're immediately throttling back Thunderbolt's 10Gbps bandwidth to 4Gbps. Second, Apple's Fibre Channel adapter is $599 and requires a PCI-Express slot. No price yet from Promise on the SANLink. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Promise is touting the SANLink as a means to connect a Thunderbolt-equiped Mac to a Fibre Channel SAN. There is no mention of using it to connect a Thunderbolt device to a non-Thunderbolt-equiped Mac, nor is Pegasus listed as a supported device for use with SANLink. If it works, great, but I would tread cautiously.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

As I understand it, Thunderbolt technology is intertwined with both PCI Express and DisplayPort which necessitates the motherboard implementation. Thunderbolt maps both display I/O and data I/O protocols into a single meta protocol, and the Thunderbolt controller manages communication with the PCI Express and DisplayPort controllers as well as with the Thunderbolt controller on the other end of the Thunderbolt cable.

Pretty much. Thunderbolt is essentially a PCIe cascade system -- similar to PCIe expansion adapters. Technically, it could run from a PCIe slot. However, due to how it's been implemented to incorporate display capabilities as well, it's unlikely that separate PCIe ThunderBolt expansion cards will be available. Or at least Intel and most motherboard manufacturers are not going to have an interest in making it so. AMD/ATI is not interested in supporting Thunderbolt on their products. First and foremost, it's a product of their primary competitor, Intel. The PCI-SIG consortium that defines the PCIe standards has announced their own interface to compete with Thunderbolt, but it's at least another year away at this point and AMD is the only one who has publicly declared they will support that alternate spec. Seeing how ThunderBolt is freely open to license, I'm not sure I see the point to the alternative interface. Well, at least I see no point other than industry politics and posturing. The other standard may just be smoke and mirrors to cause confusion or even to get consumers to pause on TB rather than buying. AMD has recently invested heavily in USB3.0 and so have many peripheral makers.. Just sayin'

That creates a problem for my next point... The most logical peripheral makers to produce ThunderBolt PCIe adapters would be video card makers. Given the above, that pretty much means only nVidia and their channel partners. And I'm not sure if Intel and nVidia are likely to work together on delivering more ThunderBolt options, given the legal tensions.

 

[Tom.Wong]

well that's pretty bust. another way to really force you to buy a new tower. not like i wasn't going to, but it's always good to have a spare tower that can keep up.

 

[Michael Lindsay]

Why buy a TB RAID and then a TB to FC adapter? Why not just buy the same or similar RAID that they already sell with a FC interface?

I imagine if someone was backing up on set with a 17inch laptop (to a thunderbolt device) and wanted to plug that TB drive straight into their rocket enabled tower to generate rushes when back at base...

That is why I would want it..

Regards

Michael L

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Yep. And I guess I should've thought of that.

 

[jake blackstone]

For someone, like me, who uses FC drives this is great news. I'll be able to continue to use my FC drives with TB equipped computer.

 

[Steve Johnson]

I imagine if someone was backing up on set with a 17inch laptop (to a thunderbolt device) and wanted to plug that TB drive straight into their rocket enabled tower to generate rushes when back at base...

That is why I would want it..

Regards

Michael L

Yeah that was generally my point.

Sorry wasn't around. Been laid up in bed with a bug. I was just generally interested to find out if the SANLink worked vice versa to what Promise was suggesting. They tell me it will, but I will hold my breath. Since my MP is not slow with 8 cores and 32GB ram it will do for now since all money is going towards EPIC-X.

I was planning on a MBP with mobile rocket at some point so possibly using the TB to drive backups and the PCIe for the MRR for backup and file conversion whilst out would be handy. I was just think of a nice way I could take that TB RAID and then plug it into the MP at home so I could start editing from that.

@jeff: thanks for your thoughts. Always nice to hear what your thoughts are on technical subjects like this

 

[Steve Johnson]

@jake - my suggestion. Get someone to demo first. I would rather see it in action this was then find out it was just talk that the Promise guys where telling me.