XServe RAID and catalyst

[samsc]

Apple xserve cables:
http://www.cselex.com/apple-xserve-cables.htm

You can use fibre optical cables with these devices for long distances - but you dont have to,
the SFP plugs can take optical transceivers.

http://www.apple.com/xserve/raid/fibre_channel.html

For connecting over longer distances Apple?s card accepts long and short haul SFP (Small Form Factor Pluggable) optical transceivers for use with fiber-optic cables that can extend over 500 meters. This is particularly useful for organizations using Xserve RAID to back up or archive critical data.

[tharding]

How does this all relate to the transactions/second argument?

I am looking for disk solution at the moment beyond my single Raptor content drives and am a little confused now as to what is best. I have gone back through the forums and looked at your drive/codec comparison tables as well as the previous discussions about SATA v. SCSI. This fibre channel discovery seems to conflict with that.

Do I spend the money on internal SCSI drives for my 2 machines or am I better off investing more in something expandable such as xRAID?

I would like to have the ability to play back Hi Def but the maximum number of layers is also important.

Cheers

Toby

[samsc]

i have a couple of people testing xserve raids.
and going through the issues.

they are quite good, because they are expandable, but the cost is a bit higher.

i hope to get one on a tour this month.

[tharding]

Okay,

Given that the xserve raid is probably a little out of my price range at the moment I am considering 2 choices that will cost about the same.

Option 1 - a SATA array using the new rackmount enclosure from Macgurus and putting the 8 channel SATA card in each of my G5's. This gives me the option to run a 4 drive raid for each machine or an 8 drive array for one machine. I would use raptors as the drives.

Option 2 - Buy a the Atto scsi card for each machine and put an Atlas V 146 gig drive in each. This option giving me the chance to buy a Huge systems array further down the track.

Please let me know what you think is the best option.

Cheers

Toby

[samsc]

i never tested a sata array. the last generation were crappy.
the connectors were crappy, and christian used them, and always seemed to have issues.

if you start doing multi-disc scsi, the price soon starts creeping up to xserve levels.

it just isnt possible to acquire and test all the storage options, and evaluate their performance with catalyst.
---

the main advantage of xserve RAID is networkability- you can share the storage at very high speed.
Using a fibre switch and XSAN you can create multiple disc volumes in the same unit and share them between different servers - thats the theory.

With the cheapest xserve raid which ships with 4 discs you would divide the thing up into 2 two disc raid sets, with the most expensive it might be possible to drive 6 computers at the same time.

I have a 14 disc xserve raid on a show at the moment, and im waiting for results.

[samsc]

Apple fibre channel and xserve raid support page:

http://www.apple.com/support/xserve/raid/

[samsc]

http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...utility20.html

[jasonrudolph]

I have a 14 disc xserve raid on a show at the moment, and im waiting for results.

So, how did it perform???

[samsc]

eurovision never got around to using it.

they had too many other issues.

its coming back to me soon. hopefully this week.
im trying to get it onto another gig.

initial tests showed that 6-7 layers dv layers were achievable on a 2 drive raid set.
this is due to agressive caching rather than drive speed.
xserve raid caching worked better than other raid technologies so far