XServe RAID and catalyst

[samsc]

Xserve RAID

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

Fibre channel switch

http://www.qlogic.com/products/fc_san_switchs.asp

other companies make these - we tested the 5200

[samsc]

More Xserve RAID info:
http://images.apple.com/xserve/raid/...choverview.pdf

http://images.apple.com/xserve/raid/..._datasheet.pdf

more fibre switches:

http://www.sandirect.com/brocadepage.htm
http://www.sandirect.com/emcswitches.htm

fibre channel info
http://www.storagesearch.com/fcswitches.html

[samsc]

I drew a diagram of the proposed network layout.

Each mac should ideally access files only on its own RAID set- to maximise performance, but all volumes will mount on desktops of all macs.


----

We dont have multiple XServe RAIDS to test but we believe that multiple units can also be plugged directly into the fibre channel switch, and shared between computers.

[samsc]

Is the XServe RAID expensive?

If you consider that each single XServe RAID - configured as 6 RAID sets, you get 4 volumes with 800GB and 2 volumes with 1200GB.
You are getting a LOT of storage capacity in one unit.5.6TB


The retail price of the largest XServeRAID is $13000.
Using this to drive 6 Catalysts is then ~$2000/server.
Add 8 port Fibre switch. $2000
Fibre channel cards are about the same cost as scsi cards

A SCSI disc array with 800GB capacity using 140GB drives at $600/drive is 5*600= $3000

The XServe RAID is 50% cheaper per RAID set for the same drive size than using SCSI.
And you can network this between multiple macs, you cannot do this with SCSI.

[Jan Opseth]

Hi,

Which Raid Levels did you run the Xserv on?

Regards,

Jan Opseth

[samsc]

Hi,

Which Raid Levels did you run the Xserv on?

Regards,

Jan Opseth

RAID 0.

No redundancy

[jasonrudolph]

Another possible nice thing with this, is that you can rent Xserve RAID systems from a number of vendors....

[Jan Opseth]

RAID 0.

No redundancy

I know you folks have planty to but do you have the time/"wanto" too
test raid 5? to see any performance drops/or rices?

Can u change stripe sizes on an Xserv Raid?


Regards,

Jan O