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Storage Area Network For Macintosh
QUESTION:Does anyone have experience with SAN's for Macintosh computers?
We have four G4-equipped designers who work with large (gigabyte) Photoshop
and Illustrator files. These are 2D static images - no video or animation.
They have their own VLAN but now need their own server or SAN as file
swapping between machines is reducing productivity. Backing up is also too
long.
ATTO seems to be the only vendor supplying network adapters (HBAs) and
management software for Macintosh, but they don't seem to provide small
switches - only hubs - nor do they make storage devices.
Would a hub be sufficient? In AL-FC config, if all 4 users want files then
they'll only have 25MB speed. With gigabyte files, I would think this
performance loss could be significant. Will another vendor's switch work
with the ATTO HBAs? It seems as though the switching fabric is proprietary.
What FC storage devices will work with ATTO?
ANSWER: All of those G4s shoyuld have fast enough ethernet that you could just use a
standalone Ethernet Server storage box.
Most server manuafactureres make simple standalone file servers.
It's easy enough to just build one with an older Mac, a Gigabit Ethernet card, a
Ultrawide SCSI card and an external Drive array running Ultrawide drives.
You can also purchase arrays made with IDE drives, that connect with Firewire.
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