#xsan

MLA headed to Du Quoin, IL this weekend for the Indian Hills Fall Championship presented by Fly Racing. Preview what's ahead with 2012's Vurb Select feat. Dylan Cox, Jace Owen, and Michael Hicks. 

XSAN Errors and warnings  user/library/preferences

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On 25 July 2012, Apple released Xsan 3 and bundled it in OS X Mountain Lion:

"...because Xsan is completely interoperable with Quantum's StorNext File System, you can even provide clients on Windows, Linux, and other UNIX platforms with direct Fibre Channel block-level access to the data in your Xsan-managed storage pool."

Quantum claims "Complete interoperability with Apple’s Xsan and Promise RAID [allowing] Xsan and Xserve RAID to support AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Windows clients, including support for 64 Bit Windows and Windows Vista."

Hypothetical:

(1) Buy a Mac mini Server to use as your metadata controller. (2) Mount it in a Sonnet xMac mini Server (see previous post). (3) Attach a Thunderbolt RAID. (4) Attach a bunch of Macs with Thunderbolt ports.

Result: You've created a multi-seat HD edit system. Until recently, a system like this would have cost tens of thousands of dollars!

Constraints: Copper Thunderbolt cables are good for 3 metres, glass cables are good for 100m. This, latter, range can be extended with repeaters.

Implications: Unless you need more than four (4) seats for serious HD video editing or need to integrate into a very large system (such as a large newsroom) this must be about the biggest thing to happen to shared storage - ever!

Questions:

What's the best Thunderbolt RAID option?

What's such a system's web-facing capacity?

What's the system's best relationship with WiFi and BYOD tablets?

So 1 week on from Apple’s WWDC, here's my perspective on the ‘New’ MacPro.

First off, yes, the MacPro upgrade that was announced at WWDC last Monday was bullshit. In fact it cant be even classified as an upgrade, its more of a minor update. Most people know that the only thing that were changed was the Xeon processor, oh yeah sorry, Wifi comes as standard now too.

So, I can see why people are a bit peeved. But with hindsight, it ain’t too bad. At least they haven’t canned it! Majority of people that use MacPros are indeed ‘Pros’ that work in shops where computing power is key. Most of pros/shops (that I know) that were waiting for the new MacPro have variants of the rig ranging from the PowerMac G5s - 2009 MacPros. But MacPros with Sandy Bridge, USB3, Thunderbolt etc. at this stage, do you really need this for your ‘Professional’ Environment?

Its not only about the machine. The backend infrastructure is what drives the facility. Meaning that, if like us you have invested in XSAN and fibre-channel workflow, you are not just going to scrap it and invest in a new backend, you are going to make it work you are going to fit in. The Promise SANLink has opened up doors for an iMac environment, but the current iMac has limitations in itself and SANLink is only able to work up to 4GB. 

Companies that work in creative industry require teased up machines, they will then look at the ROI against them, and put them on a 3-year loan cycle. After which it will not only would it have paid for itself but is able to be written off and a new loan/3 year cycle may be taken out. 

With this lets look at the new MacPro as a 3 year investment. 

“Negatives”

Xeon Chipset*: the main update an oldish (2010) E5 Xeon chip with 12-cores that still pisses over any other Mac currently. Benchmarks of the 2012 MacPro, will be between 22-25K mark, current 27” iMac (Mid-2011) teased at 3.4 i7 is only hitting 11K. 12-core machine is definitely enough power for current software and will be for at least 3 years, with the iMac (in its current form) unlikely to hit those benchmarks until 2014. 

Thunderbolt: It is a great Intel technology that is bringing high-speed copper to the masses, but it is yet to have a place in a pro environment. Most facilities that need high speed connectivity use Fibre or Ethernet infrastructure. So not a big deal at the current point in time.

USB3: Okay this should have been implemented, but Apple would have had to re-architect the motherboards to accommodate. In which case they might as well have changed the Xeon chipset, added thunderbolt, etc. It is a shame, but what are you actually using USB for? Keyboard, Mouse? Not a huge deal. 

6G: By this I mean the 6gbps SATA connectivity. Yeah its a bit of a bummer, especially with the 6G SSDs hitting around £1 per GB. But if you think about it, in a pro environment you are only really going to be using SSD as a boot volume. With 3G SSD, it can still hit speeds of 220mbps is absolutely fine for a boot volume. 

“Positives”

PCI-E: Though I am glad that Thunderbolt has its place and it peripherals are continuing to grow, having SANLinks, Video IO, all daisy chaining off each other is a bit of a nightmare to manage. It actually reminds me of the Firewire days. Being able to expand internally is progression, daisy chaining is regression.

Dual Ethernet: If like me you are running XSAN on Stornext or Apple MDCs you know that you need a secondary NIC for your Metadata network. Though Apple have the USB 2.0 ethernet adapter/thunderbolt GIG NIC, nothing beats an integrated port. Currently the MacPro is the only Apple hardware that has 2 integrated Gigabit NICs.

Discounted: For a change, Apple have discounted their MacPro range. The SSD is approx cheaper, RAM is cheaper (still overpriced though), the chipset is cheaper, all these discounts are bringing the 12-core machine down by 25% (approx). With these savings you can keep the change or tease up your machine with a larger chip or more RAM, invest in a CUDA card, etc. 

These are just a few examples of why it’s okay to invest. Tim Cook has emailed a ‘fan’ stating something special is coming for 2013. But who knows what that’ll be...if anything at all. If you can wait, then it might be worth waiting, but if you can’t and know that the ‘new’ MacPro will work in your current environment for at least 3 years then I just wanted to say, its okay to invest.