3D Server File Server

bigredshark · 13 Nov 2008 at 13:52

Get rid of the 15k drives, they're not improving speed, just access time. Unless it's only a tiny amount more.

VeNT · 13 Nov 2008 at 14:06

why not go 2nd hand?

ThomP · 13 Nov 2008 at 14:29

Hi,

I've got a Dell 2950 III and I posted some HD benchmarks with spec. In the other forum here:-

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=12029425#post12029425

daz · 13 Nov 2008 at 16:38

bigredshark said:
Get rid of the 15k drives, they're not improving speed, just access time. Unless it's only a tiny amount more.

Aye, I think in certain circumstances SATA drives can beat SAS in terms of maximum throughput. What you want is lots and lots of spindles (as many disks as possible, in other words).

RSR · 13 Nov 2008 at 19:15

daz said:
Aye, I think in certain circumstances SATA drives can beat SAS in terms of maximum throughput. What you want is lots and lots of spindles (as many disks as possible, in other words).

Cool.

Are there any bigger Dell Chassis then a 2900?

Also how noisey are they?

Thanks

Andy

RSR · 13 Nov 2008 at 19:16

ThomP said:
Hi,

I've got a Dell 2950 III and I posted some HD benchmarks with spec. In the other forum here:-

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=12029425#post12029425

Excellent.

Thats sort of results i am after :cool:

RSR · 13 Nov 2008 at 19:17

daz said:
Aye, I think in certain circumstances SATA drives can beat SAS in terms of maximum throughput. What you want is lots and lots of spindles (as many disks as possible, in other words).

I know about spindle count as i work with Netapp filers

Cool, ill look at the SATA drives. :cool:

RSR · 13 Nov 2008 at 19:18

VeNT said:
why not go 2nd hand?

For the job its going to be doing, i dont feel 100% confident with a 2nd unit. Also warrenty is another problem, but you can normally buy them.

Andy

brendy · 13 Nov 2008 at 19:22

What about backup, o/s, ups backup?
If I was put in that position id cost everything properly and take it to the purse people, theres nothing worse than knocking your pan in doing the best with what you have to work with only for someone to come along and say its not good enough.
Thinking a little differently. have you not got a high spec server elsewhere that you can reassign, upgrade and use then buy in an adequate replacement for it?

RSR · 13 Nov 2008 at 19:35

brendy said:
What about backup, o/s, ups backup?
If I was put in that position id cost everything properly and take it to the purse people, theres nothing worse than knocking your pan in doing the best with what you have to work with only for someone to come along and say its not good enough.
Thinking a little differently. have you not got a high spec server elsewhere that you can reassign, upgrade and use then buy in an adequate replacement for it?

Backups, UPS and OS are all covered so no worrys there.

brendy · 13 Nov 2008 at 19:59

Good man, our last server brought in was an ml370 32gb ram, quadcore 8x146gb 2.5" sas 64bit 2003 enterprise server for sql 2005, itsa bit of a beast but cost around 16k though original quotes included a second cage and filled with drives etc it was around 32k.

RSR · 13 Nov 2008 at 20:02

brendy said:
Good man, our last server brought in was an ml370 32gb ram, quadcore 8x146gb 2.5" sas 64bit 2003 enterprise server for sql 2005, itsa bit of a beast but cost around 16k though original quotes included a second cage and filled with drives etc it was around 32k.

Sweet. I dont have that type of money to spent at the mo. Ive been really put on a tight rain with what i can spend. Once business is back to normal, ill get a proper installtion done.

However, its come from the 3D teams budget not ours which is good. haha.

brendy · 13 Nov 2008 at 20:04

ML115, 1 x 1tb usb external drive and pocket the rest as labour costs! haha.

RSR · 13 Nov 2008 at 20:11

brendy said:
ML115, 1 x 1tb usb external drive and pocket the rest as labour costs! haha.

LMFAO haha.

morfmedia · 13 Nov 2008 at 20:47

You have pretty demanding throughput requirements. What NIC's will you have in the desktops?

RSR · 13 Nov 2008 at 22:05

morfmedia said:
You have pretty demanding throughput requirements. What NIC's will you have in the desktops?

They will have Intel Dual Port PT cards. Using a PCIe interface. I know a normal PCI bus just wouldn't handle that amount of data.

Andy

bigredshark · 14 Nov 2008 at 10:37

andyd said:
They will have Intel Dual Port PT cards. Using a PCIe interface. I know a normal PCI bus just wouldn't handle that amount of data.

Andy

Even so you'll not get 2Gbit from that, you'll loose at least 10% for overheads and even then I doubt the PCs will be up to it unless they're real workstation class machines. 200MB/s would be a very good figure based on that.

RSR · 14 Nov 2008 at 11:12

bigredshark said:
Even so you'll not get 2Gbit from that, you'll loose at least 10% for overheads and even then I doubt the PCs will be up to it unless they're real workstation class machines. 200MB/s would be a very good figure based on that.

Yea, I was just working out the theoretical limits. I know in real world terms there is an overhead.

Even if I can get 150 / 200MB/s id be happy. It’s going to be a massive improvement to what we have at the mo. As our network drive all goes thru an Acopia ARX100. We are luckily to get 20% on that using a Gigabit card. However, it was never designed for that that sort of bandwidth.

Ill re spec that Dell again as well today. Does any one know how noisy the 2900's are?

Thanks again

Andy

daz · 14 Nov 2008 at 11:38

The 2950s are VERY noisy. They're rackmount machines - I wouldn't want to put one in a non-datacentre environment (e.g. an office).

bigredshark · 14 Nov 2008 at 11:40

Yeah, he's right, jet engine noisy for most of those class of machines now...