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Primary File Sharing: Moving away from Apple raid to ADM

Hey Guys,

I'd like to get some opinions for a file sharing setup based on what i already have setup.

My current File sharing Machine Spec is: A PPC G5 xserve - Running 10.5 server - connected to Apple RAID box which is missing SN so i cant find out the exact model or how old it is.

The Apple Raid is configured as Raid 5 and serves a 935GB primary file sharing volume to around 55 Mac and PC users ( i think the data is striped across 5 drives with an extra drive redundancy )

i have additional file sharing volumes setup in the xserve drive bays.

In total i have around 1.6TB of data setup with raid and ADM's included.

Ideally i'd like to purchase an intel xserve: get rid of the Apple raid box and transfer my data onto 2 x 2TB apple drive modules.

i'm just a lil weary of possible performance issues of using a single 2TB ADM as my primary file-sharing volume... especially since i have a 50+ users...

any opinions and thoughts would be super appreciated.

domo arigato

Posted on Feb 22, 2010 4:59 AM

Reply
2 replies

Feb 22, 2010 5:47 AM in response to sos7

With 50 users, some form of RAID (RAID-1 or RAID-10 or such) and an external archival strategy would likely be considered best-practice.

Disks can and do fail, and having a failed disk and data loss and the resulting 50 cranky users is Not Fun.

I might look to an Xserve box and an external direct-attached disk shelf or RAID shelf for this case. No need for a SAN if you're running just one box.

Or look to replace the Xserve box with a Network-Attached Storage (NAS) box. This will be the cheapest solution, and is most applicable to environments and configurations where you're (just) serving storage and not looking to use the other features (Open Directory, DNS, Kerberos, mail, etc) of Mac OS X Server.

The limiting factor here will probably be the gigabit LAN connection to the clients, regardless of the configuration. Disks are typically rather faster than that.

Feb 22, 2010 3:16 PM in response to sos7

Also bear in mind, although the XServe RAID box is getting long in the tooth, it's still functional - you can just plug it into your Intel XServe (with the appropriate PCIe card, of course) and the volume(s) will mount just as they did on the XServe G5. Might make your migration plan a little easier.

Primary File Sharing: Moving away from Apple raid to ADM

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