Archiving/backup...fresh look.

[frailer]

We're headed towards new 27" Retina iMacs. Looks like we'll get them first, be able to hook them up, get Adobe apps running.
It's been suggested by someone here that we should think about getting a RAID setup ono which we put everything backup/archiving-wise. This would include XMF proprietary archiving, as well as manual 'archiving' of incoming files, once they're well pout the door, and Mac backup via ChronoSync.

I know people here are pretty well versed in this stuff. Thoughts.. recommendations gratefully accepted.

Oh, also, can I partition such a drive for FAT32 as well as OSX? The XMF Archive files will be the former, everything else the latter.

[Joe]

I would get something like a NAS. Plugs into the network and is available to all machines. Has built in RAID ready to go. No matter which way you go make sure you use Enterprise level drives for any RAID solution. Don't use the cheaper desktop drives. I'm partial to the Netgear ReadyNAS Pro series but there are other brands too. In something like a RAID which is usually some flavor of Linux the drives are partitioned in a proprietary format specific to the NAS. You can share them out via SMB or AFP. Myself personally I share them out as SMB and leave AFP disabled. The Macs can access SMB shares just fine. The archive files and OS X files can both be stored on them just fine.

[frailer]

Thanks. Shall follow up on that, Joe.

In other news, got a follow-up call from vendor apps/XMF guy, who is talking to our head office IT guy. After checking with the UK on specs., they are looking at a 'storage tiering' system on the server. Uses SSD drives to take the processing workload, and offload genstore/data files to 'external storage'. I gather in a more efficient way; detail am not up to speed on yet. He says it's a 'kick-arse setup'. I live in slightly enhanced hope.

[Farabomb]

In the quick read I did of Storage Tiering it seems to be a distributed storage system. Critical files are stored on a heavy RAID, archive files SATA drives, frequently used files on quick SSD drives. I can see how it can be beneficial to some places.

Still, you can easily get away with using a NAS for local storage/backups. Either use a cloud service or external drives to backup offsite and that would work for here at least. I hope the bosses don't get too wowed by the "kick-ass system" and loose sight of the ROI. Yeah, having neat stuff like that is cool and good to use in bullshit marketing materials but is it really needed?

[Joe]

In the quick read I did of Storage Tiering it seems to be a distributed storage system. Critical files are stored on a heavy RAID, archive files SATA drives, frequently used files on quick SSD drives. I can see how it can be beneficial to some places.

Still, you can easily get away with using a NAS for local storage/backups. Either use a cloud service or external drives to backup offsite and that would work for here at least. I hope the bosses don't get too wowed by the "kick-ass system" and loose sight of the ROI. Yeah, having neat stuff like that is cool and good to use in bullshit marketing materials but is it really needed?

Agreed....anytime you have "vendor apps/XMF guy, who is talking to our head office IT guy" you can bet that wasted dollars and bullshit will follow. IT people should never have any access to Mac systems or the storage they use. Just my opinion.

[Farabomb]

IT should provide prepress the cat5 drops and space on the switch and otherwise leave us the hell alone.