what is the better way to do this?

Question

Greetings!

I asked this this question on other communities, but I need really fast answer, so please:

We've got 37 computers (I hope there will be more soon) and shared storage with 30 TB capacity. What is the best way to provide the most optimized data transfer and robust backup? We're using Windows and the data is photo and video in the most.

Otherwords - everything I've got now is 37 computers with total capacity of their HDDs for 30 TB, that are ready to be included into the network, that I'm trying to build.

Thank you for now.

Answer 1

Best - I'd say use FCoE over dual 10Gbps CNAs per server into Cisco Nexus 5000/7000 switches in turn connecting via multiple 10Gbps FCoE links into your SAN switches and on to your SAN arrays. Back the lot up using a duplicate SAN Array in a second site more than 50km away using synchronous volume mirroring then snap-mirror that backup site to a third SAN array using tier 4 disks for long-term backup.

Now shall we talk about what you actually mean perhaps? firstly your question title is...non-optimal shall we say. Could you re-write it with some vague pointer to an actual question. Next how about just a tiny bit more detail - what are your limitations etc. You're really not helping yourself or the community, have a think and edit ok. It's no wonder you've had no success elsewhere.

Answer 2

RANT:

OK looks like a bunch of jerks here on ServerFault unlike on stackoverflow. I find that a lot of admins are stuck up **** for some reason, that can't help a noobie. The guy didn't say he was a guru. If he is asking a question like this maybe he is not even an admin, just a programmer or designer stuck with a job. I mean, if you want more information just say so, why do you have to ridicule or embarrass the guy? Shame on you. You give the bad name to the rest of admins.

ACTUAL ANSWER:

A quick answer is: get a local NAS device. You can get something like a buffalo, qnap or synology NAS or similar - for about $600 on newegg or amazon, you can get a really nice device that supports: smb, ftp and nfs, and a bunch of other protocols. Also integrates with LDAP or AD, can serve as a small webserver, and a bunch of other goodies. Depending on the device you can get RAID 1 or RAID 5 or even RAID 10 config ( 2,4,5,6,8 bay devices). If you put 1.5 TB barracudas inside you can get A LOT OF redundant space. You can get 2 mroe systems like that and use them for take-away backuo, on a rotating basis. Some people prefer tape backup - you can also investigate that option.

Personally, I like QNAP - but that's subjective. I recently setup a qnap TS219P at a remote branch with 10 client PCs, and it works wonders. Also check out their main competion: synology. The most widely popular company in this market is Buffalo - but from personal experience - their support sucks and they are overpriced.

Now if you want to setup a proper system, I would say get a couple of gigabit routers, proper firewall that supports vlans (pFsense or Endian), LDAP or AD server, and a proper SAN that supports iSCSI and NFS ( Check out HP or Hitachi - the most bang for the buck) for storage. run you client pcs to them - shouldn't take longer than a few days. :-) Then setup a remote SAN somewhere at a branch or data center and backup to that location.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

If in short, I would suggest you to use iSCSI SAN solutions. iSCSI will use your existing network, and software itself will help you to backup and share data among clients.

Regards!