Which type of RAID for NAS?

[slugger_2003]

For a graphics rendering farm I was planning on using a NAS or fileserver. What kind of RAID system would you guys use? I was thinking perhaps using one set of drives set up to run at high speed and another to act as a backup raid.
Any suggestions?

Thanks all

 

[amp88]

another to act as a backup raid.
Any suggestions?

Thanks all

There is no such thing as a backup RAID You could use RAID1, RAID5, RAID6, RAID10 etc to provide data redundancy but this is NOT a proper backup solution. You have made numerous topics in the recent past asking what are essentially very fundamental questions. If you're being entrusted with researching, budgeting, purchasing, installing and maintaining a server farm you really should be doing a lot more research than asking a few questions on a forum.

 

[djBon2112]

There is no such thing as a backup RAID You could use RAID1, RAID5, RAID6, RAID10 etc to provide data redundancy but this is NOT a proper backup solution. You have made numerous topics in the recent past asking what are essentially very fundamental questions. If you're being entrusted with researching, budgeting, purchasing, installing and maintaining a server farm you really should be doing a lot more research than asking a few questions on a forum.

I think he means as a backup to the first RAID. But I agree with the rest of your assessment.

OP, what speed of Ethernet will it be using? What kind of computers are they? You could always use RAID 1 for the redundancy, or RAID 0 for the performance, but the speed of both are basically lost over Ethernet when a bunch of computers are connecting to it.

 

[slugger_2003]

There is no such thing as a backup RAID You could use RAID1, RAID5, RAID6, RAID10 etc to provide data redundancy but this is NOT a proper backup solution. You have made numerous topics in the recent past asking what are essentially very fundamental questions. If you're being entrusted with researching, budgeting, purchasing, installing and maintaining a server farm you really should be doing a lot more research than asking a few questions on a forum.

I've just been asked to find out general information on the topic, so don't worry, no company will be going bust because of my mis-information....well at least not at this stage! ha.
So where do you suggest I begin to look? I've been reading on wikipedia about general farm terminology to find out what people are actually talking about...where by I stumbled across the term "NAS" which lead me onto arrays and hence onto here to ask which type of arrays guys in this line of work would actually use.
What would be a proper backup solution? Backup the hard drives on a tape drive at the end of the day? Are tape drives even used anymore? Would RAID 1 not be an appropriate storage medium for temporary backup while the artists worked and at the end of the day, back everything up on some other kind of large hard drive/tape drive?
So...any suggestions of more appropriate locations where I could find the relevant information? As I'm only finding out basic details, which I'm expected to build on, I didn't feel as if I was going about my goal in an inappropriate manner.

 

[slugger_2003]

I think he means as a backup to the first RAID. But I agree with the rest of your assessment.

OP, what speed of Ethernet will it be using? What kind of computers are they? You could always use RAID 1 for the redundancy, or RAID 0 for the performance, but the speed of both are basically lost over Ethernet when a bunch of computers are connecting to it.

Yes, I did mean for RAID 0 to be used for when the artists are working and RAID 1 for backup..but I suppose taking standard 100mbs ethernet connections into consideration, RAID 0 wouldn't see any noticeable improvements...would it?

 

[amp88]

So where do you suggest I begin to look?

Contact a hardware supplier like Dell, Sun, HP etc.

They will talk you through a process of requirements specification. This basically means they ask you questions about what you'd like to do, what your needs and wants are then they will advise you as to the possibilities they can supply for you. Take a look here for Dell's enterprise website. This will give you an example of what kind of hardware you can get and also what kind of software and support you can get. One of the main reasons to go for an enterprise solution from someone like Dell is the support. If, for example, a hard drive stops working you'll be able to contact Dell and they'll ship a replacement out to you immediately along with a qualified technician to fit the replacement and take any action if required. As you can probably imagine the cost of this kind of support is quite high, but if your business is going to be investing in the hardware required for a renderfarm it will be a worthwhile investment if you have the budget for it.

What would be a proper backup solution? Backup the hard drives on a tape drive at the end of the day? Are tape drives even used anymore? Would RAID 1 not be an appropriate storage medium for temporary backup while the artists worked and at the end of the day, back everything up on some other kind of large hard drive/tape drive?
So...any suggestions of more appropriate locations where I could find the relevant information? As I'm only finding out basic details, which I'm expected to build on, I didn't feel as if I was going about my goal in an inappropriate manner.

It depends on what volume of data you need to back up and your backup strategy. If you contact one of the above suppliers they will be able to talk you everything.

Yes, I did mean for RAID 0 to be used for when the artists are working and RAID 1 for backup..

Storing data on 2 separate volumes means there will have to be a synchronisation process over time (at the end of each working day presumably?). This process will take time and introduces a step in the process which could go wrong. You would probably be better off with a single volume using RAID6 or RAID60. RAID1 is a very expensive variety because you end up 'losing' half of the capacity of the disks in your RAID. If you put 20 1TB drives into a RAID1 array you'll end up with 10TB of usable space. If you use RAID6, though, you'd only 'lose' 2 drives worth of capacity (so you'd end up with 18 TB usable space). You'd also end up with better performance from the array. Again, if you contact Dell you should be able to discuss the pros and cons of each flavour and they will be able to provide you with their expertise on the subject.

I suppose taking standard 100mbs ethernet connections into consideration, RAID 0 wouldn't see any noticeable improvements...would it?

Investing 10s of thousands of dollars on hardware, software and support then leaving each of the workstations with 100 Mbps NICs would be criminal. At the very least go for Gigabet ethernet. The increase in productivity will be well worth the small increase in cost (Intel gigabit NICs are some of the best and they can be had for peanuts). Also, depending on the number of users accessing the data simultaneously you could find the array being maxed out even on 100 Mbps ethernet.

If your budget can't stretch to a proper enterprise solution from one of the above then you should at least look at their individual enterprise websites to give you a good idea of what kind of solutions there are for your situation.

Now that I read back my first reply it does sound quite harsh, so I apologise for that.

 

[djBon2112]

Yes, I did mean for RAID 0 to be used for when the artists are working and RAID 1 for backup..but I suppose taking standard 100mbs ethernet connections into consideration, RAID 0 wouldn't see any noticeable improvements...would it?

It wouldn't, but amp88's advice is spot on. I'd go with GbE at all costs, since it will be night and day opening large files off the server.