Xsan Topologies
There are numerous ways for you to implement your new SAN. The following three examples show typical topologies for production environments. Again, these are guides, intended to provide a summary of the previously discussed information as you plan and acquire your equipment for integration.
Topology Example 1
In this example, we are using the most basic of topologies. We have a total of 3.9 TB of storage utilizing a fully populated RAID (5.6 TB model). The SAN’s bandwidth availability with one fully populated Xserve RAID is 160 to 200 megabytes per second (MB/s). This SAN is isolated; that is, the system is not connected to an outer network. This is perfect for implementations in which highly confidential content is being edited. Also, we are not utilizing a centralized directory, so clients will be locally authenticated (the server will not be in control of the login process), and the “chatter” on the metadata network will be kept to a minimum. In order to access and set up either the Fibre Channel switch or the Xserve RAID, an additional connection must be made from a separate computer outside the network.
Storage
- 1 × Xserve RAID 5.6 TB (fully populated with 400 GB drive modules)
- 512 MB cache per controller (1 GB total)
Fibre Channel Switch
- 1 × Apple qualified Fibre Channel switch
Metadata Controllers
- Xserve, Xserve G5, or Xserve G5 cluster node
- 1 GB RAM per controller
- Apple Fibre Channel PCI-X card
- Mac OS X Server v10.3.6 or later
- Apple Xsan software
- PCI video card (optional)
Metadata Network
- 1 × unmanaged gigabit Ethernet switch
Client Workstations
- Power Macintosh G5 or Power Macintosh G4 Dual 800 or faster
- Apple Fibre Channel PCI Express or PCI-X card
- Mac OS X v10.3.6 or later
- Apple Xsan software