Topology Example 2
In this larger implementation, we have six clients accessing a total of 7.9 TB of storage. The SANs bandwidth availability with two fully populated Xserve RAIDs is 320–400 MB/s. This SAN is connected to an outer network, shown in green. Notice that all trivial Ethernet components are routed to this outer network, and only the nodes of the SAN are on the metadata network. Further, we have a standby metadata controller available to take over MDC duties if the primary MDC fails. For directory services, we have three choices:
- The primary MDC is the open directory master of the SAN, with the standby MDC as a replica.
- The standby MDC is the open directory master of the SAN, with the primary MDC as the replica.
- The directory has been moved to the outer network, thereby allowing the Xserve units to just be MDCs (recommended).
Storage
- 2 x Xserve RAID 5.6TB (fully populated with 400GB Drive Modules)
- 512MB Cache Per Controller (1 GB total)
Fibre Channel Switch
- 1 x Apple qualified Fibre Channel switch
Metadata Controllers
- Xserve, Xserve G5, or Xserve G5 Cluster Node
- 1GB 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 x unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet switch
Client Workstations
- Power Macintosh G5 or Power Macintosh G4 Dual 800 or faster
- Apple Fibre Channel PCI-X card
- Apple Ethernet PCI-X card
- Mac OS X v10.3.6 or later
- Apple Xsan software
Outer Network
Mac OS X Server running Open Directory to provide directory services, or a system running a similar service such as Active Directory.