NAS for Mac environment
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If you use the Drobo B800i you have a SAN that goes onto the network and you can use software like SAN-MP to share it between nodes. With a Drobo Mini you just have a USB or Thunderbolt DAS drive with SSDs or laptop drives in it. You would attach that directly to a Mac Mini and use the Mac Mini as a NAS head to share out the storage. So the cost and complexity of using the Drobo Mini is much higher. Very different approaches.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Ambarishrh said:
Not sure if a Drobo mini is a good idea for 30-50 users working on Photoshop with big image files.
Ha ha. The Drobo Mini is not a SAN, it's a single user external drive device. Yes, it is a full RAID unit with four drives in it (all 2.5" SATA) but it is a direct attach only and is designed to be exactly the same as a really nice external USB drive except faster with RAID protection. That's all. Super high end USB drive.
I suppose you could plug that into a Mac Mini and use it with a file server. Personally, I'd run some monitoring for 24-48 hrs to get the IOPS they need.
That would be the intended use (we hope.)
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Drobo B800i: Rack mounted 3U SAN, 8x 3.5" SATA bays in RAID 6 for up to 48TB of usable SAN storage, but very slow. Connects over GigE iSCSI.
Drobo Mini: External hard drive form factor DAS 4x 2.5" SATA bays in RAID 5 (if SSD) or RAID 6 (if spinning rust) for up to about 1.5TB of usable capacity connecting over USB 3 or Thunderbolt and very fast (if using SSDs.)
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Drobo Mini:
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The Drobo Mini has an additional fifth drive, the mSATA SSD cache slot. This allows you to put 4x laptop spinning 2.5" drives in the hot swap bays in RAID 6 (RAID 5 would be too risky by far) for up to around 2TB of usable capacity while the mSATA provides a caching mechanism to speed up the most commonly accessed bits. It is a very nice feature, but because it accelerates only four SATA bays, the overall design is not so useful as the total capacity is so limited. Better to use 4x SSD than 4x spinning plus a cache because with all SSD you can utilize RAID 5 for better capacity and speed options.
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Drobo B800i SAN:
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Sadly the B800i lacks a cache or tiering option to leverage some SSD to really speed things up. To get this you have to move up to the B1200i which is quite a leap in price and moves you to hard core tiering with 9x RAID 6 spinning drives (an increase of about 15% in total maximum capacity), the option to use SAS instead of SATA (for a leap in base performance if so desired) and three bays of RAID 5 tiering for SSDs with gives you more performance, better protection and double the high speed tier capacity of the Drobo Mini. The B1200i also has more redundancy than the other options with a dual power supply option, is directly rack mountable (no kit needed) and has more robust networking options for the SAN connections.
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The idea is to use the B800i added to a mac mini server and enable file sharing. If not the B800i what could be the next best option?
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@Ambarishrh said:
The idea is to use the B800i added to a mac mini server and enable file sharing. If not the B800i what could be the next best option?
If you are definitely going to use the Mac Mini as a NAS head / file server then the direct connect (DAS) option is not a limiting factor, that's actually an improvement. The question would be, does 4x SATA 2.5" provide enough capacity to meet your needs? If so the Drobo Mini + Mac Mini combination might be very good.
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In between the two is the Drobo 5D.
This unit is basically a merger of the B800i and the Mini. It is DAS only (no SAN) and does USB 3 and Thunderbolt. It is 5x 3.5" SATA plus mSATA Cache.
That means it can deliver up to 24TB usable in RAID 6 configuration and has the mSATA cache slot to make the commonly used files much faster.
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Yes, I am thinking of using the MAC server as file server mainly due to the fact that almost all users are on MAC. Plus the storage is around 2 TB and growing, so mini might not be an option. In this case Drobo 5D would be a good choice?
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Based on my requirement, Drobo also gave me the option for 5D
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@Ambarishrh said:
Yes, I am thinking of using the MAC server as file server mainly due to the fact that almost all users are on MAC. Plus the storage is around 2 TB and growing, so mini might not be an option. In this case Drobo 5D would be a good choice?
Yes, the Drobo 5D would be good. You could do 5x 3TB drives for "cheap" and have 9TB usable storage with RAID 6 protection. Small spending, big storage. If you want more, go to 4TB drives and leap to 12TB usable.
The mSATA cache device will be well worth it for speed.
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@Ambarishrh said:
Yes, I am thinking of using the MAC server as file server mainly due to the fact that almost all users are on MAC. Plus the storage is around 2 TB and growing, so mini might not be an option. In this case Drobo 5D would be a good choice?
Why would the mini not be an option if you have mac users? you don't want to use a windows or linux file server if everyone is on macs. The Mac Pro is going to be overkill for a file server. You just need some good thunderbolt storage if doing Mac Mini
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series_NA381TB_overview.htm
https://thunderbolttechnology.net/product/netstor-rackmount-16-bay-storage
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1067853-REG/lacie_9000476u_48tb_8big_thunderbolt_2.html
Not that I recomend the Lacie at all but just saying there are large thunderbolt systems out there. 2TB isn't really large though.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
Why would the mini not be an option if you have mac users? you don't want to use a windows or linux file server if everyone is on macs. The Mac Pro is going to be overkill for a file server. You just need some good thunderbolt storage if doing Mac Mini
I had the same reaction for a second. But he's not talking about the Mac Mini, he meant the Drobo Mini will be too lean on capacity to use. The Mac Mini he is still agreeing is the right way to go for the file server component.
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This one seems very interesting it even lets you mount the mac mini in side of it. http://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Thunderbolt-Rackmount-Expansion-NA381TB/dp/B00GSQDRDC
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@thecreativeone91 said:
Not that I recomend the Lacie at all but just saying there are large thunderbolt systems out there. 2TB isn't really large though.
2TB is near the theoretical limits of the Drobo Mini. 24TB for the 5D. 48TB for the B800i. 56TB for the B1200i with tiering in place. 80TB for the B1200i without tiering.
All assuming RAID 6 for data protection. Any could do RAID 5 but that would not be wise at all.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
This one seems very interesting it even lets you mount the mac mini in side of it. http://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Thunderbolt-Rackmount-Expansion-NA381TB/dp/B00GSQDRDC
Okay, now that is a pretty cool unit. I kind of want one and I have no idea why.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
Why would the mini not be an option if you have mac users? you don't want to use a windows or linux file server if everyone is on macs. The Mac Pro is going to be overkill for a file server. You just need some good thunderbolt storage if doing Mac Mini
I had the same reaction for a second. But he's not talking about the Mac Mini, he meant the Drobo Mini will be too lean on capacity to use. The Mac Mini he is still agreeing is the right way to go for the file server component.
Sorry about the confusion, yes i was talking about the Drobo mini, for server it will be a mac mini server. Thanks @scottalanmiller
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wow the highpoint device looks nice! I like the idea of adding the mac mini inside that
