NAS or Server

[dande]

I'm currently looking at my storage options. I have my working pc and 5 other pc networked into it which I use as render nodes.

 

I recently had my main hard disk die on me. Luckily enough it was backed up so I didn't lose much data. I'm trying to decide if I would be better putting a number of disks into one of my render nodes so it acts as a server or get a NAS box. The cheaper option (but it maybe not the best option) would be to add a 2 or 3 disks to one of my render nodes. and maybe add a motherboard that supports raid.

 

What way have other people done it?

[easy3dsource]

I've always had my network set up as you described. The main thing to take into consideration is that if you're going to use one of your nodes as your main server, you might have to NOT use it as a node during any batch rendering jobs. If the CPU of the server is being pushed to 100% while it's rendering a frame, it causes delays in communication when the other nodes are attempting to connect to it. Also; this should go without saying, but make sure your entire network is hardwired, not wi-fi.

[StudioRendering]

We set up a NAS at the Studio... ReadyNAS by Netgear is a good starting solution that becomes expandable as you grow, works well on a gigabit switch (if your doing distributed rendering don't go slower than a gig switch). Configure the RAID for an additional safety net (depending on how many hard-drives you have in there will result on what RAID format you want to keep, here is a youtube video I thought that explains it somewhat well

) I find there is always a little lag time when you use a render node as an asset storage.

 

Hope that helps. Best of Luck!

[dande]

Thanks for your feedback. I find it hard to justify having a machine in my farm that is not rendering. So a NAS might be the way to go.

[danb4026]

I have all of my asset file on my workstation's hard drive and my render nodes access them through my network. My workstation takes part in the rendering as well as my nodes. I uses vray DR, so there is no way to "not" have my workstation involved in the actual rendering. I am not sure whether this setup creates lag time or not. I would love to hear of other options.

 

I used a Bufalo 4TB NAS for a short while, but found it to be unreliable and slow, so I did away with it and went back to my workstation as a file server.

[dande]

Thanks for your feedback Dan. I currently use my main work machine file storage and I render with Mental ray and backburner. I haven't found any real problem with lag either.

 

Its interesting to hear that the NAS was slow.

[danb4026]

I hear that the speed of the NAS depends on its processor. Some have their own CPU's and some don't. Mine had one, but it may not have been the best. Obviously there are better NAS's then others, and I did not fine mine to be good. Its a $700 paperweight.

[Scott Schroeder]

I have all of my asset file on my workstation's hard drive and my render nodes access them through my network. My workstation takes part in the rendering as well as my nodes. I uses vray DR, so there is no way to "not" have my workstation involved in the actual rendering. I am not sure whether this setup creates lag time or not. I would love to hear of other options.

 

I used a Bufalo 4TB NAS for a short while, but found it to be unreliable and slow, so I did away with it and went back to my workstation as a file server.

 

I have/had a Buffalo LinkStation NAS for a while but while it was great for picture and music storage, it wasn't nearly fast enough for textures or pulling frames from in After Effects. However, I don't really think the NAS I got was for anything other than long term storage.

 

It's an awesome back up, but not the best primary drive.

[dande]

Thanks again for your replys. I think I'll go with he server and get a NAS as a backup