we are trying to configure a descent size (in layman's perspective) storage at my lab. I am a skilled programmer, but my knowledge in hardware at non-consumer level is very limited at this point.
At this point, the following parts are my immediate concern:
1. workstation to analyze research data (raw microscopy data, binary data, etc. routine file sizes ranging from 50~200 GB; occasionally, up to 1~2TB/file)
2. a server to store files
3. there will be other computers connected to the server with regular 1GbE connection.
Based on research and the suggestions that I have received:
connection between the workstation and the server: 10GbE (10GBASE-T), iSCSI
the server will probably be either: a Synology rack station or a custom built server from a local vendor.
Scenario 1
workstation: no RAID system. just an SSD to store OS and applications.
server: RAID 5 (or RAID 0 with a back-up server), 12 disks (SATA III, "enterprise", 7200 RPM, 64 MB cache)
store all data on the server. on the workstation, read and write directly from and to the server.
Scenario 2
workstation: RAID 0, 4~6 disks (LSI MegaRAID 9260-8I is the one that the workstation vendor recommended, SATA III, "enterprise", 7200 RPM, 64 MB cache)
server: RAID 5, 12 disks
store all data on the server—except copy working files(images that are being processed or analyzed) to the workstation disks to utilize the workstation's RAID0 array.
Questions
- for Scenario 1, is the server's disk array speed fast enough to fully utilize the 10 Gbps connection?
- which scenario is going to be faster? which one would you recommend? (if you have any suggestions for modifications or a complete new set-up, I would appreciate your opinions)
- should we consider nearline-SAS drive(they seem to be quite expensive comparing to SATA III)? my vendor/sales-rep configured the server with nearline-SAS. we are not running any applications/databases that require a large number of input/output. we just need a fast, bulk storage.
I would greatly appreciate your help.
Thank you in advance.
