[WinMac] Re: Using NT for a MacFile server [WAS :Re: Film Bureau and Platforms]

Daniel L. Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Tue, 21 Sep 1999 15:18:02 -0400

        Dear Mark,

        No flames here... Just vigorous opinions!

        Yes, there are SCSI-to-SCSI RAID controllers, but that is a hack of the
first order: You lose the bandwidth that can only be achieved with a
connection to a PCI bus - Especially the newer 64 bit &/or 66 mHz PCI buses.

        Software (driver level) RAID is OK, but it's a third-party add-on for the
Mac while it's included in NT. Oh, and by the way the NTFS drivers between
NT/S & NT/W are the same, so if you want a RAID Level 5 on an
NT/Workstation, just create & format the array on an NT server and then
move it across to the NT workstation.

 -----

SIDEBAR:

        I've had poor experience with Newer Technology, specifically on both their
G3 cards as well as honoring their lifetime warranty on RAM. I much prefer
Sonnet <http://www.sonnettech.com> because their 68040 AND G3 accelerators
have proven themselves in a number of installations I support... Plus, they
are less expensive!

 -----

        As for the third party AFP (and correctly, SFM) software, it's only $295
for a 5 user license. Plus, you can add SFM using either ExtremeZ-IP or
MacServer IP to a machine running NT/Workstation as well as NT/Server. This
cuts down the licensing cost quite a bit, since NT/W is $179 (while MacOS
8.x is $99).

        Cheers!
        Dan

At 02:38 PM 9/21/99 -0400, Mark Maytum wrote:
>
>Rod,
>
>Well, I'm running two Compaq 1600's w/2SL RAID controllers and two Mac
>9650's. Both the Macs are connected to a RAID tower with a 4 host SCSI
>bridge in it (each have their own volume partitions of course). So the
>part about Macs not supporting hardware raid doesn't hold up. *Everything*
>supports hardware raid. Your host computer doesn't have to carry the RAID
>controller. And as far as software RAID goes, an NT mirrored partition is
>one step above useless and NT striped partitions are...well...fine. To be
>fair, SoftRaid and HDT on the mac side are about equal to their NT software
>RAID counterparts. If you're going to mirror your boot partition, chances
>are, it's not going to be a *painless* recovery.
>
>If you don't count my attempt to hack the 9650's with Newer G3 cards
>recently (which was an experience), all four of our servers have similar
>uptimes. We have both AtEase for Workgroups users and NT roaming users to
>think about here. I really wouldn't want to have to do without *either*
>server platform.
>
>However, in your case, assuming that you don't want to do any domain level
>type authentication, I'd stick with ASIP. The lack of parity RAM and more
>PCI slots than you'll likely ever fill probably won't be a showstopper. A
>properly configured ASIP server is very stable. It's also....easy to
>configure.
>
>Considering that you need to add some extra (and not cheap) software to an
>NT server to get acceptable SFM performance out of it, I don't think price
>is really going to be a consideration.
>
>As always, your mileage may vary.
>
>HTH,
>Mark Maytum
>Pompanoosuc Mills Corporation
>
>P.S. *Not* covering my head. Flame at will everybody.

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