Berenguer,
Thanks for responding. (sorry to all for the long post... I felt the need to be careful in how I discuss this... it is after all an Apple XSAN forum..)
I'm always intrigued by what people are doing with Apple products! Apple hardware is wonderful as are a lot of the hardware and software solutions that play with Apple!
Your hardware configuration that you have sounds interesting. Personally, I'd like you to push it to the limit to find out how far you can go with it, and give some feedback. - For example, how many Pro Res HQ streams can you edit off it at one time?
You should understand that Ethernet is very capable, YES. If you do enough digging around, you can find Ethernet based networks for video editing which work like a charm!
Some of them are Direct attached SAS Storage to a Server, and some are Fiber Channel Storage at the Server. - The trick in either case, is getting the right pieces working and talking together to make it all happy and polite to the editors! (and making sure it lasts in the long term..wont crumble under pressure, or fail you, etc!...)
Ethernet is actually very fast and can handle enough bandwidth to cover the needs of video editing from that perspective to a certain degree of course. An Ethernet wire at raw bandwidth can handle up to 100MB/sec of throughput, this is quite enough for Pro Res HQ and all the lesser. Apple's O/S allows you to use Jumbo Frames on Ethernet and run that gb wire up to 90MB/sec under optimal conditions! - Real Time Video Editing, however, does not rely solely on the amount of bandwidth, but also how "fast" the solution talks back and forth.
(You can comfortably put 2 Pro Res HQ streams running at (60MB/sec) onto a gigabit Ethernet wire safely (with TCP overhead see).
I will tell you some helpful public knowledge --
The real key to getting a system that works, is by purchasing one designed to meet the requirements, exactly. - Then compare the price/performance and other decisions that go into installing the solution or signing the check for one.
If you do enough searching around here on The Cow and on the web, you'll find some references to some Ethernet based Real Time Shared Storage solutions.
There are some which work, some which do not, and some which do it so well, nobody believes it can be done. (there are those skeptics...)
Now that you've been perked by what I said , I certainly don't want to get into a "vendor war" - NO - I'm simply providing some needed information to you, and the people you do business with, as well as anyone in the future that finds this post.
Here's the info: There's a company called Small Tree that works very closely with Intel and Apple on engineering levels. They have some solutions that you would benefit from in more ways then one.
Speaking of blessings...
You can navigate your browser to Intel's website and find Small Tree. Additionally, if you need a further blessing, place a call to Apple Sales, and ask them to find you a Multi Port Gigabit Ethernet or a 10Gb Ethernet Network Adapter! I'm sure they will oblige too!
I'm certainly not here to steer you from Apple XSAN, or any other vendors business. I'm personally partial to these conversations and try to remain as neutral as possible. This allows you, the person (the consumer) inquiring, to make informed decisions, based on truth and knowledge. - Enough Said.
Go do some more research.. here some helpful links ..
Just for the record, Small Tree Mac OSX Drivers only work with Small Tree Cards purchased from Small Tree.
(Unless a vendor list specific Mac OS support for their Intel based cards, it should be assumed that they do not have proper Mac OS support unless they have stated so, installing a driver from Small Tree will not help unless the card is bought from Small Tree...)
Intel website for Apple Mac OSX Support
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=2426&DwnldID=...
More from Apple discussions...
http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?threadID=&q=%22small+tree%22&objID...
With regard to video editing over Ethernet, hopefully this will send you on the right path! I'm certainly looking forward to hearing back from you myself!
Regards,
Matt G!
