So we currently have two Mac Pros, that both have multiple RAID 5 attached storages via FW800s, but we want to consolidate all our files/storage to a central location to pull the footage/project files from, which will be 4 x LaCie 12TB RAIDs in RAID 5.
We are planning on purchasing another Mac Pro to use as a "server/intern computer" and a few eSATA PCIe cards to connect the external RAIDs. Then we want to run ethernet cables to a switch and connect all the Mac Pros together through OSX File Sharing feature. We tested this with a Macbook and one of the Mac Pros and worked on projects using the same footage/graphics from one RAID and it didn't seem to cause any issues - awesome! See image below for a visual representation.
I was just wondering if anyone else has attempted this and had any luck? Obviously a NAS or a Fiber Channel setup would be a better solution, but we aren't a large company and will only have 2 editors (and an occasional intern) working on this configuration at a time and we will rarely be pulling the exact same footage all the time.
Anyone have any thoughts/experience with this sort of setup?
