Nas server for CAD projects

[00Roush]

Hi Tim,
we've got Synology DS107+ however it plugs on our standard Ethernet 100 Mb. This NAS works when we open small CAD assemblies (20Mo max.). About our "network CAD project", we plane to set up gigabyte network. I've checked Qnap Ts-119P+ specifications and it's suitable with iSCSI protocol.

So what happens when you try opening the larger CAD assemblies from your current NAS?

Based on your need for only 3 computers to access files on this NAS I would say you only need something simple. A lot depends on how your CAD software works with files that are not on the local machine though. Some software is network aware and has mechanisms to maximize performance for remote files. Other software might just assume all files are local and when a remote file is opened performance takes a nose dive due to the extra latency involved. Either way I wouldn't worry about it too much. The QNAP TS-119P+ you mentioned or the QNAP TS-119P II thiggins mentioned both look to have much higher read/write speeds than your current NAS and would probably work much better.

00Roush

 

[sebastien_seb]

Hi everybody,

Don't worry GergN for the nerdfest, I like that, it pushes me harder to network system understanding and I am very gratefull for your help.

I watch your picture and after some web searches, iSCSI protocols seems to be more efficiency. We will try it, we've found some tutos on internet.

Concerning backup, we plane to schedul backup hourly on an other disk like you recommanded.

00Roush :
When we try to open large CAD assembly on our current NAS, there is a big latency time and our software stop to dowload datas... Moreover, we need to backup CAD datas frequently during our work, hence I must set up faster solution.

 

[GregN]

I watch your picture and after some web searches, iSCSI protocols seems to be more efficiency. We will try it, we've found some tutos on internet.

You understand that iSCSI will not allow you to share NAS files between users? iSCSI Logical Units, formatted with the windows filesystem (NTFS), cannot be shared. NTFS LUNs will corrupt if shared.

You can set up a separate LUN for each user (not shared), in addition to a shared NTFS partition. Users can then copy between the shared partition and their LUN. You will have to create four partitions, one for each user, and the shared partition.

For the Synology iSCSI page:

Although under most circumstances, connecting multiple initiators to the same iSCSI Target under the file systems of EXT3, EXT4 and NTFS will corrupt the data. However, by enabling multiple sessions and having the appropriate file systems (1), you can allow one or more initiators to connect to one iSCSI Target simultaneously.

(1) VMware Virtual machine File System (VMFS) or Oracle Cluster File System (OCFS)