Migrating to new hardware w/ some additional fiber features.

[Maximus01701]

So, I was gifted a 24D Facilis Terrablock server.

https://www.facilis.com/technical-specifications/

 

It's built for video production where it can support up to 6 direction fiber connection to each machine. And allowed quick switching between iSCSI devices (Since some editing software only works on those drives). 

 

Anyways...

I have been migrating from my DIY homebuilt server into this and things have been going better than expected. 

 

The server came with:

3x - Atto FC-82EN Fiber Channel cards. 

1x - Myricom-10G Dual-Protocol NIC

As well as the two standard ethernet ports on the MOBO. 

8x - Fiberstore SFP-10GSR-85 https://www.fs.com/products/11589.html

1x - FTLX8571D3BCL https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Finisar/FTLX8571D3BCL/?qs=%2Fha2pyFadug%2BiGEoi8PKz2LEV0UORDjqf%2Fdvn6n06hmH23rQptDHxQ%3D%3D

 

Since I only have a standard gigabit switches (one manage and the other not). Id like to utilize the fiber cards for speed. 

What would you recommend for setting that up? I don't mind them being direct connection (Pretty small space) but can't seem to find any good info on setting it up.... I've already pulled the cards and put one of them in my desktop.  

 

I do have an iSCSI drive over the network (Again for video production stuff) set up by following a SpaceInvader One tutorial that i use on Unraid. I'm sure i will have to reset that up on whatever route i go...

 

Long story short, any way to directly connect to an unraid server via Fiber cards?

 

-Thanks,

 

 

 

[sha1024md5]

So I came upon this post from google, considering doing a similar thing, and wondering if Unraid could do this on my build. The only way I could think it could work is since Unraid doesn't support Fiberchannel out of the box, you need to work around that limitation.

 

My idea was that I would create a VM and use ESOS (Enterprise Storage OS), and pass through the fiber channel card to it. I was thinking there are two likely options for block level storage targets: 

1) create vdisks and pass them as raw disks, that way you would gain all the benefits of unraid software raid, then have ESOS serve those targets to the initiators

2) pass an actual physical disk target via pass through, say for instance you wanted a tape, cdrom, or an old hard drive as a target. 

 

Just make sure you understand the difference between a SAN and a NAS, your passing a block level device to a fiber channel initiator. It's not going to work like a NIC, it's not going to be shareable by multiple computers at the same time, it's just going to be a hard drive that shows up on your server/computer but it's hosted remotely. Just make sure this is what you actually want. 

[Maximus01701]

On 2/21/2021 at 4:14 AM, sha1024md5 said:

So I came upon this post from google, considering doing a similar thing, and wondering if Unraid could do this on my build. The only way I could think it could work is since Unraid doesn't support Fiberchannel out of the box, you need to work around that limitation.

 

My idea was that I would create a VM and use ESOS (Enterprise Storage OS), and pass through the fiber channel card to it. I was thinking there are two likely options for block level storage targets: 

1) create vdisks and pass them as raw disks, that way you would gain all the benefits of unraid software raid, then have ESOS serve those targets to the initiators

2) pass an actual physical disk target via pass through, say for instance you wanted a tape, cdrom, or an old hard drive as a target. 

 

Just make sure you understand the difference between a SAN and a NAS, your passing a block level device to a fiber channel initiator. It's not going to work like a NIC, it's not going to be shareable by multiple computers at the same time, it's just going to be a hard drive that shows up on your server/computer but it's hosted remotely. Just make sure this is what you actually want. 

 

 

Right, i currently have a SAN connection between unraid and my desktop for video editing (Since it needs block level). 

 

Id like to fiber connect unraid (I will have to go direct if i have to since I fiber switches are $$) to a few other machines (Not on the block level) so it's shared. Such as the movies and TV folder. Of the fiber cards only the Myricom card is recognized in Unraid. The rest of the fiber cards are not. 

 

[sha1024md5]

4 hours ago, Maximus01701 said:

 

 

Right, i currently have a SAN connection between unraid and my desktop for video editing (Since it needs block level). 

 

Id like to fiber connect unraid (I will have to go direct if i have to since I fiber switches are $$) to a few other machines (Not on the block level) so it's shared. Such as the movies and TV folder. Of the fiber cards only the Myricom card is recognized in Unraid. The rest of the fiber cards are not. 

 

You can go direct with fiber channel, I have done it. I have little doubt you can get 'a SAN connection' with ESOS and Unraid. I have no idea if ESOS supports the drivers for your fiber cards out of the box, I used QLogic cards as it has good driver support. If your cards have funky drivers you may need to compile that into a custom ESOS build, instead of just using a standard image.