Networking issue

[sumeetgupta]

Hi, we've been experiencing numerous issues with 3ds Max and Corona lately. We feel our network setup needs an urgent upgrade.

Below are the specifications and configuration of our network setup, along with a simple diagram.

We have approximately 40 workstations of varying specifications, all connected via 1Gbps Ethernet cables and two fully managed Cisco switches. Our data is stored in three NAS devices, each with 80TB of storage.

Huge exterior scenes with multiple proxies, etc., take forever to load, and are often accompanied by numerous crashes. DR also does not work correctly. Do you think we should upgrade it to 10 Gbps, or do you have any other suggestions?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[clemens_at]

It seems you have a bottleneck from the switches to the NAS. How are those connected?

Also why are the NAS daisy chained?

[sumeetgupta]

All workstations and NAS devices are connected directly to Cisco switches via Ethernet cables. Is there a better way to do it?

[clemens_at]

All workstations and NAS devices are connected directly to Cisco switches via Ethernet cables. Is there a better way to do it?

so each NAS is connected via one 1Gbps Ethernet cable to the switch?

[sumeetgupta]

That is correct!

[sumeetgupta]

All workstations and NAS devices are connected directly to Cisco switches via Ethernet cables. Is there a better way to do it?

so each NAS is connected via one 1Gbps Ethernet cable to the switch?

That is correct!

[clemens_at]

ok, well that is a problem then.

If all your 40 workstations try to access files on the 3 NAS devices at the same time, they all have to share this 3x1Gbps connection. So, things will be very slow.

With that amount of bandwidth, you should definitely look into a 10Gbps connection between NAS and switch.

Be aware that if you do this you will significantly increase the load on the NAS/Hard Disks - but since you have 3 of them them you should be ok.


As an intermediate step you can also set up a LAG(Link Aggregation).

Each of your NAS devices has 2 Ethernet Ports, if you connect each second port to the switch as well and configure it as a LAG in QTS you at least get double the bandwidth.

Also those NAS Ethernet ports are 2.5Gbps, so upgrading to a switch that supports that means you could potentially get 6x2.5 Gbps.

[sumeetgupta]

Thanks for your suggestion. That is indeed very helpful! I think the best course of action here will be to upgrade it to a 10 Gbps connection.