Storage - Direct Access or NAS/SAN?

[simo923 0]

I am looking at building a system consisting of 4 different machines, each running 16 channels. So in total that is 64 channels of audio and 64 channels of video, all recording full time at best res.

 

Now, i can go with 8Tb of HDD in each machine and save to there, or have a centralised storage server with all machines saving to that point.

 

Anyone have any tips or suggestions. I would like to have 1 centralised area for backups and locating files, but direct access to their own HDDs will be faster.

 

Any views greatly appreciated

[VST_Man 1]

direct server access is faster BUT you'll most likely access via client PC or VPN.

 

That much storage will create some heat, no matter how you build it. I'd go with a SAN. much easier to manage, considering your storage requirements.

 

I have a client that has 8 Servers with several hundred cameras on a fiber backbone with a SAN. They push the video from the Servers to the SAN after hours. They only retain 1 day of video on Servers, all else is pushed.

 

The SAN will also be a great place to store the "incident" video. Incident video is all that video you want/need to save......and over time it will take up space. Centralizing that is more efficient.

 

GOOD Archivers are extremely hard to find so make sure you "demo" that side of the software BEFORE you purchase.

[simo923 0]

Excellent, thanks for the advice. Realistically there is no after hours as they will be operating 24/7, the thing that worries me is bandwidth. If the DVR software (probably Geo) can save the data direct to the SAN, this will be 4 machines saving 32 channels each all the time, that is a lot of traffic, not even including the 4 workstations accessing the data. I have a feeling the gigabit network won't cope. This would be the ideal situation for me. I really need to see how the Geo systems work, can't get my head around how clustering several systems will affect storage.