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SSDs and gigabit - speeding up Sync to Central

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andrewlynnarch
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SSDs and gigabit - speeding up Sync to Central

I'm investigating ways to make syncing to central faster in my small (~10 desk) office, and I'd like to be able to show my boss some numbers before I try to buy any new hardware. So, a couple of questions: Does anybody have experience or benchmark results for upgrading the network from 100mbit to gigabit? We already have gigabit hardware on the computers and Cat-5e or better cable spec so we'd only need a new switch, so this seems like one obvious thing to try. Does anybody have experience or benchmark results for upgrading the drive in the file server that holds the central files to an SSD? All I've been able to find is old comments with that idea being shot down because of huge cost per gig, but nowadays you can get a 960GB M500 drive for under $500, which would be way more than enough for our projects share, so it might be time to revisit the idea. A faster network and an SSD on a server would open up a couple of bottlenecks, and I'll be gradually upgrading workstations to SSD as well - mine is the only one in the office and it cuts 30-45 seconds off a large file Sync to Central. Andy
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I'm not a high level tech guy.  I maintain our server at work.  We use a raid 5 array at the office.  That required at least 3 drives.  We also have a gigabit network.  I can't give you "numbers"... But I think that switching to a gigabit network will be your biggest improvement.  You're increasing your throughput to the server by roughly 10x...  Keep in mind the server probably only has 1 NIC [network interface card] configured, if it even has anymore.  So the server can't run any faster than 1x gigabit connection.  If it has multiple NIC's you can have those configured to run as well which will help your throughput.  I'm not sure how that's done.  But I know it can be.

 

So if 10 users hit sync at the same time, it's still going to think about it.  You still will likely hit a slowdown.  

 

My personal opinion on SSD.  They are great... But not for servers (yet).  The high costs, and greater than magnetic drive failure rate is... Well... Scary.  Since you only mentioned only using 1 drive I assume your not using any kind of array, or you're considering just adding this as an additional drive for extra storage.  Hardware failure is a real problem, you'd want to make sure you have a good backup daily.  Even semi-daily with that many people working on it.

 

SSD's on workstations are great... Of course you probably don't need more than a 256gb drive for that.  Nothing beats a reboot time of ~30s. 

 

We have an HP ProCurve for our switch.  It works really well.  I plugged it in 7 years ago, and haven't touched it since.  Buy good quality hardware.  Don't get a cheap piece of crap because it wont have the throughput you really desire on it, or it will cause problems down the line.

 

I highly recommend talking to an IT professional in your area - find one with architectural office experience.  They do exist, and it is helpful.

 

If you have any other questions I'll be glad to help.  Good luck.

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