I'm in the process of setting up a small post production sound studio and Im planning to add a 10g network for file serving. All computers will be located in a central machine room with short cable runs.
We have just installed 2 new Mac Pro machines with 10g RJ45 networking built-in and Im planning to updated our other computers to 10g network cards as well. The total number of computers will be around 10 - 12, all with direct 10g connections to the switch.
We have an existing 1gb network that we will continue to use for internet and our dante network audio routing. That 1g networks runs mainly on a Cisco SG300-24 switch and some misc Trendnet POE switches attached to a Peplink Balance 20 router.
The 10g network will be used for internal file serving only. Instead of a server we will be using a Mac with an 8 drive thunderbolt 3 raid that will allow us to serve files to the Pro Tools editorial and mix systems and handle backups and other file management.
We also have a ubiquity Unifi wifi network so I am already dealing with that configuration software as well. With the Cisco switch I am also familiar with that configuration software.
I have a baseline understanding of IT for dealing with the things I have to deal with like setting up static IPs and Qos in the Cisco switch. This is a pretty basic use case but I haven't dealt with and enterprise level switch at this point.
I've been down several rabbit holes and want some feedback on the various choices available and some of my assumptions/plans.
- Since we are dealing with serving media files across the network it seems that a switch that is enterprise grade could or would be appropriate to be sure we don't run into bandwidth bottlenecks. Our raid is capable of 20gb per second. The plan is to put a dual 10g card on the server system and connect both ports to the switch via bonded ports so we would want a switch that can support that.
-I have been looking at various enterprise switches that are available. Since we will be running a single switch for this network in a 24-7 cooled machine room, power and noise aren't really too much of a concern. I started only looking at copper/rj45/Base-T switches because the existing machines I have are already setup for that and we don't need the distance capability of fiber at this point. However I have see that with the cost of transceivers being somewhat reasonable that it could make sense for us to use an SFP+ switch since it opens up a lot more low cost options. To have some expandability I think we are considering 16 - 24 10g port switches. If we are using 10 - 12 Ports for now, going the SFP+ direction would add around $500 - 600 to the cost to get us up and running if we can get the RJ45 -10 transceivers for around $50 each. I could see there being a benefit to use having long run fiber in the future but for now its not necessary.
Here's the list of switches I have been considering with prices I have found available now:
SFP+ Switches ( Add $600 to all these costs to get us up and running)
Quanta LB6M - $230 (Refurb) - Total Cost $830
Brocade TurboIron 24X $269 (New) - Total Cost $869
Ubiquiti US‑16‑XG / ES-16-XG-US - $538 (New) - Total Cost $838
ARISTA DCS-7124SX - $450 (Used) - Total Cost $1050
RJ45/Base-T Switches:
Arista Switch DCS-7050T-52 $900 (NEW)
Cisco SG550XG 24 - $1400 (USED)
I understand many of these are the usual suspects in this price range but Im curious if there are any recommendations specifically to my isolated internal files sharing for media files use case.
Curious if there is a sweet spot between performance / price / ease of setup and use?
Should any of these be avoided because of low reliability or other know problems?
Also with any of these are there additional licensing costs I need to be accounting for?
Should I avoid headaches of enterprise equipment and just stay in the world of Ubiquity, Cisco SG, or Netgear 10g products? Do they have the horsepower for what Im doing?
If you see anything I'm not considering or some error I have in this plan please let me know.
Thanks!
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