1. What kind of performance impacts do you see in production environments?
With at 2 scanners per head, we've seen no impact. Whilst one scanner is busy with a big file, the 2nd will take up the slack. Now if they're all down, no files served depending on your timeout settings. Also, watch your extension list & adjust it accordingly. We scan more than the default extensions (we dumped this in the rc file < vscan extensions add PIF,VB?,WJS,WSF,ADP,EML,LNK,CHM,VBE >)
2. What type of network interconnects are you using? In particular, would a VLAN on top of gigabit Ethernet be OK?
We're using an isolated Gigabit Ethernet (Copper) network to connect all the scanners & heads. We considered VLAN, but it cost us more for ports on a Cisco 6513 vs. just buying a 3805 (I believe that is the model #) with fiber to copper transcievers. If you've got the ports for VLAN, it'll work great. You can also do cross-over cables, but it won't work if a cluster fails over.
3. Are there any recommendations about the vendors? We use Trend ScanMail for our Exchange servers and have been happy with that product. We also use NAV for our desktops.
In our eval of Carrier Scan, McAfee & Trend - Trend won hands down.
4. Are there any horror/satisfaction stories or questions I missed?
Nope, it's pretty straight forward once you're set up.
THANKS!
--- Pat Allen (pat@mbari.org) Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) 7700 Sandholdt Rd, Moss Landing, CA 95039 (voice) 831-775-1724; (fax) 831-775-1620
We're using an isolated Gigabit Ethernet (Copper) network to connect all the scanners & heads. We considered VLAN,
If you've got the ports for VLAN, it'll work great. You can also do cross-over cables, but it won't work if a cluster fails over.
Keep in mind that 6.2 added the (fantastic) functionality of .1q vlan interfaces on top of a VIF. Taking advantage of VLAN'ed interfaces is often overlooked, whereas w/ this scenario, combining two gig's into a vlan'ed .1q multi vif will give you the multiple network presence and a full 2gig avaiable to each network.
In my case, I'm doing a single (failover) vif w/ two gigs (each to separate core swiches), running vlan's on top. Gives me the option of pumping a full gig to a vlan if needed, but still keeps the redundancy w/o wasting filer slots and switch ports.
but it cost us more for ports on a Cisco 6513 vs. just buying a 3805 (I believe that is the model #) with fiber to copper transcievers.
Catalyst 3508 w/ the 1000T GBICs, probably. Very handy switch to have around. Note that with the native gig copper on the newer 3550 and 2950 models, they're often cheaper than the equivalent 3500/2900 (especially if you consider the added cost of GBICs).
..kg..
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kevin graham -
Nail, Larry