Need help with network setup

[Ilmanine]

Hi,

This might be more a 3ds max question than Vray but hope you can help me. I'm looking to get either a NAS or a file server so I can store all my data in it.

What I need is somewhere where I can put all my assets, files and textures, neatly organized and then I'll access it through my other computer like if it was a network folder and work from there. I don't want to use it for rendering, just purely storage. I would also need to access it with being in the same LAN.

I read in the Autodesk forum that they don't really support NAS but sounds a bit odd to me.

Does anyone have any similar setups or experience with something like this that could help me?


Thank you

[themaxxer]

why should this not work? it's more a windows thing than something other.
I have 2 16TB Qnap NAS for all my assets, on one I have all my client data and on the other I have all my 3d models, textures, and other stuff.
I have mapped them with a letter, so my NAS with all textures and 3d models has always the letter M:\ on ALL machines. then it works flawlessly.

if you have more questions I would like to help you.

best regards
themaxxer

[Morbid Angel]

I also used qnap nas for years. It works fine, even if you work from it. The best way, if you scale up with projects is to keep your data on raid, so that if one drive fails you don't lose data. Autodesk is not correct as it works fine with nas. The only issue I had with qnap was its a bit slow. You have to get a model which has multiple network ports that can be bonded for faster transfer rates (if you plan to use it for work).

[marksmanguy]

Hey there! I have 3 render nodes and use a 16TB NAS drive for models, textures, etc. It definitely does work! Sometimes you need to use a free plugin called "rebitmap" to reconnect some assets but I've never really had any problems. I'm sure with everyone here that has this setup we can help you get up and running.

[Ilmanine]

Hi,

Thanks for the answers. Yes I really thought would be kind of odd that a NAS wouldn't work with it.

My main concern is getting it to work out of the LAN also so for example my Laptop on the otherside of the world can still link all the assets. This can't be done through their online managers. Probably have to setup a VPN on the NAS so I can map it as a network drive and still be able to keep the links even when not at the office.
Did any of you try this?

[Ilmanine]

Anyone? Am I the only one with this situation?

[Morbid Angel]

Anyone? Am I the only one with this situation?

What you are asking is possible, but don't expect it to be blazing fast. Working from another side of the world will require your internet provider to have allowed you to upload at very very fast speed, which if compared to reading from local disk would be something like x100 times slower. For that reason its not a practical solution. If you plan on moving around a lot its better to get a good laptop with lots of hdd space and just work that way.

[iancamarillo]

have you thought about mirroring your directory structure for on site and off site computers? and use a cloud service to update?

[Morbid Angel]

I don't particularly have the need to work offsite somewhere so I never looked into it. I suppose it would be possible. Even simple direct access from your laptop to your NAS with sync capability would be enough, but it would be a manual process where you connect to your NAS and sync files, then do your work, then sync them back to NAS.

[Morbid Angel]

And yeah sorry I didn't answer about mirror directory structure, this is indeed what I have here. So I am mapping a network drive like P:\ProjectName\etc, that P:\ can be mapped to your NAS at the office like \\nas\project\ and on your laptop like c:\project, when you are away you can use your c:\project path, when you are in the office you can remap to your nas path.