iSCSI San?

[ncage]

Guys i would like to try to build a homebrew ISCSI SAN out of just a plane PC. How big of deal are we talking about? How much do you think you will end up spending after its all said and done? I did some searching on it and can't find much information on how to get started. Could you point me to somewhere that would help me out? Do you think im taking on to much and going to end up spending a TON of money after its all said and done? I know i will probably have to put 2 network cards in each pc and probably should use Gig Ethernet for this. Im pretty new to SAN technology.

thanks,
ncage

 

[theorignalAMD Overclocker]

For iSCSI, you will need two pieces of software, the host, something like Stringbean's WinTarget or other, and an initiator on the guest side. Microsoft has a good initiator out and its free. Look around Stringbeans website, it will be very helpful to you.

 

[RebateMonger]

How do you get WinTarget? Microsoft bought them in March and doesn't sell it as a standalone solution.

Microsoft press release about WinTarget.

 

[theorignalAMD Overclocker]

Oh, yeah thats right. I got it before MS baught them. Try StarWind.

 

[Brazen]

target

 

[Brazen]

you could also use openfiler as a target

 

[theorignalAMD Overclocker]

http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?t=78453

 

[d3n]

I am looking at doing this right now. It should work find with no special hardware. My considerations is that it will be built on a 4 disk SATAII array using Seagate 4000GB 7200.10 HDs and a highpoint 1640 raid controller. This is a software base raid controller so CPU utiliztion is a factor. Coupled with the NIC choice the ISCSI route may be problematic since most NICS under $500 have no way of offloading ISCSI blocks from the CPU.

My route right now is to find a NIC that has checksum offload and can do Large Block support for a GIG connection. The large blocks are good to keep the overhead to a minimum.

Here is a good link for overviews of current NIC chipsets