Re: HS San

Chris,

I admire what you're doing because I've been there and done that. But you're not listening. I'll repeat what Chris Blair and I have both said. You cannot share an iSCSI "server" (it's actually not a server, it's called a "target") without having a copy of MetaSAN on each Macintosh computer. MetaSAN is expensive, more than what you sound like you want to pay. It requires activation, so you can't pirate it and use one license on all machines (not accusing you of considering that, I'm just saying). It also requires an additional ethernet port in all your Macs, and an additional switch dedicated for MetaSAN's metadata traffic.

[Chris Miller] "The only issue I see now is in the iSCSI access software for the MAcs themselves. Ideas? Does Apple make any free add-ons for it, like Microsoft does for Windows XP/Vista."

No Apple does not provide one. SNS does, it's called GlobalSAN, as I though you already figured out. And I'll say it again, it doesn't work with Openfiler. On top of that I can tell you it doesn't work with FreeNAS iSCSI either. You'll spend hours setting it up, you might be able to connect to the iSCSI target. Then when you format the disk as HFS it will crash both machines. Or if it does work the performance will be horrific (like 5MB/s). These are the kinds of issues you can look forward to. Look at the SNS fourms.

ATTO also makes an iSCSI imitator for the Mac, but it's not free. And who knows what that one works with.

[Chris Miller] "The guys at small tre also reccomended using Open-E as a server software. IT is not as pricey as others and may be able to get an educational discount."

Last I checked GlobalSAN does actually work with Open-E. But you're still making a giant mistake going down this path, and again you seem completely oblivious to the fact that you need MetaSAN to run any shared iSCSI system.

Again, I've been down this path so i understand what you're going though. The difference is that I did this in 2005-6 using old PCI-X equipment that was otherwise collecting dust. It's 2009 and there are now cheaper and/or better options. A DIY iSCSI setup is the absolute last thing I would tell anyone to do. If it has to be DIY, then just turn a Mac w/ a CalDigit card into an AFP file server. I would even recommend DIY fibre channel before suggesting DIY iSCSI (Open-E allows fibre channel target, and it actually does work). iSCSI is a mess with standards nobody adheres to. And it's totally unreliable in any Macintosh environment unless you are using a turnkey solution from people who specialize in video post production. And when you add up all the costs, it's barely cheaper than fibre channel (which is vastly better).



Sean