Is StarWind going to make an AoE software initiator for VMware ESXi in the future? In my testing, AoE is head and shoulders above iSCSI and on-par with fiber channel at a fraction of the cost. Since it is datagram-based, the bandwidth can scale with additional ports, unlike IP-based solutions (which...

Are you building this server yourelf? Yep - with the expectation that the "premier" service levels from SMB vendors are now so low that I cannot expect to rely on them at all anymore. HP won't even offer more than 1-year on their lower-end stuff anymore. I will have my own hotspares for e...

Okay - good info - elaborating on the processor spec... In terms of architecture, is it better to have a low-end dual processor box (e.g. - dual Xeon 5504) or a high-end single processor (e.g. - single 5540)?

Thanks for the info - can you advise on processor and RAM sizing? I'd be going with a Xeon rig. From what I've read, a low-end, single processor is more than enough for hosting a SAN, correct? I was thinking a Xeon 5502 but am certainly open to advice. As for RAM, I imagine that the more, the merrie...

I am investigating the possibility of building a large SATA iSCSI box for the following things: 1) Mundane File Sharing (1TB+ but much of it does not have a differential from one weekly backup to the next). 2) Exchange 2010 #1 seems easy since there is very little activity. #2 seems curious as Micro...