We use XenServer and StarWind is working perfectly with it. At the moment, we are planning to do this with a Windows 2008 OS: 1. Put the (small) OS C: drive on iSCSI storage within XenServer 2. Mount the (large) data E: drive via iSCSI directly within Windows 2008 itself It will work fine. However, ...

That's one hell of a development department ;-) Whilst still fiendisly expensive (£5.5k in UK) for a 24 port switch, it does still make StarWind plus 10Gbe still way cheaper than the hardware SAN world. Can EqualLogic (iSCSI) or Xiotech (fibre) match 10GBe yet and if so, what kind of money are we lo...

>Double-click on anything editable item should call editing dialog for this item. Don't Enter pressing only. It's so simple to implement, and it's so pleasantly to use. Err, are you supposed to be able to edit things once you've created a target? For example, change the auto-snapshot time period fro...

Hmm, whilst 10Gbe cards are getting cheaper, switches are still pretty stiff.

Regards, Rob.

>"Video killed the radio star!" (c) The Bugglers Thumbs up for performance at lower prices. SAN really does seem to be last bastion of old mainframe pricing ;-) >With 10 GbE becoming a mainstream (and 40 GbE and 100 GbE being under development) there's no sense to invest into FC if you had...

>I would not consider StarWind as "el cheapo" solution. You always need to calculate hidden costs. With EQL you get everything in one package "all inclusive" style: hardware, software and installation labor. With StarWind you need to pick up proper hardware, pay for it, pick up p...

Yeah, got the IT strategy signed off today so purchasing a copy of StarWind. Quite looking forward to getting a SAN just from the flexibility POV. Okay, so we need to get out more, Anyway, still got the trial running. I set on up to snapshot every 30 minutes and keep 10 copies then sat there watchin...

Thanks for the prompt response. Will get a Broadcom with iSCSI off-load for the server (as it only adds on £40) and keep it as an option for the future.

Regards, Rob.

Another slightly related question. On a physical server, we'd normally have one big RAID array which we'd then partition are a relatively small C: drive (e.g. 50GB) for the operating system and a much larger E: drive for the data drive (e don't tend to create two RAID arrays for C: and E:) Would you...

Thanks for this. We'll have three primary targets (couple of other rarely used/very low bandwidth) so sounds like 16GB will be fine.

Regards, Rob.

What is iSCSI off-load (as supported by Broadcom NIC options in PowerEdge R515), is it supported by StarWind and does it need a compatible card at the other end to offer any performance benefits?

Thanks, Rob.

Are there any sizing guidelines for CPU & memory in the host? The sizing guide only talks about disks: http://www.starwindsoftware.com/san-sizing-guide After a chat with sales, I suspect that almost any current Dell PowerEdge with dual multi-core (six core is our plan) CPUs would have plenty of ...

On a similar subject - iSCSI performance. I've read more than I want to on this subject over the past few weeks but I'd sort of come to the conclusion that for our set-up (100 office type users), that the potential speed increase of fibre over iSCSI just wasn't worth the extra costs and loss of flex...

I suspect this is a simple question with a complex answer. We're in the market for a SAN as we a) need more disk space, b) want to improve flexibility in virtualisaion and expansion and c) want to mitigate against hardware failure for better business continutity. So we've got quotes in for EqualLogi...