iSCSI Overview
We have been developing iSCSI Solutions for the past 6 years. Every customer we speak to about iSCSI storage requires a different iSCSI solution. 
We offers iSCSI solutions which can be clustered, mirrored, replicated or just offer iSCSI storage to servers. iSCSI has been in development for the last 8 years, developed by industry leading players who felt Fibre Channel networks were overly complex and expensive to install and maintain. iSCSI technology is an "open format" technology, which means that users will have freedom of choice for all their storage. The "open" nature of the iSCSI protocol also provides a means of enabling compatibility between different vendors' storage offerings.
iSCSI will revolutionise the way data is moved, created and backed up. iSCSI or IP storage utilises the benefits of two major connectivity technologies that have each been around for more than 20 years SCSI and TCP/IP by combining the two together to create the iSCSI or IP storage standard.
Building an iSCSI SAN (Storage Area Network) is no longer limited to those who can manage the complexities and cost of Fibre Channel technology. With the introduction of the iSCSI protocol, any enterprise that uses standard Ethernet technology can now build IP SANs and reap their benefits. Defined and supported by industry leading storage and networking companies, this new networking protocol that enables low latency SCSI "blocks" to be transported via Ethernet and TCP/IP.
iSCSI SAN
An iSCSI SAN will cost considerably less the reasons for this are:
No new investment in network architectures as an existing Gigabit network will suffice
No new software as the device on an iSCSI network look like SCSI devices
iSCSI is fully supported by Microsoft, Cisco etc..
Create a pool of centralised storage using iSCSI and install on each of the servers the Microsoft iSCSI drivers, we then using disk manager are able to mount storage from our pool to our servers which can be Windows, Linux, UNIX, MAC or Novell based. These operating systems must support iSCSI and have an iSCSI initiator.
The centralised storage server can be Mirrored/RAIDED or Snapshot. If you put iSCSI TOE controllers in each of your servers, you can then boot from the centralised storage.
Advantages
No dedicated specialised networks as in Fibre Channel
Buy servers with no RAID controllers or Disk
As the storage is IP based you can serve up information across Wide Area Links or the Internet
Should a server fail, then the storage can be mounted on another server instantly
Reduces cost by buying smaller more compact servers
Backups are reduced because you can make snapshots and back them up during the day
Your servers only use the disk that they need! There is no need to guess how much you will need
One person can administer and control all you storage requirements from a single system and allocate disk on demand
Cut down on Backup Software Licensing costs as all you need to do is Snapshot or Mirror the information to another server and backup just one server!
We guarantee you will save money in terms of storage management costs, server pricing and maintenance.
iSCSI is a network protocol that combines SCSI data blocks with Ethernet IP packets. SCSI commands are encoded in to Ethernet packets and then sent over Ethernet networks. When they reach their destination these packets are separated out into Ethernet and SCSI commands and the data is then sent to the relevant device.
As iSCSI uses existing Ethernet switches, cables, routers the deployment costs are much lower than if you were to design a Fibre Channel SAN. Operating systems see iSCSI connected devices as SCSI devices and are unaware that the SCSI device connected to the network resides across the room or across town. With many organisations now having Gigabit networks and the migration to 10Gb our iSCSI solutions will enable high performance IP SANS at relatively low cost compared to those offered by Fibre Channel.
iSCSI SAN Benefits - Whitepaper .pdf
If you would like to know more about our iSCSI Solution please call us on 01256 782030 or e-mail: sales@iscsisolutions.com.
