|
|
Post by trekman on Apr 24, 2009 21:03:51 GMT 7
From what I did read in I5500 firmware release notes that box does support SCSI-3 Persistent Reservation that is needed for Windows 2008 Clusters  What iSCSI-Target does the I5500 use ? And can't it be ported/moduled/hacked for the N5200Pro ?  |
|
|
|
Post by drewy on Apr 27, 2009 4:39:57 GMT 7
i5500 is totally different hardware platform, so probably not an easy task.
so your saying the current iscsi target with the 5200pro will not support a windows 2008 cluster?
|
|
|
|
Post by trekman on Apr 28, 2009 0:48:21 GMT 7
N5200Pro's iscsi target is basically the IET (iscsi-target project at Sourceforge).
This software is used in other NAS devices (QNAP,..) and in software freeware solutions like OpenFiler, but also in commercial linux-based storage software.
And IET is *not* supporting SCSI-3 Persistent Reservation, therefore not usable for Windows 2008 Clustering.
That's why I ask which iscsi-target is used in the I5500 - if it is IET then the Release Notes I remember (but can't find now) were wrong.
There is another Linux-based iscsi-target called LIO-Target (or so) - I don't know if it is free but I think I did read somewhere that it has been upgraded for Persistent Reservation recently.
Maybe that's what the I5500 is using ?
I do not blame Microsoft for implementing a new feature for better disk isolation/reservation in their Cluster Service, after all it is a feature already (well-?) defined in the SCSI-3 definition.
In the meantime Windows 2008 has been available as Beta, RC and Release for quite a while.
And of course I cannot blame the programmers who do not seem to be willing or capable to implement this feature in the free versions of linux-based iscsi-targets and RAID packages.
Funny thing is that several Windows-based iscsi-targets (StarWind, SANMelody,...) got Persistent Reservation very soon - but those are commercial.
|
|
|
|
Post by drewy on Apr 28, 2009 19:19:21 GMT 7
oh dear that's bad news.
I have a project coming up deploying a number of sql server 2008 clusters on windows 2008 and the thecus was to be my test iscsi environment.
I take it that you have tried this and seen the 2008 cluster config checking tool throw a wobbler?
|
|
|
|
Post by trekman on Apr 28, 2009 23:34:23 GMT 7
Indeed I did. And indeed it spilled out the infamous "does not support Persistent Reservation" message (can't remember the exact phrasing now)  As I do not expect Thecus to give a d*mn (especially since they apparently just took the Open Source iscsi-target) and since implementing a different iscsi-target on the mini-linux of the N5200Pro is probably even more complex, I am currently converting my N5200Pro to a "Windows Storage Server Lite" (Windows Server 2003 with StarWind iSCSI-Target). I am almost done - just struggling to find a working driver for the <BEEPCensorshipBEEP> SATA Controller on that motherboard... |
|
|
|
Post by drewy on Apr 29, 2009 2:40:15 GMT 7
i thought I'd read somewhere that the newer releases of openfiler support it, but could be wrong. I'm gonna have a go at getting it to work (somehow) on the 5200pro to, since I need it  |
|
|
|
Post by serverwolf on May 18, 2010 13:22:35 GMT 7
I would also like to see a full iSCSI support including persistent reservation.
Our company mostly uses the N5200Pro for our customers, but also 4500, 7xxx and 8xxx Series, so we would like to see the PR support for all SMB/enterprise models.
I personally can not understand why thecus still doesnt offer it even in their premium 8xxx Series!?!
Qnap, for example, offers PR in their SoHo-Models starting with TS-239 Pro.
Since we NEED PR for Windows Clustering and we still dont have it in thecus products - may be we should change to a different NAS-company?
|
|
