Tuesday 5 April 2011

Microsoft Releases iSCSI Software Target Version 3.3 For Windows Server 2008 R2 . . . For Free!

This is a pretty kewl bit of news since messing around with third party free iSCSI Target software is not always easy.

What do we use iSCSI Targets for?

Primarily for shared storage located on a device that is used by a Hyper-V Cluster and available across a LAN.

So, with a couple of no-name desktops and a small NAS that is iSCSI Target enabled we can build a lab based Hyper-V Cluster.

Since we already have a TechNet Plus subscription we have Windows Server 2008 R2 licensed for a lab based environment.

So, downloading the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 and tying it into Windows Server 2008 R2 in a lab setting is pretty much straight forward as far as the licensing side of things go. Getting it installed, configured, and then a Hyper-V cluster up and running and Live Migration functioning as expected is a whole different ball game! ;)

A great candidate for Win2K8 R2 + iSCSI Software Target would the the HP MicroServer. We can drop an Intel PRO series dual or quad port server NIC to allow for some teaming if required, or even drop in a hardware RAID controller to bump up the performance on the disk subsystem.

After downloading the software have a look at the following:

Jose’s blog post is an excellent resource:

Hat Tip: Mikael Nystrom – The Deployment Bunny Blog - Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 for Windows Server 2008 R2 available for public download

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

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