[JKEMP]

Hi everyone.

I am working on a project given to me by by technical lead, and I've hit a wall, or actually a series of walls.

We have two 2TB LaCie Ethernet Disks that we would like to use as network attached storage (NAS) for use as a data repository for our backup jobs. The idea would be to have all the data copied to the NAS and then copied to tape via iSCSI. My lead is currently out of the office for the next couple of days, so I cannot question him, so I would figured I would see what the combined brain power of the internet could do.

1a) LaCie says that iSCSI is not supported on these drives. Does anyone know if it cannot work, or does LaCie just not want to support this configuration? I've already installed the iSCSI initiator on the box with no problems.

1b) If iSCSI cannot work on the embedded XP install that is on the LaCie drive, has anyone had experience installing a clean version of XP on to one? I would expect some driver issues, but is there any reason that it would not work?

2) Assuming that number 1 can be made to work (ie the LaCie can function in this manner), there is the issue of configuring iSCSI. I have been doing some reading, and realize that there must be a target and an initiator, but that is all I really know at this juncture. Is there a free target solution that is available for Windows 2003 Server SE SP2? I know it was included with Windows Storage Server, but we are trying to do this as a no cost solution if at all possible.

Thank you for your time and patience, and please let me know if something is unclear.

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first....you need to understand that we're a FREE site that offers FREE service to people who aren't getting paid for what they're doing

second....you're talking about some high level stuff...not saying no one will answer...but most of our people here tend to live in the realm of home computers and the like...(i.e. iscsi is probably greek to most people)


i think it would be in your best interest to contact LaCie about the configuration of the devices....if they claim that they can't use iSCSI then there's a good chance that they can't....they may just not offer the information publicly

according to my research only "Windows Unified Data Storage Server" has the ability to be a target......but you said you've got iSCSI tape drives right? they should be preconfigured as targets

do the LaCies not have another way to hook a tape drive to them (i'm not 100% familiar with them and i don't know which models you have....but i do know what you're talking about)?

this may be the long way round...but since the drives are accessible on the network (duh) couldn't you have another machine that CAN connect to your iscsi drives just dump the info from the LaCie to the iSCSI drive through that device

[dsenette]

first....you need to understand that we're a FREE site that offers FREE service to people who aren't getting paid for what they're doing

second....you're talking about some high level stuff...not saying no one will answer...but most of our people here tend to live in the realm of home computers and the like...(i.e. iscsi is probably greek to most people)


i think it would be in your best interest to contact LaCie about the configuration of the devices....if they claim that they can't use iSCSI then there's a good chance that they can't....they may just not offer the information publicly

according to my research only "Windows Unified Data Storage Server" has the ability to be a target......but you said you've got iSCSI tape drives right? they should be preconfigured as targets

do the LaCies not have another way to hook a tape drive to them (i'm not 100% familiar with them and i don't know which models you have....but i do know what you're talking about)?

this may be the long way round...but since the drives are accessible on the network (duh) couldn't you have another machine that CAN connect to your iscsi drives just dump the info from the LaCie to the iSCSI drive through that device

[JKEMP]

first....you need to understand that we're a FREE site that offers FREE service to people who aren't getting paid for what they're doing

second....you're talking about some high level stuff...not saying no one will answer...but most of our people here tend to live in the realm of home computers and the like...(i.e. iscsi is probably greek to most people)

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I do realize that this is a higher level than a typical setup, but I'm not really worried about having someone walk me through the setup, if it can work I'll do the research, I just want to make sure it could work before putting any more time into it.

i think it would be in your best interest to contact LaCie about the configuration of the devices....if they claim that they can't use iSCSI then there's a good chance that they can't....they may just not offer the information publicly

I have spoken with their support, they are the ones who told be it was not supported, and would not go into more detail. I really do not mind if it will not work, but I would like to know why it wouldn't.

according to my research only "Windows Unified Data Storage Server" has the ability to be a target......but you said you've got iSCSI tape drives right? they should be preconfigured as targets

Yeah, W2K3 Storage Server will act as a target, but I had read some information that led me to believe that other versions might be able to do it, thanks for clearing that up.

The tape drive is a standard SCSI drive that is connected to the backup server, sorry if I led you to believe otherwise.

do the LaCies not have another way to hook a tape drive to them (i'm not 100% familiar with them and i don't know which models you have....but i do know what you're talking about)?

The only other way of attachment would be via USB, which as you can imagine is really not a great way to deal with this issue.
FYI -- This is what we have on site.

this may be the long way round...but since the drives are accessible on the network (duh) couldn't you have another machine that CAN connect to your iscsi drives just dump the info from the LaCie to the iSCSI drive through that device

Honestly, I thought the same thing before I was sent on this journey. There are issues with the amounts of data being transferred, and the time it takes. Copying everything over the network (twice -- once from the other servers to the data repository, and once to the tape) is time prohibitive. I do not think that iSCSI is a solution that is will work in this instance, but I was told to explore it, so I am.

Again, since W2K3 SE SP2 does not have the innate ability to be a target, this maybe a non-starter anyway.

Thank you again for your time -- I'll make sure to stick my head into other forums and see if I can help out.