We tend to think of Linux as a general-purpose operating system, but it also makes a great foundation for special-purpose software appliances.
One of the more interesting releases, in this regard, is the storage management operating system, Openfiler.
Xinit Systems Openfiler is designed from the bottom up as both a file-based NAS (network-attached storage) and block-based SAN (storage area network) system manager.
To connect these together, Openfiler is designed for use with iSCSI (Internet SCSI) devices.
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Basically, iSCSI involves the use of standard SCSI drive commands over a TCP/IP connection.
Typically, this means that the SCSI initiator (typically, a server) accesses remote drives as block devices over Gigabit or 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
From a users viewpoint, it appears that these remote drives are co-located with the server.
This, in turn, gives businesses relatively inexpensive access to terabytes of storage without the expense of Fibre Channel SANs.
/zimages/4/28571.gifRead the full story on Linux-Watch: Openfiler Simplifies Linux NAS and SAN
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