Microsoft support for storage standard
Microsoft support for storage standard
Microsoft has lent its support to the emerging iSCSI storage networking standard through the introduction of an upgrade to its Windows operating system.
The company issued driver software, which is available on a free download, to facilitate iSCSI compatibility with Windows. The iSCSI standard – recently ratified by the Internet Engineering task force – is a storage protocol designed to make it easier to transport block-level storage traffic over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The driver is compatible with the Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 operating systems.
At least 85 independent software and hardware vendors are currently developing Windows-based applications and storage hardware products for iSCSI, according to Microsoft. The software giant has also created a certification program that allows hardware vendors whose products meet certain reliability and Windows interoperability standards to display an 'iSCSI Designed for Windows' logo.
Although still relatively new, analysts expect the iSCSI technology to take a healthy share of the storage networking market, with Gartner predicting that iSCSI will connect nearly 1.5 million servers to Storage Area Networks (SANs) – more than any other competing technology.
Microsoft's iSCSI initiator package download includes support for data encryption including Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), Internet Storage Name Service for both server and client, management via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), and an architecture that aggregates the different hardware initiators into a common framework.
To obtain the free download, visit:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en
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