Filed under: Hardware, Software, Leopard
Free iSCSI initiator for OS X now available
You'd think, judging on the name alone, that iSCSI was an Apple product -- perhaps an easier-to-use, shiny, beveled version of the original SCSI? If wishing made it so: sadly, it's only an implementation of SCSI over IP, allowing hosts to connect to remote drives, RAIDs, SANs or tape libraries over standard Ethernet connections. While early iSCSI gear was noticeably slow compared to Fibre Channel and other storage fabric connections, the latest stuff is quite snappy, especially when combined with 10G Ethernet connectivity.Up until now, the only iSCSI initiators (drivers) available for Mac OS X were paid affairs, usually bundled with hardware or management tools. Now, in advance of the anticipated inclusion of iSCSI with Leopard, the good people at Studio Network Solutions have proffered up a free-as-in-beer version of the globalSAN iSCSI initiator for OS X. No support offered, so download and deploy with caution.
[via MacTech]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Elwood Blues said 5:43PM on 3-13-2007
The word "proffered" has no place in this article. Please use correct English.
"...Studio Network Solutions have proffered up a..."
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Michael Rose said 6:10PM on 3-13-2007
"proffered" is correct English, Elwood --
proffer |ˈpräfər| verb [ trans. ] hold out (something) to someone for acceptance; offer : "he proffered his apologies for his overzealous grammarian tendencies."
If anything, the word that has no place is "up."
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Dan Bedford said 6:22PM on 3-13-2007
Great news on the "iSCSI for Mac OS X" front... but can I mention ATA over Ethernet (AoE) as a much better alternative?
Check out this link as a primer of the differences between the two, then follow the links to the left if this strikes your fancy:
http://www.2degreesfrost.com/content/page17/page17.html
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Elwood Blues said 8:07PM on 3-13-2007
Michael - Proffered is not correct English. You picked the only definition, in a sea of other definitions, that somewhat sounds OK for your article. You seem to be covering up for the inappropriate use of the word with poor evidence.
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Michael Rose said 8:49PM on 3-13-2007
Elwood, dude, I don't know what "sea of other definitions" you're talking about. "Proffer" is a synonym for "offer." The definition I quoted is from the Oxford American in my Dictionary.app; the exact same definition is here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/proffered
In both cases, no alternative meanings or secondary definitions are listed. If you don't like the word, or if it sounds funny to you, fine, but that doesn't make it incorrect English, bad usage, etc. I'm not "covering up for the inappropriate usage with poor evidence" and your suggestion that I am behaving in a less than honest or grammatically correct fashion is "infuriating." Look that up.
Dan -- interesting items on AoE, perhaps worth a separate post -- however, I believe that market acceptance on both iSCSI and FC is way higher than AoE at this point.
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Tom said 10:10PM on 3-13-2007
AoE is non routable, where as iSCSI is routable. For a small LAN disk for the home, yes, AoE would be fine and work for most people. However, in the enterprise market, iSCSI is better in most situations, as the routable nature of it allows for some good setups. For example, a company can simply lease space on a shared fibre connection and use VPN to secure it, then attach iSCSI storage on both ends for replication. This is a very common disaster recovery situation. AoE would require a company to lease their own fibre line, and would have to dedicate it to the storage.
Different tools for different jobs.
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