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Posts with tag SAN

Apple launches Xsan 2

In addition to dropping the price on the Shuffle (and introducing the 2 GB version), today's big Apple store update appears to be the launch of Xsan 2. Xsan is Apple's Storage Area Network (SAN) file system, and while this update isn't as sexy as a new consumer laptop update, it's still pretty cool.

Xsan 2 has been received some significant updates; not only is it now fully compatible with both OS X Leopard and OS X Server Leopard (in fact, Leopard is required to run Xsan 2), it is also now qualified to work with third-party RAID storage.

Even more exciting (at least for anyone who has been holding out for some kind of Final Cut server solution) is the introduction of what Apple is calling, MultiSAN. MultiSAN, according to Apple, "[allows] users on a single workstation to access multiple SANs at the same time." Using the video editing example, this means that a segment producer could access both a broadcast and b-roll volume from the same machine. Additionally, the administration tools have been redesigned. Administrators can now create pre-set volume workload settings for different file types/purposes.

To be clear, this is an enterprise product. Xsan 2 is available now for $999 US. Xsan 2 is qualified to work with the Xserve, Mac® Pro and Apple Fibre Channel PCI-X cards, as well as qualified Fibre Channel switches and RAID storage hardware from third-party vendors.

Update: As Tim in the comments pointed out, it appears that Apple's Xserve RAID device is no more. The page now re-directs here, with a link to Promise's RAID solution.

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]

Lots of Xsan 1.3 updates

Attention Xsan users, Apple has just released a number of updates. They include:

If you're running Xsan, it would behoove you to get these updates (or at least read about them).

[via MacMinute]

South Park moving to Xserve SAN arrays for storage

No South Park episodes in the iTMS yet, but TV Squad points out that South Park is switching over to Apple Xserve SAN arrays for keeping track of all the animation craziness that is the show. This ComputerWorld article details the move: "Franzen said he chose Apple hardware based on a 'gut' feeling that its technology would be good, and so far, he has not been disappointed. Franzen said he now expects to add two more Xserve arrays for a total of 15TB of storage and place his disk storage behind a couple of switches from Cisco Systems Inc. in order to make managing his storage easier." That's the kind of gut feeling I like to hear about.

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