iscsi (target)

[Jeroen1000]

I read some paper from Thecus and stuff but I (still) don't really get it.

I want to buy a Thecus because they are stackable and this seems to work with iscsi. I assume the 'master/initiator' treats the 'slaves' as targets. So that way data copied to a share on the master can actually end up on one of the targets. Is this correct so far?

so:

1. Do I need to equip the Thecus with iscsi disks or will regular SATA's do?
2. Can iscsi 'targets' span multiple pshysical devices (the folder 'movies' is 20 TiB large and some movies will be on the Master NAS (which is 10 Tib) and some movies will be on the (or a) iscsi slave NAS: when writing something to the folder 'movies' one does not know on which pshysical NAS the movie will actually be located.


Complicated stuff but I did notice some iscsi articles so please Tim, enlighten me

 

[thiggins]

What Thecus "paper" are you referring to?

iSCSI is a protocol that allows Ethernet to be used for SAN (Storage Area Networking). There are some basics here:
How To Build a Really Fast NAS - Part 5: iSCSI

 

[Jeroen1000]

They have a simple PDF document explaining how to set thing up. But I'm always into the details .

I ready your article though

 

[SoftDux-Rudi]

I read some paper from Thecus and stuff but I (still) don't really get it.

I want to buy a Thecus because they are stackable and this seems to work with iscsi. I assume the 'master/initiator' treats the 'slaves' as targets. So that way data copied to a share on the master can actually end up on one of the targets. Is this correct so far?

Yes, that's correct.

so:

1. Do I need to equip the Thecus with iscsi disks or will regular SATA's do?

They don't take SCSI drives, but SATA & SAS (8800SAS model) drives.

2. Can iscsi 'targets' span multiple pshysical devices (the folder 'movies' is 20 TiB large and some movies will be on the Master NAS (which is 10 Tib) and some movies will be on the (or a) iscsi slave NAS: when writing something to the folder 'movies' one does not know on which pshysical NAS the movie will actually be located.

No, they don't spam multiple physical devices. But, once you exported the iSCSI volumes to your PC you could setup software RAID on the iSCSI volumes since an iSCSI device appears as just another drive to your OS. IF you really want to, then setup a small linux server in front of the Thecus NAS', connect all the Thecus iSCSI devices to the Linux server, and then RAID them on the Linux server