Comments on: Virtualizing SCSI tape drives with an iSCSI bridge http://blogs.kraftkennedy.com/index.php/2010/01/05/virtualizing-scsi-tape-drives-with-an-iscsi-bridge/ Trends and insight into legal technology, infrastructure and strategic thinking. Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:42:45 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Matt Liebowitz http://blogs.kraftkennedy.com/index.php/2010/01/05/virtualizing-scsi-tape-drives-with-an-iscsi-bridge/comment-page-1/#comment-100 Matt Liebowitz Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:28:35 +0000 http://blogs.kraftkennedy.com/?p=982#comment-100 Hey Ichiro, Thanks for the comment and the suggestion. I agree that StarWind would also be an alternative to directly attaching a tape drive to a virtual machine, and likely a cheaper one as well. That would work for organizations that are not completely virtualized, but still presents a problem when the entire environment is virtual. StarWind is an application that runs on a server so you would still need a physical server running the application with the tape drive attached. If that server were to go down (hardware failure, even Windows patches) then you lose the ability to access the tape changer. Using an external iSCSI bridge frees you from the requirement of having a physical server with a SCSI card to attach your tape device since it is an external appliance. The bridge also lets you run a completely virtual environment without having to worry about putting a SCSI card in any server. Again thanks for reading and for the comment. Comments are always welcome and appreciated! Hey Ichiro,

Thanks for the comment and the suggestion. I agree that StarWind would also be an alternative to directly attaching a tape drive to a virtual machine, and likely a cheaper one as well. That would work for organizations that are not completely virtualized, but still presents a problem when the entire environment is virtual.

StarWind is an application that runs on a server so you would still need a physical server running the application with the tape drive attached. If that server were to go down (hardware failure, even Windows patches) then you lose the ability to access the tape changer. Using an external iSCSI bridge frees you from the requirement of having a physical server with a SCSI card to attach your tape device since it is an external appliance. The bridge also lets you run a completely virtual environment without having to worry about putting a SCSI card in any server.

Again thanks for reading and for the comment. Comments are always welcome and appreciated!

]]> By: NISMO http://blogs.kraftkennedy.com/index.php/2010/01/05/virtualizing-scsi-tape-drives-with-an-iscsi-bridge/comment-page-1/#comment-99 NISMO Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:20:36 +0000 http://blogs.kraftkennedy.com/?p=982#comment-99 You can do the same with StarWind iSCSI target. Grab any existing SCSI device and "iSCSI-ize" it in a minutes :) Just my $0.02 -ichiro You can do the same with StarWind iSCSI target. Grab any existing SCSI device and “iSCSI-ize” it in a minutes :) Just my $0.02

-ichiro

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