recommendations for virtual SAN software

[hotwired007]

i'm looking to virtualise my old SAN 600GB storage - 200GB in use currently.

the only sticking point is that its currently directly connected to one domain controller server and we want to share it between two virtual Win 2003 domain controllers and keep the NTFS permissions in place.

the other thing thing i ahve been thinking about doing is setting up a windows file server and robocopying the data over.

any recommendations on software or any ideas on solutions?

 

[leenux_tux]

hotwired007,

I'm sure there are many options open to you but I would consider looking at FreeNAS. Benefits I see are ..

• You can configure it to work with Windows LDAP
• Plays nicely with "Windows" files as it supports CIFS for file sharing so once you have your Freenas environment setup can can robocopy your files/folder etc over to the freeNAS storage
• Can be downloaded and used for free
• Easy to setup and configure via a web interface
• Supports ZFS file system, which (among many things) supports Snapshots which can then be sent to a backup server (if needed). Snapshots also give your users the opportunity to see previous versions of files via "Properties/Previous Versions"
• Small footprint for the install (around 4GB at the moment I think)
• ​Has a large user community (forums, HOWTO's etc)

Freenas has a lot of other "bells and whistles" as well but the above list is more relevant to your questions.