Openfiler
From CafeWiki
Background
Openfiler is "a network storage operating system, fronted by a web based management user interface". Openfiler provides the ability to create and manage file-based Network Attached Storage (NAS) and block-based Storage Area Networking (SAN) functionality, and includes the functionality to create iSCSI targets. This Whitepaper describes NAS, SAN and iSCSI.
Openfiler is appealing due to its increased versatility as a network storage device compared to a commercial NAS solution as it supports both SAN and iSCSI. Both of these technologies make the network storage solution more flexible when dealing with a mixed environment of linux servers with Windows and Mac clients. In particular, VMWare servers running under ESXi need iSCSI targets to make use of network storage.
Here is a primer on iSCSI. This also includes some good general background information on NAS/SAN technology. This article discusses the setup of and Openfiler SAN for use with a VMWare Server (ESX), with a second followup article here.
This page addresses only the configuration and administration of network storage using Openfiler; see Openfiler Install for the installation procedure.
