Windows Storage Server 2008

[ascorbic]

I just noticed Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2008 was listed in my MSDN downloads. I've never actually seen this product. Has anyone used it? Any thoughts?

I am currently on Openfiler which is probably the best Linux based NAS. (I know of FreeNAS). Openfiler's is solid once it is up and running, but the documentation is sparse and the developers are pretty grumpy and very fast to tell you your hardware is the problem and it "works on my machine"

[SomethingToChatWith]

Its Windows Server 2008 with some additional file management features.

Read up about it here.

[VaKo]

I've got a copy setup somewhere, it comes pre-setup with the file server roles that Server 2008 has, but other than that its Server 2008 tweaked to run on OTS file servers. The only really interesting additions are SIS (Single instance Storage) and iSCSI target support. I honestly don't know why SIS hasn't made it into 2008 R2 by default, but you can install it with "start /wait ocsetup.exe SIS-Limited /quiet /norestart". iSCSI target support is pretty neat though. Other than that, nothing exciting, I'd rather use 2008 R2 myself with SIS support as it uses less resources.

[ascorbic]

Thanks for the replies, I was hoping for a real NAS, not just something on top of Windows.

[VaKo]

Home Server or Server 2008 R2 Core might be more interesting then.

[Infiltrator]

Thanks for the replies, I was hoping for a real NAS, not just something on top of Windows.

You could buy a real nas device that supports raid, and use it as a central storage device on your network. It may cost you a little bit to buy.

Edited July 6, 2010 by Infiltrator

[sliceofpie]

I'd rather use 2008 R2 myself with SIS support as it uses less resources.

I'm looking to configure deduplication using SIS on Server 2008 without storage server but haven't quite figured it out. Any help is greatly appreciated