You will be presented with the properties dialog and see the unique identifier given to the computer.
Click on the Discovery tab and enter the IP address of the Iomega NAS (accept the default port):-
On the Targets tab, you should now get the available iSCSI NAS disk (you may need to click on Refresh):-
Click on Logon. Unless you have applied Security to the NAS, you will be able to attach anonymously:-
Click on OK and the storage will now be attached. You should now be able to go to Disk Management (under Computer Management in Admin Tools within Control Panel) and see the ‘new’ disk. You will need to use Disk Management to put a partition on the iSCSI disk and format it.
To drop the disk, you need to log out of the Target attachment in the iSCSI initiator. Clearly, this must be done while software is not using the iSCSI disk.
Within Windows Home Server you are limited on how you may use an iSCSI disk. It cannot be used at part of the pool or even as a Server Backup disk (hopefully this might change when WHS moves to a base OS with native iSCSI support). However, non-WHS apps can use it and it is also picked up by the WHS BDBB Add-in.
One thing to note is that while it is possible to attach more than one Windows system to the same iSCSI disk at the same time, this does not give the benefits you might expect. Data put on by one system is not visible to another. While I have gone through the installation and setup process, this aspect of iSCSI is not clear to me and is a feature we need to look into more deeply.
Using the Iomega IX2-200 with VMWare ESXi Server
One area where Iomega has some advantages over other NAS units is through the company’s parentage. Iomega and VMWare share a common parent in EMC and so Iomega are proud to publicise that even the low end IX2-200 is fully VMWare certified. The setup of the iSCSI disk on the IX2-200 is exactly as detailed above. Attachment to the VMWare ESX server requires the user to follw the process for attaching any iSCSI device – I will not detail here as it varies according to the version / variant of VMWare ESX / ESXi server. The first attachment will cause VMWare to create and format a ‘vmfs’ partition on the drive. The advantage (as far as I can see) that vmfs gives is the ability for multiple servers to attach and share the data. I have had practical experience also of running VM’s from an IX2-200 over a gigabit connection and through multiple switches (at least 3) to the extent that the performance of the VM is perfectly acceptable.
Remote Access
Like many NAS devices nowadays, the ix2-200 can be configured to allow access to the box from a remote location using a web browser, allowing access to all of your files and folders when you’re on the move. 12 months free remote access is included via a URL of your choice, via a link up with TZO DNS. Following the 12 month period, a yearly subscription is required to continue the service.
