Microsoft is expected to announce with vendor partners the pending rollout of a number of NAS appliances based on its Windows Storage Server 2003 operating system. Microsoft initially unveiled details of this OS and released it to NAS OEMs last June. The OS allows the creation of point-in-time copies of a single volume or multiple volumes using Volume Shadow Copy Services.
Microsoft To Unveil New NAS OS With OEM Partners
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Is it just me or is that what lvm’s snapshots are for?
What exactly is the point of using windows in a storage server, how would it benefit anybody?
I mean, how/why does one run a GUI in a storage environment
Taras
i agree with ya, but i suppose ms has to compete on any front it can. i suppose they think that they can leverage the windows driver support and AD integration to make it more appealing.
lvm owns ;}
This is just an evolution of the Storage Application Kit for Win2k (upon which Dell bases their “NAS” offerings).
Until Microsoft wakes up and realizes that the standard Windows platform isn’t perfect for everything, they’re never going to compete effectively with real NAS vendors like NetApp, Procomm, or even Dynamic Network Factory.
Maybe they’ll shoot for the prosumer NAS appliance market. I believe Linksys already has a product there.
Network Attached Storage
Be careful if you should use this product as this is a scaled down version of their Advanced Server. At least that’s what their Network Appliance OS is. We have had problems working with this version as some software (like replication software) works with specific versions of the Windows 2000 OS.
Their current version has Unix Services but lacks the Clustering piece. Beware!!
Does it do NFS? And SFTP? And AppleTalk. And …?
What external authentication systems does it support?
Or does it only support SMB/CIFS? (= the windows filesharing protocols), and Active Directory for auth?
Oh, it will certainly support a lot of other protocols, even NCP (Netware), but it will do it very shittily, while the CIFS support will be top-notch. So then they can say “see? only MS stuff is good, the rest is crap, so move the rest of your infrastructure to Win2k Server and everythink will be hOnky dory”.
“Until Microsoft wakes up and realizes that the standard Windows platform isn’t perfect for everything, they’re never going to compete effectively with real NAS vendors like NetApp, Procomm, or even Dynamic Network Factory.”
OK “anonymous clue owner” and “Taras”, school is in…
Windows Powered NAS Unit Share Continues to Grow
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2003/Jul03/07-07GrowingSha…
“Microsoft Corp. today announced that new data* from the analyst firm IDC shows impressive growth for Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliances built on the Microsoft® Windows® operating system. Adoption of Windows Powered NAS appliances in the first quarter of calendar year 2003 helped Microsoft gain 8 percentage points over the previous quarter, for a total of 41 percent, as measured in units.
“We continue to track significant growth for Windows Powered NAS, delivered by a broad range of OEMs. The numbers speak for themselves: it is on fire,” said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst with the Enterprise Storage Group.”
Microsoft and EMc expand partnership
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2003/apr03/04-28EMCpr.asp
Windows powered NAS – News and Reviews
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/storage/productinformation/newsrev…