iSCSI, twin-tailed disk, cheap-cheap fibre channel, ???

[Tim Writer]

Fraser Campbell <fraser-eicrhRFjby5dCsDujFhwbypxlwaOVQ5f at public.gmane.org> writes:

> Hi,
> 
> Does anyone know of a relatively inexpensive disk that can be simultenously
> accessed (at block level) from multiple machines?
> 
> 
> I want this as a cheap way of simulating a SAN, I have SANs in the office but
> I want similar capability on the cheap for home.
> 
> 
> Ideally the solution would be a drive pack similar to the external USB drives
> you can buy these days with room for 2 HDD so that I can do hardware or
> software RAID.

Any reason you can't use shared SCSI, i.e. a SCSI disk or disks connected to
two systems? The only thing unusual about this kind of setup is the
SCSI ID for the the second HBA is non-standard, i.e. something other than 7.
Of course, you have to make sure that the two systems don't mount the same
file system at the same time (or use a share file system like GFS) but that's
true for a SAN, no?

> If the total solution was < $1K excluding disks I could swing that.

Given the price of SCSI disks, that could be tough, depending on storage
requirements.

-- 
tim writer <tim-s/rLXaiAEBtBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org>                                  starnix inc.
647.722.5301                                      toronto, ontario, canada
http://www.starnix.com              professional linux services & products
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