> -----Original Message----- > From: centos-bounces at centos.org > [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On Behalf Of John R Pierce > Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 11:41 AM > To: CentOS mailing list > Subject: Re: [CentOS] iSCSI, windows, & local linux access > > Andrew Cotter wrote: > > Hello all, > > > > I am looking to build a larger array (6TB) using CentOS 4.4 > to archive > > data to. We want to have the Windows server mount this array as a > > local drive so we were looking at iSCSI to do it. I have > played with > > it in the past and gotten it to work in this combo, but I have a > > question about access to the data on the local (Centos) machine. > > > > If I understand correctly, when I mount the device on > windows, I need > > to format the array in a format that Windows (2003 server) can > > understand. Also, iSCSI only allows you to mount the > array on one > > server at a time. Once I do that and write files to this array, is > > there anyway to access those files from the local machine > (Centos)? I > > may want to do things like rsync to another location, copy files to > > another removable SATA disk, or just plain delete something. > > > > Is it a choice of the OS so both windows and linux can read it? > > Little help with which one then. I know NTFS is still > somewhat in its > > infancy. > > if its mounted as a block device, nothing else should touch > it, read OR > write. block devices are NOT sharable, with the exception of > specialized filesystems like GFS or IBrix Fusion Even a read only > access would have issues with metadata consistency, if windows is > updating a directory or MFT or whatever, linux could see stale/mixed > data and would just throw up Technically yes, if the volume has long periods of no activity though there should be no problem in taking a snapshot and mounting that. Understand that if the volume is being actively used by a backup process the data contained therein will not be consistent, but it will not harm the production volume, just the snapshot will not be considered prime. > the only 'safe' way to do it would be for the windows machine > to share > the logical file system, and have the linux system access it as a > smbmount via samba. > or use replication running on the windows server (rsync > from mingw, etc) Yes sharing it and mounting it back via CIFS is more reliable for a highly active volume, but if you plan to then copy-out data over the network it will slow things down to a crawl. > Windows 2003 server has its own snapshotting capabilities, btw. Which IMHO are crap. If it's backup jobs that are accessed during a run, but otherwise sit there unused, then you can snapshot them off LVM fairly safely. -Ross ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender and permanently delete the original and any copy or printout thereof.