HP PROLIANT DL160 G5, User Manual, Page: 126 / 174

9. Click Finish to complete the wizard and schedule snapshots.
Hardware provider
To support advanced management of iSCSI virtual disks and snapshots, you can use the Microsoft
iSCSI Software Target Virtual Disk Service Hardware Provider, which comes preinstalled on the HP
ProLiant Storage Server.
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 introduced Virtual Disk Service (VDS), a set of application
programming interfaces (APIs) that provides a single interface for managing disks. VDS provides an
end-to-end solution for managing storage hardware and disks, and for creating volumes on those
disks. The Microsoft iSCSI Software Target VDS Hardware Provider is required to manage virtual
disks on a storage subsystem.
You install the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target VDS Hardware Provider on each iSCSI initiator
computer running a storage management application (such as Storage Manager for SANs) that uses
the hardware provider to manage storage.
• Microsoft iSCSI Software Target Volume Shadow Copy Service Hardware Provider
iSCSI snapshots are created using Volume Shadow Copy Service and a storage array with a hardware
provider designed for use with Volume Shadow Copy Service. A Microsoft iSCSI Software Target
VSS Hardware Provider is required to create transportable snapshots of iSCSI virtual disks and create
application consistent snapshots from iSCSI initiators.
You install this hardware provider on the iSCSI initiator server and the server that is to perform backups.
The backup software you use must support transporting snapshots.
Cluster support
In a cluster with servers running Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and
using an external storage array as the shared cluster disk, you can use iSCSI Software Target to share
highly available storage. To do this, use Cluster Administrator to configure the iSCSI target as a
Generic Service cluster resource. iSCSI virtual disks can then be created from the generic cluster disk
and exported to iSCSI initiators.
IMPORTANT:
A single-server iSCSI software target cluster configuration does not provide the redundant components of
a hardware-based shared disk resource, making it a potential single point of failure. In most cases, this
type of configuration does not provide the level of availability typically required in a production environment.
For detailed instructions on how to set up a cluster using Microsoft iSCSI Target as the shared-cluster
disk provider, see the HP white paper
Using Microsoft iSCSI Software Target to Provide Shared-Disk
Resources to Clusters at http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/4AA1-0720ENW.pdf .
For detailed instructions on how to set up an iSCSI software target cluster, see the HP white paper
Configuring Microsoft iSCSI Software Target in a Microsoft Cluster at http://h71028.www7.hp.com/
ERC/downloads/4AA1-2898ENW.pdf .
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