Commentary
It's Hard To Beat Free - Open-E Gives Away NAS/iSCSI
From now till Jan. 31, Germany's Open-E is giving away its Data Storage Solution Lite as a free download. After you've downloaded it and installed it on a USB memory key you have a bootable drive that turns any PC or server you run from it into a NAS appliance with iSCSI and Fibre Channel target functionality. Not just any iSCSI target -- DSS-Lite even supports copy on write snapshots and replication.From now till Jan. 31, Germany's Open-E is giving away its Data Storage Solution Lite as a free download. After you've downloaded it and installed it on a USB memory key you have a bootable drive that turns any PC or server you run from it into a NAS appliance with iSCSI and Fibre Channel target functionality. Not just any iSCSI target -- DSS-Lite even supports copy on write snapshots and replication.Distance is the key to any disaster recovery plan and replication is the key to restoring your distant systems to operation quickly. Without replication, bringing applications online means restoring from backup. Even if you have a CDP (Continuous Data Protection) backup it can take several hours to restore from backup and your users will be twiddling their thumbs the whole time.
Until Open-E started giving it away, replication was expensive. Disk arrays that support replication start at well over $20,000, and the most popular host replication software costs $2,500 to $5,000 for each server you want to protect. With DSS-Lite, a pair of $5,000 servers can provide 2 TB of file and block storage and replicate it to a remote site.
More Storage Insights
White Papers
- Creating the Enterprise-Class Tablet Environment - by Yankee Group
- How To Regain IT Control In An Increasingly Mobile World - by BlackBerry
Reports
More >>Webcasts
- Maximize ROI with Database Consolidation onto Private Clouds
- The ABC's of Cloud Computing in the Midmarket
As Robert Heinlein said, "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch," and Open-E isn't giving away its software without expecting something in return. The Lite version of DSS can only support 2 TB of data and support is limited to Open-E's online forums. The company is hoping some downloaders decide to upgrade to the still-affordable full version once they get a taste with DSS-Lite.
Get yours before February raises it's chilly head at www.open-e.com/free.
Related Reading
| To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy. | |
|
|
T-Shirt Giveaway: Each week we're selecting one great comment from our readers. The author of the comment will receive an InformaitonWeek Community t-shirt. So get posting! |
Subscribe to RSSResource Links
This Week's Issue
Technology Whitepapers
- Mobile BI: Actionable Intelligence for the Agile Enterprise
- Creating the Enterprise-Class Tablet Environment - by Yankee Group
- How To Regain IT Control In An Increasingly Mobile World - by BlackBerry
- The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's Good Bones - by BlackBerry
- Red Alert: Why Tablet Security Matters - by BlackBerry
Featured Resource
Visit AMD's Business at the Speed of Virtualization Briefing Center, and discover all you need to know about virtualization. Click here for exclusive access to white papers,webcasts, videos, and more.
Read Now












