Introduction

This paper outlines support of Windows Client (XP, Vista, and Windows 7), Linux (RHEL and SUSE) and Mac (OS X 10.5 – 10.6.x) with IBM DS3000, DS4000, and DS5000 Storage Servers. It also discusses support in StorNext environments. The solutions discussed arose because of customer demand seen in the media and entertainment industry and within the oil and gas industry.

Many media applications include a mixed environment with Windows clients, Mac clients, and sometimes even Linux clients requiring access to the same file system. Various software packages along the production and distribution chain work best on these disparate platforms. In the oil and gas industry this variety is not as prevalent, and Linux is the dominate operating system. Though even here, some amount of Windows systems may be encountered.

There are two basic aspects to these solutions: One is basic hardware connectivity, the second is the support for file sharing. It’s important not to confuse the two. Connectivity to many Linux hosts is well established and outlined in IBM’s on-line compatibility tool. Basic hardware connectivity to Apple and/or Windows Client hosts is now also outlined on IBM’s on- line compatibility tool. The second aspect is File sharing with Quantum’s StorNext software. This is also supported, but because of the added complexity requires very specific configurations.

The storage offerings in Apple environments in the past have been poor. The now discontinued Apple X-RAID storage products were never very highly regarded and neither is the current Promise storage. There has long been a desire to have simple and supported deployable solutions with StorNext and IBM DS Series Storage. In particular, there has been a strong demand for support of Apple servers and work stations with IBM DS series storage. IBM DS series now has that capability, through a very specific set of known, quality configurations.

In the Windows realm, IBM Storage has long supported Windows servers. In fact, SQL, Exchange, and many other applications have been a mainstay of our business. However, this support did not extend down to Windows clients like XP, Vista, and Windows 7. Windows clients, it was believed just didn’t need access to the kind of high performing and reliable storage IBM offers. This has now changed. Windows clients are an integral part of the workflow processes within many industries, and support for them was clearly required.

The StorNext File system is a popular “shared” file system that is used for many publishing, oil

&gas industry, and media applications. These applications operate in a variety of operating systems environments. Key to recognizing these opportunities is an understanding of the customer environment. Customers will often describe their production systems as a “workflow”. The idea is to use high speed shared access to files to impose various processes. Using StorNext (or in the case of Apple, XSan) allows customers to achieve a high degree of efficiency in collaborative workflows allowing shared access to a virtual pool of storage

Digital Media Storage Solution Installation Guide	4
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