BackupButler Enterprise is built on iSCSI SAN Butler technology. iSCSI is the technology to finally democratize the SAN storage industry.

SAN Butler is the Butler SAN capability sold without the Backup and Recovery platforming. SAN Butler comes with everything you need to deliver Enterprise SAN capability to any server in your organization, without Fibre. Any Server or Workstation with a copper gigbabit iSCSI TOE card can plug into SAN Butler Enterprise Storage. Disks are mounted and formatted by the TargetServer using the native filesystem of the TargetServer, as if the disk existed inside the TargetServer chassis.

iSCSI

iSCSI technology definition:
iSCSI is Internet SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), a new Internet Protocol (IP)-based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities, developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage storage over long distances. The iSCSI protocol is among the key technologies expected to help bring about rapid development of the storage area network (SAN) market, by increasing the capabilities and performance of storage data transmission. Because of the ubiquity of IP networks, iSCSI can be used to transmit data over local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), or the Internet and can enable location-independent data storage and retrieval.

How iSCSI Works

When an end user or application sends a request, the operating system generates the appropriate SCSI commands and data request, which then go through encapsulation and, if necessary, encryption procedures. A packet header is added before the resulting IP packets are transmitted over an Ethernet connection. When a packet is received, it is decrypted (if it was encrypted before transmission), and disassembled, separating the SCSI commands and request. The SCSI commands are sent on to the SCSI controller, and from there to the SCSI storage device. Because iSCSI is bi-directional, the protocol can also be used to return data in response to the original request. iSCSI is one of two main approaches to storage data transmission over IP networks; the other method, Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP), translates Fibre Channel control codes and data into IP packets for transmission between geographically distant Fibre Channel SANs. FCIP (also known as Fibre Channel tunneling or storage tunneling) can only be used in conjunction with Fibre Channel technology; in comparison, iSCSI can run over existing Ethernet networks.

iSCSI

Every BackupButler ships with iSCSI technology.

Around the world disk mirrors :

True disaster recovery is child's play when your recovery disks are mirrored in multiple locations.

 iSCSI implementation
Multiple mirrors:

• Multiple simultaneous physical devices.
• Multiple simultaneous connections per session.
• Multiple simultaneous iSCSI sessions.

 Sync Error Recovery
Solid and dependable error correction:

• Error Recovery One Complete
• Full feature phase and discovery of iSCSI sessions
• Fully compatible with BackupButler's high capacity SATA RAID disks.
• Fully compatible with BackupButler's 4u frame ultra high speed copper gigabit link.

Use iSCSI technology, or use our integrated NFS (for unix) and SAMBA (NetBios for Windows) if you prefer not to direct mount disks. iSCSI allows you to mount disks on to the system from locations on the other side of the world. This is a state of the art disaster recovery capability.