StarWind iSCSI SAN Free Edition: couple of questions

b0rman · Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:25 pm

Hi!

Today I found StarWind iSCSI SAN Free Edition and it seems really nice but I'd like to ask:
1. Is it possible to install Management Console to laptop/desktop to manage servers with StarWind iSCSI SAN Free Edition? (Free licensed for 2 PC already used for servers)
2. Deduplication. Is it turned on by default? Is there some kind of configs?
3. Should I notice/add two StarWind iSCSI servers on iSCSI initiation or should I configure virtual IP with heartbeat for StarWind servers and add this virtual IP instead of two real?

Wed Mar 20, 2013 6:24 pm

1) Yes, that was a plan. Management Console can be installed on a million of computers.

2) No. You need a dedicated dedupe-enabled target. By default it's flat image file.

3) StarWind is not shared / virtual IP solution. You have to have a different IP addresses for both (or more) of your StarWind hosts.

b0rman wrote:Hi!

Today I found StarWind iSCSI SAN Free Edition and it seems really nice but I'd like to ask:

1. Is it possible to install Management Console to laptop/desktop to manage servers with StarWind iSCSI SAN Free Edition? (Free licensed for 2 PC already used for servers)
2. Deduplication. Is it turned on by default? Is there some kind of configs?
3. Should I notice/add two StarWind iSCSI servers on iSCSI initiation or should I configure virtual IP with heartbeat for StarWind servers and add this virtual IP instead of two real?

b0rman · Wed Mar 20, 2013 7:47 pm

OK. Thanks!

Extra question:
I found that my deduplicated data request more disk space than it requested before copying to deduplicated iSCSI (I mean *.spdata file). Is it OK?

Seems like deletion is not working properly

Thu Mar 21, 2013 11:35 am

Well, deletion is Experimental. Little stupid question - are you sure that you have enabled it? Also, have you restarted SW service or maybe whole host after DD device creation?

b0rman · Thu Mar 21, 2013 12:15 pm

Yes, of course, I created disk with deletion support:

Storage path : My Computer\D\dedup.spdata
Metadata path : Metadata\D\dedup.spmetadata
Deletion support : Yes
Deduplication block size : Auto
Storage size in MB : 2048
Create replica : No
Device Cache mode : wb
Device Cache size in MB : 128

and I restarted StarWind iSCSI SAN service.

1. Than I added it to my Win7 desktop via iSCSI, format it as usual drive, copied 1.8 GB of files there.

1.1 My Computer\D\dedup.spdata became something like 1.9GB.

2. Than I formated drive again (0 GB) and

2.1 My Computer\D\dedup.spdata was same 1.9GB after format.

3. Than I copied 1.8GB to formated drive and

3.1 My Computer\D\dedup.spdata file is 3.8GB now.

Used on drive: 0GB (format) -> 1.8GB -> 0GB (format) -> 1.8GB
*.SPDATE file size: ~0GB (creation) -> ~1.9GB -> ~1.9GB -> 3.8GB

So I think it's some kind of issue here. I'm using StarWind iSCSI SAN Free Edition v6 (seems like it's the latest version).

Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:51 pm

What real deduplicated block size do you have now?

b0rman · Fri Mar 22, 2013 8:18 am

b0rman · Mon Mar 25, 2013 1:09 pm

Any suggestions? Should I set block size manually to lower/higher value?

Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:46 am

Actually here is the thing: the data deletion is logging the records about the data blocks that are uploaded to the DD datastore until the service restart - after it has been restarted the new logging is initiating, and this logging "doesn`t know" about the data blocks that were uploaded before this log was started. In future release we will improve this. Stay tuned.

b0rman · Tue Mar 26, 2013 12:53 pm

Yeah, but the problem is that I didn't restart service after deletion. But OK, I'll wait for a fix

Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:44 pm

Yeah, but the problem is that I didn't restart service after deletion.

Could you please clarify that?

But OK, I'll wait for a fix

Not fix, but improvement

b0rman · Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:57 pm

You mean that if I will restart service, new log will be started and deleted data will not be deleted from .spdata-file because it was loged in old log (.spmetadata file will be overwritten by a new one). Am I right?
But here is the thing: all manipulations with my drive I did without restarting.
By the way, should it delete data from .spdata-file instantly after deletion data from iSCSI drive?

Mon Apr 01, 2013 10:38 am

Well, now its not shrinking the space -it allows to re-use the place where the unused data blocks are stored.

b0rman · Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:44 pm

Anatoly (staff) wrote:Well, now its not shrinking the space -it allows to re-use the place where the unused data blocks are stored.

It means that .spdata-file size should not increase after iSCSI drive format (because of re-use unused data blocks in it - all blocks became unsed after drive fromat). Am I right?
But .spdata-file increases it's size after copying anything to deduplicated drive after format.

Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:18 pm

There can be many reasons for that. Anyway, as I said - it will be improved in future release.