SmallNetBuilder

Windows iSCSI - more

Once you are connected, you just move to the Targets tab, which should show available targets with an Inactive status, since you have not yet logged in. A click on the Log On button brings up another small window, where you can optionally enable automatic connection restoration at boot time. The multi-path options allows for using redundant network connections to ensure availability.

Figure 5: Windows iSCSI Initiator - Target logon

Sharp-eyed readers will notice the different target name in Figure 5. The "ricecake" refers to Youngzsoft's iSCSI Cake (CCDisk), an iSCSI Target app for Windows 2000/XP/2003 and Vista. The full version costs $199, but the download supports 10 users for 15 days. It was very easy to use and worked the first time and is a good way to experiment with iSCSI without having to purchase an iSCSI NAS.

After I clicked the OK button, I opened My Computer but didn't see a new drive mounted. So I opened up the MMC Disk Management utility. Figure 6 shows the status of the mounted iSCSI volume after I jumped through two more hoops.

Figure 6: Disk Management

I first had to initialize the drive (right-click on the drive name / icon and select "Initialize disk") and then format it in NTFS, since the MN4L+ didn't provide that option. Once I did that, I was good to go and the drive now appeared in My Computer.

In the case of the iSCSI Cake, I had chosen my other computer's D drive as the iSCSI target. So as soon as I logged into it, the drive appeared ready for use in My Computer.