How to set up an iSCSI connection in Windows Server 2008

Frequent SearchSMBStorage.com contributor and Microsoft MVP Brien Posey offers a crash course in how to set up an iSCSI connection in Windows Server 2008.

According to Posey, Windows Server includes a step-by-step process to implement an iSCSI connection without the need for any third-party software.

“The system treats this storage as though it is local to the system. I can go ahead and create a volume on it, and assign it a drive letter and a file system, and here we have basically local storage, even though this disk isn’t local to the system. It’s actually an iSCSI-connected storage device,” Posey explains during his demonstration. 

“Some server applications, such as Microsoft Exchange, won’t let you store databases on storage devices such as NAS devices – the databases have to be kept locally," said Posey. "And iSCSI allows you to meet this requirement without having to have enough physical storage within your server to accomplish it."