FalconStor Software's NSS-S12

Tag : Hardware And Tools

Where things broke down was in operating system integration.FalconStor definitely made an effort to "appliancize" its softwareon the NSS-S12 platform, but the company didn't do that good of ajob. For example, when we made a slight misstep in the Ethernetbonding configuration, it took several hours of technical supportto get it fixed, including a remote access session by one ofFalconStor's network gurus. A similar integration problem lies inthe Acera RAID controller, a built-in part of the NSS-S12 product,which is not connected to or controlled by the FalconStor GUI.
Overall performance is about average for SATA-based servers .
The main draw of the FalconStor product is the replication agents.If you want your SAN to be a primary part of a backup and recoverystrategy, FalconStor offers wider application support in itsreplication tools than anyone else. FalconStor charges a relativelyhigh premium for this support — the NSS-S12 had the highestcost per gigabyte of storage of any SATA-based server tested— but if you believe the most important part of an iSCSIserver is the software, FalconStor may be worth the premium.