SF Basic missing features?
Hi!
Just trying out SF Basic on a freshly-built Windows 2008 R2 Standard server. The GUI installer won't allow me to check any of the features except the one to replace the Windows storage MMC.
According to the SF 6.0 compatability guide, the array I'm using, an IBM DS3524, is supported, and Windows 2008 R2 is definately supported. The docs on the Basic version would seem to imply that DMP is included, too. I'm logged in with administrator rights (and have tried it logging in directly as the Administrator, too...). The MPIO feature is installed in the Windows Server Manager. Any idea why I can't install DMP, or any of the other features? The web page http://www.symantec.com/business/storage-foundation-basic clearly indicates that Dynamic Multipathing is part of the package...
If DMP isn't part of SF Basic anymore, what's the advantage to use of SF? Are there any performance benefits anymore over the standard vendor DSM and Windows LDM?
Thanks!
-Ben
Ben,
I have confirmed (as Wally indicated) that DMP was removed from the Basic release as of 5.1 SP2. This coincided with the release of DMP standalone. DMP however is now part of the the SFW standard release where previously you had to purchase the option for multipathing.
In terms of advantages, there a a number of reasons to implement SFW over native Windows LVM:
1. Transparent Array Migrations:
2. Fully compliant VSS SnapShot Provider (both Full Copy and Copy-on-Write) for all major Microsoft Software Packages (SQL, Exchange, SharePoint)
3. The largest Compatibility List for mulipathing avaiable with FC and iSCSI
4. Thin reclamation support using the Thin Reclaim API (Developed by Symantec and Array Vendors)
5. Dynamic Disk Support for MSCS and WSFC
6. Volume Based replication with the Replicator Option (Array and application independent).
These are just some of the features that differentiate SFW from Native LVM.
Hope this helps,
Joe D