Microsoft has added more storage-related capabilities to Windows Server 2003 to makes SANs less complex to deploy and manage.
Among the new features that will be unveiled at next week's Storage Networking World tradeshow is Microsoft's Fibre Channel Information Tool. The tool identifies storage components and gathers component information across multiple storage fabrics and from multiple vendors, according to Claude Lorenson, Microsoft's technical product manager for storage technologies for Windows Server 2003. The tool gets information about drivers and firmware in use, and reduces the need for third-party tools, he added.
Microsoft is also releasing storage tracing support on Windows 2003, which consolidates tracing and logging mechanisms and downloads them to a single file. This in turn is supposed to be an easier way to debug or troubleshoot. It's also preferable than trying to do a live debugging of SAN, which can impact network performance, Lorenson explained.
Tracing support will be available on Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003 and will be supported by Adaptec, Emulex, Intel, LSO Logic and QLogic, Microsoft said.
The vendor is also adding to its IP-SAN support with a data center edition of its iSCSI architecture for Window Server 2003. Microsoft has already certified13 vendors for the data center edition.
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