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StarPort iSCSI and ATA-over-Ethernet Initiator: Using as ATA-over-Ethernet Initiator

Introduction

StarPort fully implements ATA-over-Ethernet client side protocol enabling you to connect to remote storage appliances such as disk arrays, tape drives, DVD-ROM image libraries and so on. StarPort AoE (ATA-over-Ethernet) support enables connectivity to remote storage devices over a standard Ethernet network, regardless of where the device resides; in the next room or on another continent (if proper bridging is used of course). With StarPort and ATA-over-Ethernet you can gain full access to a device, as though the device was installed on a local machine. Re-partition; format a remote hard disk drive with any file system, burn to a remote high-capacity Blu-Ray or HD-DVD burner, implement automatic backup procedures to a remote tape drive, access remote storage devices connected through Serial and Parallel ATA and SCSI, Fibre Channel, USB or FireWire and more.


Adding new device

Launch the StarPort control application by selecting Start->All Programs->StarWind Software->StarPort->StarPort. After the program is started its icon appears in the system tray. Double click the icon with the left mouse button or single click it with the right mouse button and select Start Management item from the pop-up menu. You'll see a picture like the one below:

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Select Add Device menu item from Device drop down menu or just press Add Device button on the application tray bar. New device installation wizard (see next page for the image) will appear.

On the first step of the New Device Installation Wizard please read the introduction instructions.

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Press Next button to continue.

On the second step of the New Device Installation Wizard select device type you wish to install. To add an AoE device please select Remote AoE (ATA-over-Ethernet) device.

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Press Next button to continue.

On the third step of the New Device Installation Wizard please select network adapter you wish to use to connect to the AoE device.

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Press Next button to continue.

On the fourth step of the New Device Installation Wizard please specify the parameters of the AoE device you wish to add (see next page for the image):

Select device you wish to add from the list of the available AoE devices.

If Edit the Configuration String option is selected you can specify custom AoE configuration string. By default StarPort uses exact PC name as the configuration string. You should change the configuration string only if particular AoE device could not be mounted successfully and you are sure specified default configuration string is wrong.

Select Force Set the Configuration String option to overwrite the configuration string of the AoE device. In this case device's existing configuration string is changed and device is mounted with a new configuration string.

Select Automount the device to automatically re-create it when you restart your PC. It means an AoE device becomes available right after your PC boots and Windows starts.

Select Read-Only Mode if you wish to enable read-only access to the AoE device that you mount.

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Press Next button to continue.

On the last step of the New Device Installation Wizard please confirm the installation results. If the new AoE device was installed correctly, it should appear as a new disk volume in your system. Right after that you will be able to access installed AoE device as an ordinary disk volume.

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Press Finish button.

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Removing existing device

In the StarPort control application please select the device you wish to remove and click it with the right mouse button.

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Select Remove Device menu item from the pop-up menu that appears.

Use the Force Remove Device if you cannot remove a device in a normal way (e.g. it is locked by some application or process). However it is not recommended to use the Force Remove Device feature as it may cause loss of the data and general system instability.

Alternatively you can remove a device by doing the following: right click StarPort icon in the system tray and find the device you wish to remove.

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Please fill out the form below to download the product. An installer link together with the license key will be sent to the e-mail address that you’ve specified. You may check the Free vs. Paid document if you are unsure about which StarWind Virtual SAN version you would like to try. Aside from this, there is a totally unrestricted NFS (Not For Sale) version of StarWind VSAN available for certain use cases. StarWind Virtual SAN for Hyper-V release notes are available here.