Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator 2.0 bui

Version 2.0 of the iSCSI Software Initiator provides sophisticated high availability solutions through either:
• Multiple Connections per Session (MC/S), or
• Microsoft MPIO support.
MC/S allows multiple TCP/IP connections between the initiator (server) and target (storage array) during the same iSCSI session, either on the same or a different physical link. This allows load balancing and failover over among multiple network interface cards (NICs).
Microsoft MPIO support allows the initiator to log in multiple sessions to the same target, enabling load balancing and failover among multiple NICs and iSCSI Host Bus Adapters (HBAs). Both methods support failover only (no load balancing, all other paths on standby), as well as a failover plus I/O load balancing.
Load balancing policies include:
• Round robin (all paths active, I/O sent in round robin fashion),
• Round robin with a subset of active paths,
• Weighted path, in which I/O is distributed to the path with the lowest assigned weight.
• Least Queue Depth, in which I/O is sent on the path with the shortest I/O queue. This is only available for MC/S.
Note that a key difference between the two multipathing approaches is that for MC/S, load balancing policies apply to all logical disks (LUNs) exposed by a session; for MPIO, the policies apply to individual logical disks.
Support for x64. The new 64-bit processors provide both 32 and 64-bit capabilities on the same processor, supporting both older 32 bit applications without loss of performance, as well as newer 64 bit applications.
X64 technologies enable faster and more efficient application performance, because more data can be preloaded into virtual memory, thereby reducing the time it takes to seek, read, and write to storage devices. Version 2.0 of the iSCSI Software Initiator enables applications on an iSCSI SAN to take advantage of the higher performance and scalability of x64 processors.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 for Itanium-bas, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for 64-Bit, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itaniu, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition, Windows Small Business Server 2003 , Windows XP 64-bit, Windows XP Professional 64-Bit Edition (Itanium) , Windows XP Professional 64-Bit Edition (Itanium) 2, Windows XP Professional Edition , Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2