Review: Xtore's Attached Server Appliance

As companies' storage requirements grow, attached storage appliances such as the XN WSS (Windows Storage Server) Series from Xtore Extreme Storage are increasingly replacing traditional file servers.

Providing file-sharing, workstation backup, temporary storage and software distribution capabilities, Xtore's server offers a viable server solution for the small- and midsize-business market and gives administrators an alternative to traditional servers for storage and file sharing.

Xtore packs as many features as possible into the XN WSS. Some might feel the price tag of $5,870 is steep; however, the product does incorporate four SATA removable 250-Gbyte Western Digital Caviar hard drives and two Gigabit Ethernet ports for fail-over and load balancing. The device is wrapped around Windows Storage Server 2003, and features Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and Virtual Disk Service (VDS). The XN WSS also contains an Intel Pentium III 1GHz processor and 512Gbytes of DDR 400MHz RAM. Working with Windows Storage Server 2003 rather than a version of Linux reduces interoperability issues and offers seamless integration into heterogeneous environments. Integration with existing networks is straightforward. The device includes support for Microsoft Windows networks, UNIX, Novell NetWare, and Linux. The system was designed to be fully redundant. The components are completely hot swappable for easy maintenance and no downtime. Replacing a hard drive for example is easy and does not require the network to be down.

The construction of the case, however, was disappointing, considering it was positioned to be a hot swappable box. Taking off the top panels to enter the box is a chore, as there are approximately a dozen screws that need to come out in order to delve into the device. There is a spring mechanism in the center of the box that comes apart when the entire case is taken apart too; easy slips off panels would have been the correct route to choose here. Also, the case itself was made of a flimsy metal and the front LED panel comes off too easily and provides no real structure for the box.

Our engineers installed the device in roughly 10 minutes, which consisted of taking it out of the box, plugging the unit into the network and powering it up. Minor network configuration was required and administrators must use Remote Desktop Connection to enter the box.

The product comes with three available disk array options, RAID 0 (disk striping), RAID 5 (disk striping with parity) or RAID 1 (disk mirroring), and therefore provides fault tolerance. Most installations will opt for RAID 5, which balances fault tolerance, speed and performance in the most cost-effective manner.

As far as a solution provider is concerned, the product offers limited ongoing revenue opportunities, so installation and deployment is where solution providers should make most of their money.Xtore Extreme Storage manufacturers white box and custom storage systems for the small to midsize business. The Los Angeles, Calif. based company also provides fully customizable network-attached storage (NAS) and direct-attached storage (DAS) systems.

Vincent A Randazzese is a freelancer for Server Pipeline and a CRN Test Center engineer.