iSCSI or SMB using SBS 2003

Hi, I need some advice.

I've got a Thecus N8800Pro Storage Applicance, and a Windows SBS 2003
Server. I want to hold my important business files on the applicance so that
it can be accessed by the other users of the network.

I tried this by connecting the applicance to the SBS Server via iSCSI, and
then sharing the folders. It worked well, but if the server goes down for
whatever reason then we lose access to these files.

So I tried putting the N8800Pro into SMB mode, and sharing the folders
directly from the applicance (bypassing the SBS server). However, now access
to the files is really slow, which I don't really understand - I mean I know
iSCSI is faster than SMB, but with the SBS Server removed from the data path
it should be around the same speed if not quicker surely? After all the
sharing at between the SBS and the users' desktops is done by SMB isn't it?

So I don't really understand that.

Firstly - why would that be?
Secondly - can I use two iSCSI initiators on different servers to access an
iSCSI target? So I could, for instance, have a server image of SBS 2003
standing by, and spin it up when my usual SBS 2003 server goes down, and
still have fast access to the data. Is this possible? What do other people
do about server redundancy and data redundancy with SBS?

Any help appreciated.

Andy



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