Tiger Technology MetaLAN Client (Mac / PC License) Improve LAN connectivity with a cluster of servers

Improve LAN connectivity with a cluster of servers

Improve LAN connectivity with metaLAN, a companion software that leverages your metaLAN Server, metaSAN, or metaSAN iSCSI servers to deliver substantial benefits over a regular LAN share.

metaLAN represents an affordable and efficient way to connect LAN clients to a centralized shared storage while providing them with block-level access, automatic load balancing, transparent failover, client bandwidth usage control, and easy cross-platform integration between Mac, Windows, and Linux clients.
With metaLAN, the shared storage mounts as a local drive instead of a network connection. You benefit from block-level access over popular TCP/IP networking technology such as Gigabit Ethernet or InfiniBand. metaLAN also provides the cross-platform file-system translation technology required to enable Mac, Windows, and Linux clients to connect to a standard NTFS or HFS+ volume.

Any number of metaLAN clients can connect to a cluster of servers. By virtualizing the shared storage, you can eliminate hotspots and I/O bottlenecks in addition to aggregating the total bandwidth of the individual servers for increased LAN performances.

The individual metaLAN clients establish a dynamic, yet persistent connection with one of the available servers. Overall efficiency of the network is improved as load from multiple clients is equally and dynamically distributed among the servers that are participating in the cluster. If a server fails, its connections are automatically and transparently re-distributed among remaining servers. You can therefore easily add/or remove servers, or clients without disrupting applications or service.

Bandwidth control lets you ensure a fair utilization of the available network resources so you can reserve or limit how much bandwidth each client gets. metaLAN is compatible with standard applications, including Adobe Production Studio and Apple Final Cut Pro. In addition, the unique virtualization for Avidï¿½ feature enables sharing of media files among multiple users of Avidï¿½ software on Windows platforms for efficient workgroup collaboration.

metaLAN is easy to setup and does not require complex network protocols such as AFP, SMB, or CIFS to be installed and configured. Software licenses are attached to the servers, not the individual clients. This greatly simplifies the management of large facilities as there is no need to track licensing for the individual computers or OS platforms.

metaLAN is ideal for render farms, and enterprises looking for cost-effective ways to centralize their assets without the performance bottlenecks and lack of scalability associated with conventional NAS. The shared storage can be based on industry standard storage and networking components, such as Fibre Channel, SAS, or iSCSI. metaLAN also supports link aggregation (IEEE 802.3ad) to further increase the throughput available to LAN clients.

While metaSAN and metaSAN iSCSI can participate in the SAN as client or server workstations, metaLAN Server software can only be used as server gateways for metaLAN clients (i.e. the metaLAN Server host do not have direct access to the storage). metaLAN represents a better alternative to traditional network shares. metaSAN, metaSAN iSCSI, metaLAN Server and metaLAN software are sold through a worldwide network of authorized Tiger Technology Resellers. These value-added Resellers can provide pre-sales consultancy, integration services as well as post-sales support.

Features:
Heterogeneous operating system support:	Windows, Mac OS X Leopard, Tiger, and Linux users can share content and collaborate efficiently
Combine throughput of individual SAN servers into cluster/sec:	automatic load balancing between individual servers and metaLAN clients eliminates hotspots and I/O bottlenecks
Transparent and easy to use:	mounts remote volumes as logical drives (as opposed to network shares) with direct block-level disk access to ensure efficient use of LAN bandwidth
Complete integration with standard IT management tools:	native NTFS or HFS+ file system simplifies maintenance and troubleshooting. Supports volumes up to 18 exabytes in size. Native Active Directory or Open Directory OS access rights management means there is no need to manage additional accounts and passwords.
Centralized licensing scheme:	metaLAN licenses are not tied to any specific machine or OS. This greatly simplifies deployment and maintenance in larger facilities.
Save on Microsoft Client Access Licenses (CALs):	MetaLAN is a client software that uses TCPI/IP socket connections and does not require Microsoft Windows 2003 Server nor CALs as it doesn't use standard network file protocol such as NFS, SMB and CIFS.
Save on dedicated metadata controller:	No need to purchase extra licences, dedicated computers, HBA, etc.
Per-node bandwidth usage control:	Bandwidth reservation and bandwidth quota for each client computer allows for a fair and optimal distribution of the available network bandwidth
Soft zoning:	Enables the shared storage to be partitioned in a number of zones that permit the compartmentalization of data for increased security
Virtualization for Avidï¿½:	Enables sharing of media files among multiple users of Avidï¿½ software on Windows platforms for efficient workgroup collaboration.
24/7 mission-critical ready:	Innovative multi-point gateway technology eliminates single-point server dependencies by providing persistent shared storage connection and transparent failover
Affordable, time-tested, field proven technology:	Tiger Technology software is priced per connected seat to the shared storage. Thousands of users worldwide are already relying on Tiger Technology for their daily operations.

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Tiger recommends using multi-port NIC with link aggregation on the server(s).

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