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Q307813: SMS: Systems Management Server and Storage Area Network

Article: Q307813
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): 2.0,2.0 SP1,2.0 SP2,2.0 SP3,2.0 SP4
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbsms200
Last Modified: 25-APR-2002

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Systems Management Server versions 2.0, 2.0 SP1, 2.0 SP2, 2.0 SP3, 2.0 SP4 
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SUMMARY
=======

Systems Management Server (SMS) is designed to work with any hardware that is
certified on the Windows Hardware Compatibility List for Microsoft Windows NT
and Microsoft Windows 2000-based computers. For more information about the
Windows Hardware Compatibility List, view the following Microsoft Web site:

  http://www.microsoft.com/hcl

Note, however, that SMS 2.0 has not been tested with all hardware configurations
that are listed on the HCL and you may experience issues with some
configurations.

Storage Area Networks (SAN) configurations are fully supported by SMS, but have
not been specifically tested with SMS. Microsoft supports placing SMS data
stores on either direct-attached storage or on SAN-attached storage. Note that
this is subject to a maximum limit of 4 terabytes (TB) for each volume.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Some storage vendors offer optional features such as additional mirrors, mirror
splitting, or remote replication (synchronous or asynchronous). Microsoft has
not tested SMS with these features and you should consult with your storage
vendor to ensure compatibility and to prevent data loss. Microsoft provides
commercially feasible support for using SMS with these optional features. In
addition, where you use Microsoft SQL Server as the underlying data store, you
must insure that any storage software or optional hardware feature is also
compatible with SQL. If a problem occurs, you may need to reconfigure a site
system to use storage that is not SAN-based to isolate and correct the problem.

You should consider all risks when you choose any configuration. Although no
known problem with a SAN configuration and SMS has been reported, it is
important to note that there is a reduced level of testing that has been
performed by Microsoft with SMS in this configuration.

Additional query words: prodsms

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Keywords          : kbsms200 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS200 kbSMS200SP1 kbSMS200SP2 kbSMS200SP3 kbSMS200SP4
Version           : :2.0,2.0 SP1,2.0 SP2,2.0 SP3,2.0 SP4
Issue type        : kbinfo

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