Section 2.7. Practical Implications

   

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2.7 Practical Implications

The new Storport driver model provides a lot of efficiency, including optimizing I/O and driving throughput. However, system administrators and IT procurement officials would be well advised to note that the Storport driver model applies only to the Windows Server 2003 platform. IT procurement officials who have settled on the Windows platform would be well advised to investigate the plans of their storage device vendor to adopt the Storport model and meanwhile investigate the same vendor device support on the Windows 2000 platform, including details of how the vendor implemented the driver on the Windows 2000 platform.

Specifically, they should investigate whether the system throughput is adequate with the soon-to-be-legacy SCSIPort model driver if that's what the vendor is using. They should also investigate whether the vendor has developed its own solution that does not use the SCSIPort driver at all and whether that solution has been certified and is supported by all relevant parties. Finally, they should investigate whether the vendor will provide a smooth migration path from the current Windows 2000 solution to a Storport-based solution on Windows Server 2003.

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