4 ms·

Have your tried TimeMachine on sparse images on network file systems or iSCSI targets (or did Apple finally kill off all initiators for macOS?) in recent macOS

by crest 4y ago

Have your tried TimeMachine on sparse images on network file systems or iSCSI targets (or did Apple finally kill off all initiators for macOS?) in recent macOS versions?

Asmod4n 4y ago
Can’t do full system restores from iSCSI
- anecdotal1 4y ago
  if the iSCSI disk is its own physical disk you can just pull it from your NAS, plug into a USB dock, and plug it into your Mac
  - Asmod4n 4y ago
    That’s defeating the purpose why you want to use iSCSI. Just get a usb drive and back up to that then.
    - jiveturkey 4y ago
      Not at all. It's typically far more convenient to use a network available drive for backup. You rarely need to restore and even rarer to do a full system restore.
xoa 4y ago
>or did Apple finally kill off all initiators for macOS I would assume that'd work fine, because I run my main workstations and a server full time with my home folder and various data living off APFS or HFS formatted iSCSI targets served over 10 gigabit from a TrueNAS system. I haven't upgraded to macOS 13 yet since I tend to be a lot more conservative these days about Mac upgrades than I used to, but Xtend SAN at least still works beautifully under macOS 12. I really, REALLY hope Apple doesn't remove that capability without a native alternative (or at least officially sanctioned way to do the same thing). Of course in that specific scenario Time Machine is of limited value (and I don't use it) since why bother when you can just use ZFS snapshots on the NAS side instead. TM has always been too flaky for me to feel comfortable with anyway. Still, could be powerful in some instances, particularly when combined with a hardware gadget setup. Which leads to a response to sibling thread: >Asmod4n 3 hours ago: Can’t do full system restores from iSCSI Linux has kernel support for USB gadgets that can emulate mass storage devices, and that means you can actually rig up a little cheap embedded board to translate iSCSI into something that will look to anything else like a standard external USB hard drive. See for example [0]. Like the author there I use it to work around issues with appliances like consoles or the like that don't know how to natively deal with a lot of network stuff, but it's a pretty powerful tool if you've got a good NAS and LAN setup regardless. Get your full network storage flexibility, snapshots, data integrity and so on that pretty much anything ever with a USB port can utilize natively. ---- 0: https://matt.olan.me/making-a-piscsi-usb-drive-part-1/ https://matt.olan.me/making-a-piscsi-usb-drive-part-1/

by crest 4y ago

Have your tried TimeMachine on sparse images on network file systems or iSCSI targets (or did Apple finally kill off all initiators for macOS?) in recent macOS versions?

Asmod4n 4y ago

Can’t do full system restores from iSCSI

anecdotal1 4y ago
if the iSCSI disk is its own physical disk you can just pull it from your NAS, plug into a USB dock, and plug it into your Mac
- Asmod4n 4y ago
  That’s defeating the purpose why you want to use iSCSI. Just get a usb drive and back up to that then.
  - jiveturkey 4y ago
    Not at all. It's typically far more convenient to use a network available drive for backup. You rarely need to restore and even rarer to do a full system restore.

xoa 4y ago

>or did Apple finally kill off all initiators for macOS I would assume that'd work fine, because I run my main workstations and a server full time with my home folder and various data living off APFS or HFS formatted iSCSI targets served over 10 gigabit from a TrueNAS system. I haven't upgraded to macOS 13 yet since I tend to be a lot more conservative these days about Mac upgrades than I used to, but Xtend SAN at least still works beautifully under macOS 12. I really, REALLY hope Apple doesn't remove that capability without a native alternative (or at least officially sanctioned way to do the same thing). Of course in that specific scenario Time Machine is of limited value (and I don't use it) since why bother when you can just use ZFS snapshots on the NAS side instead. TM has always been too flaky for me to feel comfortable with anyway. Still, could be powerful in some instances, particularly when combined with a hardware gadget setup. Which leads to a response to sibling thread: >Asmod4n 3 hours ago: Can’t do full system restores from iSCSI Linux has kernel support for USB gadgets that can emulate mass storage devices, and that means you can actually rig up a little cheap embedded board to translate iSCSI into something that will look to anything else like a standard external USB hard drive. See for example [0]. Like the author there I use it to work around issues with appliances like consoles or the like that don't know how to natively deal with a lot of network stuff, but it's a pretty powerful tool if you've got a good NAS and LAN setup regardless. Get your full network storage flexibility, snapshots, data integrity and so on that pretty much anything ever with a USB port can utilize natively. ---- 0: https://matt.olan.me/making-a-piscsi-usb-drive-part-1/ https://matt.olan.me/making-a-piscsi-usb-drive-part-1/