About Us

Openfiler takes the pain out of deploying and managing networked storage. You bring the hardware, any industry standard server will do, combine it with our Openfiler software and the result is a powerful networked storage solution that exports your data via a full suite of industry standard storage networking protocols. Openfiler lowers deployment and maintenance costs for networked storage without compromising functionality or performance.

Product

Openfiler is a network storage operating system, fronted by a web based management user interface. With the features we built into Openfiler, you can take advantage of file-based Network Attached Storage and block-based Storage Area Networking functionality in a single cohesive framework.

Any industry standard x86 or x86/64 server can be converted into a powerful multi-protocol network storage appliance, replete with an intuitive browser-based management interface, in as little as 15 minutes. File-based storage networking protocols such as CIFS and NFS ensure cross-platform compatibility in homogeneous networks - with client support for Windows, Linux, and Unix. Fibre channel and iSCSI target features provide excellent integration capabilities for virtualization environments such as Xen and VMware.

iSCSI target functionality is especially useful for enterprise applications such as Microsoft Exchange server integration, Oracle 10g RAC backend storage or video surveillance and disk-to-disk backup.

Idea

The premise behind the idea of Openfiler is that enterprises, small and large, do not have to be beholden to the entrenched storage systems vendors in order to reap the many benefits of networked storage.

With Openfiler the desire is to change the game; give users the same functionality, the same performance and the same availability without the same associated costs of solutions from networked storage industry stalwarts. All of this delivered via the power of Open Source technologies such as the Linux kernel and GNU environment, Samba CIFS fileserver, and LVM2 block device virtualization utility.

Stemming from this bold idea we produced and continue to develop Openfiler - a compelling solution that can meet the storage management needs of enterprises.

Services and Solutions

• We are the primary developers of Openfiler and steer the project
  
• We moderate the focal point for users and developers to participate in the project via the Openfiler community portal
• We deliver support services for production deployments of Openfiler
• We provide consulting, installation services and training for Openfiler
  

History

In 2003, Xinit Systems released an internally-developed software utility, that it ships on industry standard servers, as Open Source. The utility was named Openfiler. Between 2003 and today, Openfiler has blazed a path to become, with over 200,000 downloads, the leading Open Source Linux-based NAS/SAN appliance software solution for production deployments.