iSCSI Software Target is Microsoft's official and, most importantly, free Microsoft tool for creating iSCSI software targets on Windows Server 2008 R2. Before releasing this tool, in order to create an iSCSI target on a Windows server without having dedicated hardware, you had to invest in expensive third-party software or rely on free and not always stable replacements. iSCSI Software Target was available only in a special edition of Windows Storage Server.

It's worth noting that Microsoft's tool also allows you to create targets with virtual VHDs in VHD format, so you don't have to repartition existing physical drives. The volume shared by iSCSI can be mapped on any system that supports this protocol, so you can see it like any other drive physically connected to your computer. Now any owner of any edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 can install the iSCSI Software Target and very quickly configure the target and the LUNs available in it.

The target can then be used by other systems in a clustering scenario, such as Hyper-V servers to store virtual machines, SQL servers to store databases or file servers. On Windows Server 2008 R2 it is also possible to boot from the network via iSCSI.