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Configure an iSCSI Initiator

Although the data storage pool can be provided by an iSCSI target, at least one drive per host (128 GB or more) is needed for the base storage capacity requirements.

At the minimum, VM Squared needs the root drive storage to start Turbine, the hypervisor and both the Glasshouse and Dashboard Console are available to set up the iSCSI service.

Configure iSCSI Networking

A network configuration is required to exist for the iSCSI service to work.

The iSCSI service requires a network set up before it can run. Consequently, if iSCSI is being used for storage, it can only be set up after the cluster Installation is completed. VM Squared configures the network interfaces to the external infrastructure through the dashboard console using the manage-networking command.

Warning

A unique IP address must be allocated for the dashboard AND every host.

VMsquared:vmsquared\dashboard> manage-networking -h

Configure external networking
-----------------------------
0) Quit
1) Create new network

Please select [0-1]:

VMsquared:vmsquared\dashboard>

In this example, we create a new network for the NFS service and supply a range of unique IP addresses.

  1. Select Option [1] to create a new network. Enter the network name iscsi and subnet 192.168.3.0/24.
VMsquared:vmsquared\dashboard> manage-networking

Configure external networking
-----------------------------
0) Quit
1) Create new network

Please select [0-1]: 1
Enter a name for the network: iscsi
Enter a subnet in CIDR format: 192.168.3.0/24

Configure Network
-----------------

   Name: iscsi
   Subnet: 192.168.3.0/24
   VLAN: None
   Default gateway: None
   Routes:
   Included ranges:
   Excluded ranges:
   Statically assigned hosts:
   Excluded hosts:

0) Back
1) Edit VLAN
2) Edit default gateway
3) Edit routes
4) Edit included ranges
5) Edit excluded ranges
6) Edit statically assigned hosts
7) Edit excluded hosts

Please select [0-7]:
  1. Select Option [4] to specify a range of IP addresses to use. In this case, the start address is 192.168.3.100, and the end address is 192.168.3.200.
Edit included ranges for iscsi
----------------------------
0) Back
1) Add new included range

Please select [0-1]: 1
Enter address at start of range: 192.168.3.100
Enter address at end of range:   192.168.3.200

Edit included ranges for iscsi
----------------------------
0) Back
1) Add new included range
2) Remove 192.168.3.100 - 192.168.3.200

Please select [0-2]: 0

Configure Network
-----------------

   Name: iscsi
   Subnet: 192.168.3.0/24
   VLAN: None
   Default gateway: None
   Routes:
   Included ranges:
      192.168.3.100 - 192.168.3.200
   Excluded ranges:
   Statically assigned hosts:
   Excluded hosts:

0) Back
1) Edit VLAN
2) Edit default gateway
3) Edit routes
4) Edit included ranges
5) Edit excluded ranges
6) Edit statically assigned hosts
7) Edit excluded hosts

Please select [0-7]:
  1. Select Option [3] to specify a route, if necessary.
Edit routes for iscsi
-------------------
0) Back
1) Add new route

Please select [0-1]: 1
Enter target subnet (as CIDR): 10.11.12.0/24
Enter gateway: 192.168.3.1

Edit routes for iscsi
-------------------
0) Back
1) Add new route
2) Remove 192.168.3.1 -> 10.11.12.0/24

Please select [0-2]: 0

Configure Network
-----------------

   Name: iscsi
   Subnet: 192.168.3.0/24
   VLAN: None
   Default gateway: None
   Routes:
      192.168.3.1 -> 10.11.12.0/24
   Included ranges:
      192.168.3.100 - 192.168.3.200
   Excluded ranges:
   Statically assigned hosts:
   Excluded hosts:

0) Back
1) Edit VLAN
2) Edit default gateway
3) Edit routes
4) Edit included ranges
5) Edit excluded ranges
6) Edit statically assigned hosts
7) Edit excluded hosts

Please select [0-7]:
  1. The user can choose to specify a range of IPs to exclude, statically assign IPs to specific hosts, or exclude hosts from this network. In this example, we skip these options and select Option [0] to return to the main menu. Once back at the main menu, select Option [5] to commit changes.
Configure external networking
-----------------------------
0) Quit
1) Create new network
2) Edit iscsi
3) Remove iscsi
4) Open in text editor
5) Commit changes

Please select [0-5]: 5

At this point a new network has been created and is available to the VM Squared cluster. The next step is to configure the iSCSI initiator on the nodes of the VM Squared cluster.

Target Portal Discovery

To configure an iSCSI initiator on a cluster node, the user must log into the console, or SSH into the node from the Dashboard. From the host console we must at least discover the target portal on every cluster node we wish to set up the iSCSI service on.

The portal discovery tasks can be performed using the manage-iscsi command.

  1. Obtain this node IQN for the target portal configuration (if required):
VMsquared:vmsquared\node1> manage-iscsi iqn -h

manage-iscsi iqn: handle initiator iqn

  -h:     help; this text
VMsquared:vmsquared\node1> manage-iscsi iqn

iqn.2012-08.com.softiron.iscsi:si-overlapped-1.d25af65671

A portal discovery will assimilate any available targets; the initiator IQN may come handy if access control is necessary.

  1. Discover a target portal:
VMsquared:vmsquared\node1> manage-iscsi discovery -h

manage-iscsi discovery: handle portal discovery

  -p:     the portal to scan
  -C:     commit recently discovered targets
  -Z:     zap recently discovered targets
  -h:     help; this text
VMsquared:vmsquared\node1> manage-iscsi discovery -p 10.11.12.8 -C
--
About to trigger portal 10.11.12.8 target discovery on host: si-overlapped-1, iface: any
This will map all targets available to the initiator: iqn.2012-08.com.softiron.iscsi:si-overlapped-1.d25af6567 in state: present
A later change might require an expert intervention
It is recommended to 'list' the tracked targets before proceeding.

Proceed? [n]/y y
  1. The procedure can be repeated for the rest of the cluster nodes.

Providing an iSCSI Target Manually

In addition to the Target Portal Discovery, one can provide a target to the iSCSI initiator manually. To configure an iSCSI initiator on a cluster node, the user must log into the console, or SSH into the node from the Dashboard. An iSCSI target can be provided using the manage-iscsi command:

VMsquared:vmsquared\node1> manage-iscsi target -h

manage-iscsi target: handle iSCSI initiator target configuration

  -p:     portal (address[:port]) of the target
  -g:     target portal group; defaults to 1
  -i:     iqn of the target
  -l:     LUN (name of the mapped device)
  -Z:     Zap; removes the target
  -h:     help; this text
VMsquared:vmsquared\node1> manage-iscsi target -p 10.11.12.36 -i iqn.2012-08.com.softiron.iscsi -l vbd
--
About to use iqn.2012-08.com.softiron.iscsi:vbd (10.11.12.36,1) on host: si-overlapped-1, iface: any
A later change might require an expert intervention

Proceed? [n]/y
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