There are many iSCSI Target servers that we can use to create a SAN for our labs. I like Microsoft Storage Space / Storage Pool services which I will provide some guides in future labs. This lab will configure iSCSI Target using Openfiler 2.99. After installation, configurations, I will demonstrate how to use the iSCSI initiator to create a volume for your client computer so that you can store files in it.
Topology
This lab will use two machines with static IP addresses:
– Target.dalaris.local (Target / Server): IP address 10.0.0.15
– Initiator.dalaris.local (Initiator / Client): IP address 10.0.0.16
Hardware Requirements
RAM: 1024GB.
HDD1: 30GB for the Openfiler Operating System.
HDD2: 40GB for iSCSI DATASTORE.
ISCSI Target Server Installation – Openfiler 2.99
Insert Disk and boot the server up, Press Enter to Install OpenFiler using the GUI provided.
Click Next on the introduction
Choose Language as US English and click Next.
Click Yes to erase ALL DATA.
Choose sda, and then tick mark on “Review and modify partitioning layout”
Confirm to allow erase of hard drive.
Review the disk partition size and click Next.
Turn up swap when asked.
Choose the “EXTLINUX boot loader will be install on /dev/sda” and click Next.
Configure networking if asked.
Configure time zone and click Next.
Enter root password. Click Next.
Click Next to start the installation.
Wait for a couple of minutes for the installation to complete.
Reboot when done.
Openfiler Server Configurations
Once the server restarts, you will see a screen similar to the following. Please note the URL.
On your another computer on the network, launch your favourite browser, enter URL: https://10.0.0.113:446 (this is the IP address of the OpenFiler server given to it by our network DHCP server).
Enter username and password to login: The credentials are: openfiler / password.
After logging in, you will see a screen similar to the followings:
Click Accounts to change password or account information.
Click Admin Password to change the admin password. Enter current password as password and in the New Password type your desired password. Click Submit.
Click System / Network to change networking parameters. For example, we might want to set a static IP address for the server. As you can see currently, the IP given to the server (10.0.0.113) is a DHCP address which could change in the future. When that address changes, we cannot access the server. In order to prevent this address to be changed by DHCP, we need to configure a static (manual) IP address. Click Configure.
Change Boot Protocol to Static and click Continue.
Enter a new IP address that you want to use. In my case, I choose 10.0.0.15. Click Confirm when done.
After you have changed the IP address, your browser will show an error because the old URL no longer works. You need to type the new URL as https://10.0.0.15:446.
Change the URL to https://10.0.0.15:446 to continue accessing the Openfiler login screen.
Create a partition
Make sure you have an empty drive (without partitions in it) called (e.g.) /dev/sdb. If this HDD contains a partition, use fdisk /dev/sdb to remove the partition first before proceeding.
Click Volumes tab / Block Devices.
Block devices will show. Choose /dev/sdb for example. Remember that /dev/sda is OS block.
Under Partition Type: choose Physical Volume. Click Create.
After the partition has been create, go back to Volumes. Click Volume Groups to add the newly created partition into Volume Group. Make up a name for the group.
Checkmark on /dev/sdb1 (the newly created partition). Click Add Volume Group.
The Volume Group appears. Now we create a Volume inside the Volume Group. Click Add Volume.
Make sure you select the MyVG as the Volume Group to add your volume into. Then scroll down towards the bottom.
Enter name as MyVolume and size as total size of 40GB.
For Filesystem / Volume Type, choose “block (iSCSI,FC,etc)”. Click Create. A new Volume is created.
The MyVolume is shown.
Next we will configure iSCSI based on the newly created volume. Click Services, click Start to start iSCSI Target service.
The iSCSI service will change its status to Running.
Click System, Network Access Configuration, configure the allow client network in Network Access Configuration. Enter name as MyLAN, IP address as 10.0.0.0, netmask as 255.255.255.0. Type = Share. Click Update. This will allow any devices inside the LAN to access the share.
After clicking Update, the Network Access Configuration will show the MyLAN share as in the following figure:
Now we need to add a Target. Click Volume, choose iSCSI Targets.
Target Configuration, click Add button.
Click the tab
LUN Mapping, click Map.
Once the Mapping is successful, you will see the notification that says “All mappable iSCSI LUNS for this target have been mapped” and also the button text changes to “Unmap”.
Tab Network ACL click Allow to allow communication. Click the Update button.
Now you can access the iSCSI Target through your initiator.
On a Windows 10 Technical Preview client computer, open the Control Panel and search for iSCSI. Click on Set up iSCSI initiator
Click Yes to enable the iSCSI Initiator Service.
Enter IP address 10.0.0.15 and click Quick Connect.
Click Done.
Click OK to close the iSCSI Initiator Properties.
Open the command prompt, type diskmgmt.msc. The Disk Management will launch and it automatically detect a new drive. Click OK to initialize that disk.
After initialization, the disk needs to be partitioned and formatted before use.
Right click on the Unallocated disk and choose New Simple Volume. Click Next on the welcome screen.
Choose entire space available and click Next.
Choose a drive letter. In this case, I randomly choose V: then click Next.
Fill in the Volume label as “My iSCSI” and click Next to perform a quick format.
Click Finish to start formatting.
Once done, you will see the V: drive appears.
As you can see, I created a Microsoft Word document and store it in my V: drive, which is the iSCSI target drive. This drive is essentially on the Openfiler server.