Saturday, April 28, 2012

Mounting iSCSI Luns on Linux Hosts

Adding iSCSI Storage to a Linux Computer
 
This article describes mounting iSCSI luns from SAN iSCSI targets to Linux hosts. Please make sure that an iSCSI Target has been created and ready for use in theSAN / NAS targets. 


Step 1: Install the iSCSI Initiator Software

[root@test.com /]# yum install iscsi-initiator-utils
Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
Running transaction check
Package iscsi-initiator-utils.i686 0:6.2.0.872-7.fc13 set to be installed
Finished Dependency Resolution
...
Installed:
  iscsi-initiator-utils.i686 0:6.2.0.872-7.fc13                                

Complete!

Things you need to have before setting up the iSCSI mounts.
  1. iSCSI startup using the init script or manual startup. You need to edit and configure iSCSI via /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf file
  2. Discover targets.
  3. Automate target logins for future system reboots.
  4. You also need to obtain iSCSI username, password and storage server IP address (target host)
 Step 2: Edit the iscsi.conf file

Setup username and password:
node.session.auth.username = My_ISCSI_USR_NAME
node.session.auth.password = MyPassword
discovery.sendtargets.auth.username = My_ISCSI_USR_NAME
discovery.sendtargets.auth.password = MyPassword


Where,
  • node.session.* is used to set a CHAP username and password for initiator authentication by the target(s).
  • discovery.sendtargets.* is used to set a discovery session CHAP username and password for the initiator authentication by the target(s)
Make sure iscsi.conf 'node' parameter is set for Automatic
[root@test.com /]# vi /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf
node.startup = automatic

Now start the iscsi service:
# /etc/init.d/iscsi start