3.5 server with iSCSI software initator to Thecus N5200Pro

[tobyport]

Hi all,

im having some grief getting the iSCSI software adapter to play nice with my Thecus N5200Pro. Im including some links to my website with screenshots of what I am seeing.

The server is a Sun X2200M2 with 2x AMD 2218 processors and 8GB RAM. VI 3.5 server is installed on the internal SAS drive and working nicely.

I've got all my gear on the same internal test subnet 192.168.2.0/24.

The server has 4 NICs, eth0 is configured at 192.168.2.200 virtual switch auto configured on that IP. server hostname is schnitzel.tobyshouse.com (though that doesnt actually resolve). There is no DNS on the local subnet.

I created a new VMkernel port on 192.168.2.205 and also a Service Console on 192.168.2.206 - all on vSwitch1. I believe this is to make iSCSI happy. Then proceeded to edit the properties of the iSCSI Software adapter: enabled, allowed it to pick an iSCSI name and alias. In Dynamic Discover, added the IP of the iSCSI target 192.168.2.130 (default port). After some searching it adds that target in the Send Targets list. However it does not show the name of the target ?volume? in the Static discovery portion. (shouldnt it show up there after auto discovery?) CHAP auth is off as I have not enabled it on the Target.

See config here:

http://tobyport.com/iscsi/Picture22.jpg

http://tobyport.com/iscsi/Picture23.jpg

http://tobyport.com/iscsi/Picture24.jpg

http://tobyport.com/iscsi/Picture25.jpg

Also, I am expecting (perhaps wrongly) that in the Details view of the iSCSI Software adapter I can see Targets=1 once the target is discovered/configured. Yet I do not:

http://tobyport.com/iscsi/Picture21.jpg

Now, to the Target side. Its an N5200 Pro from Thecus http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=12&pid=32 with iSCSI enabled.

Hostname is n5200.tobyshouse.com (again doesnt resolve) and iqn.2008-01.com.tobyshouse:RAID.iscsi0.vg0.scuzzy

Interestingly it does seem to see the VMware esx 3.5 server, after the initiator probes the IP of the target I get confirmation from the N5200 that the VMware box is talking to it: (shows the initiator iqn in the Initiator information window) State set to 'active')

http://tobyport.com/iscsi/Picture26.jpg

The N5200 is running firmware 2.00.04 apparently

Verified iSCSI initiators:

Windows: Microsoft initiator v2.0.4

StarPort initiator 3.5.2

Linux: open-iscsi 2.0-865

I do believe I read elsewhere on the forums that people have managed to get this to work with ESX in the past.

Would expect the iSCSI volume to show up in Storage config section once all good, but does not at this stage.

All help and pointers greatly appreciated.

Regards

Toby

[culbeda]

Hi Toby:

Since you received an answer elsewhere, I thought I'd post the follow-up here for people searching for an answer in the future.

http://forums.hexus.net/thecus-care-hexus/125519-esx-3-x-thecus-n5200pro.html

For those not interested in reading, the key change you need to make is on the ESX server(s):

Edit /etc/vmkiscsi.conf and uncomment out the line that says "DataDigest=Never" and restart iSCSI or reboot. 3.5 claims to add the required firewall access for iSCSI and mine seemed to connect just fine, but you can always add a service entry in the firewall by using "esxcfg-firewall -e swISCSIClient".

Now if I could just get my two to be completely stable in a cluster, I'd be a very happy man. I appear to be have issues with some sort of conncurrent connection limit on the Thecus' iSCSI LUN. I'll follow-up if / when I find an answer.

[mike_laspina]

Hello,

Did you enable the iSCSI client port in the security profile configuration.

Oh! Never mind I see you included esxcfg-firewal -e iSCSIClient

[solveit]

Yep, I did add it to the firewall. My current lab environment looks like this:

2 x HP DL360 G3's running 3.5 (latest patches) in a cluster (well, they would be if iSCSI was working properly)

- 1 NIC for management, vmotion, etc

- 1 NIC VLAN trunked for VMs

1 x Thecus N5200BR PRo

1 x Win2K3 box running VC 2.5

1 x OpenFiler for other testing (no luck clustering on this yet, but there is probably more support for this solution)

A handful of tiny VM's (XP, Linux, etc)

Currently, both boxes see the iSCSI target / LUN for the Thecus, but as soon as I "Rescan" the vmhba32 of the servers, the other one loses connection to it.

I'm currently playing with with the iscsid.conf on the Thecus, which looks like this now:

node.active_cnx = 1

node.startup = manual

#node.session.auth.username = dima

#node.session.auth.password = aloha

node.session.timeo.replacement_timeout = 60

node.session.err_timeo.abort_timeout = 10

node.session.err_timeo.reset_timeout = 30

node.session.iscsi.InitialR2T = No

node.session.iscsi.ImmediateData = Yes

node.session.iscsi.FirstBurstLength = 262144

node.session.iscsi.MaxBurstLength = 16776192

node.session.iscsi.DefaultTime2Wait = 60

node.session.iscsi.DefaultTime2Retain = 60

#node.session.iscsi.MaxConnections = 1 ' former setting

node.session.iscsi.MaxConnections = 0

node.cnx[0].iscsi.HeaderDigest = None

node.cnx[0].iscsi.DataDigest = None

node.cnx[0].iscsi.MaxRecvDataSegmentLength = 262144

#discovery.sendtargets.auth.authmethod = CHAP

#discovery.sendtargets.auth.username = dima

#discovery.sendtargets.auth.password = aloha

I guess I'll try setting HeaderDigest = None on the ESX servers and see if that makes a different. If that doesn't work, I'll monkey with the Time2 settings on the Thecus.

Again, if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

[tobyport]

Yes just a quick follow up - did solve it by trying it all again. Firewall definitely did get in the way somewhere along the way, interestingly though - standard config on the N5200 worked fine when I had re-tried. I have since repeated the procedure on yet another N5200 and it also worked fine.

[solveit]

And you you have multiple hosts using the Thecus for clustering? That's the only part that's killing me. I can get them to connect individually. I haven't tested Windows VM clients w/ the iSCSI initiator yet, but I assume they would work.

[solveit]

For clarification, culbeda is my alter-ego.

[chrwei]

you'd have to ask Thecus if there target software supports SCSI reserve/release commands, if it does, cluster should work, but in my tests with other targets that do support this but aren't on the HCL, it either gets unstable or very slow with more than one initiator per lun