Using MS iSCSI Target Software to Provide Cluster Shared Disk ...

Using Microsoft iSCSI Software Target to Provide Shared-Disk
Resources to Clusters
Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 2
Creating cluster host entry..................................................................................................................... 3
Configuring initiators............................................................................................................................ 7
Cluster node 1 initiator ..................................................................................................................... 7
Cluster node 2 initiator ..................................................................................................................... 7
Exporting iSCSI virtual disks.................................................................................................................. 8
Initializing iSCSI devices..................................................................................................................... 11
Configuring Microsoft cluster service.................................................................................................... 13
Creating a cluster........................................................................................................................... 13
Adding a new node ....................................................................................................................... 15
Adding new shared disk resources ...................................................................................................... 17
Converting iSCSI device ................................................................................................................. 17
For more information.......................................................................................................................... 21

Introduction
Software clustering is the configuration of two or more servers to work as a unit. When one server
fails, another node in the cluster picks up the workload, and the cluster continues to function without
interruptions. The Microsoft iSCSI Software Target enables the HP All-in-One Storage System or
ProLiant Storage Server to become an external shared-storage device needed to create a cluster,
providing a cost-effective cluster solution.
This document describes how to set up a cluster using MS iSCSI Target as the shared-cluster disk
provider. Besides MS iSCSI Target, this solution uses Microsoft Cluster Service, Windows Server
2003 and MS iSCSI Initiator to create a two-node, active-passive cluster. For more information on
Microsoft’s clustering technology, see
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/clustering/default.mspx.
Figure 1. Microsoft iSCSI Target provides shared-disk resources to clusters
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Creating cluster host entry
A host is any initiator, or group of initiators, that uses the storage services provided by Microsoft
iSCSI Target. In this case, the host is the cluster. Before the initiator can connect to MS iSCSI Target, a
host needs to be created so that MS iSCSI Target can recognize it. This step details the procedure to
create a host entry in MS iSCSI Target for the cluster. Before proceeding, have the iSCSI Qualified
Name (IQN) of the cluster machines ready.
Note: The IQN is found in the ‘General’ tab of the Microsoft
iSCSI Initiator interface. Note that in the terminology of the
Microsoft iSCSI Software Target, the host is referred to as
the “iSCSI Target.”
1. Log on to the Storage Server using an account with administrative privileges.
2. Start the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target MMC interface (Start -> Programs ->
Administrative Tools -> Microsoft iSCSI Software Target).
3. Click the iSCSI Targets node. On the details view (right pane) right-click and select Create
iSCSI Target from the context menu.
Figure 2. iSCSI Target creation
4. Click Next on the Welcome page of the wizard.
5. Enter a name for this iSCSI Target. You can also enter a description. Click Next.
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Figure 3. iSCSI Target name and description
6. On the iSCSI Initiators Identifiers page, click Advanced. The Advanced Identifiers window
opens.
7. Click Add. The Add/Edit Identifier window opens.
a. In the Identifier Type, select IQN from the drop-down list.
b. Type the IQN of the first node in the cluster into the Value box. To determine the IQN for
the node, start the iSCSI Initiator user interface on the given node. The IQN is displayed
on the General tab.
c. Click OK.
8. Repeat Step 7 for the Initiator IQN of the second node in the cluster.
9. Click OK to close the Advanced Identifiers window.
10. Click Next on the wizard.
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Figure 4. Initiator selection
11. Click Finish to create the iSCSI Target.
12. If there are no errors, the new iSCSI Target is created. The new iSCSI Target appears in the
view pane. Right-click the new entry, then select Properties from the context menu.
13. The Properties notebook is displayed. Make a note of the IQN. Close the notebook window.
5

Figure 5. Properties notebook
6

Configuring initiators
The iSCSI Target is freely available and is downloadable from the Microsoft website:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=12cb3c1a-15d6-4585-b385befd1319f825&displaylang=en.
Before continuing, ensure that the MS iSCSI Initiator is installed on both
cluster machines.
Cluster node 1 initiator
1. Log on to the cluster node 1 server using an account with administrative privileges.
2. Start the MS iSCSI Initiator applet.
3. Select the Discovery tab. In the Target Portals group, click Add.
4. In the Add Target Portal window, enter the IP address or DNS name of the iSCSI Target
storage server. Click OK to close the window.
Figure 6. Add target portal
5. Click the Targets tab. Select the IQN of the target just added, and click Log On. The target
IQN should be the same as the Target Name in the host property window in step 10 on page
5.
6. The Log On to Target window opens. Select the Automatically restore this
connection… box to make this connection persistent.
7. Click OK to close the window and complete the operation.
If successful, the initiator is now logged on to iSCSI Target.
Cluster node 2 initiator
1. Log on to the cluster node 2 server using an account with administrative privileges.
2. Follow the steps in the “Cluster node 1 initiator” section above to log on to iSCSI Target.
3. Shut down the computer. Ensure that this computer is completely shut down before continuing.
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Exporting iSCSI virtual disks
This part of the document describes how to export iSCSI virtual disks to the cluster to be used as the
quorum and generic disk.
1. Log on to the Storage Server using an account with administrative privileges.
2. Start the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target MMC interface (Start -> Programs ->
Administrative Tools -> Microsoft iSCSI Software Target).
3. Click the Devices node.
4. On the details view of the Devices node, select a volume to be used as the quorum disk in the
cluster. Right-click and select Create Virtual Disk.
Figure 7. Create new virtual disk
5. Click Next on the Welcome page of the wizard.
6. On the File page, specify the full path of the file to use as the virtual disk. If the file does not
exist, Microsoft iSCSI Target creates one automatically. Click Next.
8

Figure 8. Specify file path
7. On the Size page, specify the size to use for the virtual disk. If the file already exists, you
cannot specify a new size. For the quorum disk, a size of 2GB is sufficient for most
environments. Click Next.
Figure 9. Select virtual disk size
8. Specify a description for this iSCSI virtual disk. (This is optional.) Click Next.
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9. On the Access page, click Add to assign this iSCSI virtual disk to the cluster nodes.
10. On the Add Targets window, select the Target that was created previously and click OK. Click
Next.
Figure 10. Add iSCSI Targets
11. Click Finish to create the iSCSI virtual disk.
12. Repeat this procedure to create an iSCSI virtual disk to be used as a generic cluster disk.
When these steps are complete, there should be two iSCSI virtual disks identified by their respective
iSCSI virtual disk index.
10

Initializing iSCSI devices
When the iSCSI virtual disk is exported, it appears on the initiator machine as a new disk device.
Before these devices can be used as cluster disks, they have to be initialized.
1. Log on to the cluster node 1 server using an account with administrative privileges.
2. Start the Computer Management console.
3. Select Disk Management.
4. Follow the wizard to initialize the new disks. Use the default settings that Windows provides.
The default initializes the disks as basic disks. MSCS only works with basic disks.
5. When the wizard has completed the initialization, right-click the unallocated space and select
New Partition. Follow the instructions in the wizard to create an NTFS partition for use as
the quorum disk. Use the default settings that Windows provides. (The default settings are
sufficient for most environments.)
Figure 11. Create new NTFS partition
6. Repeat step 5 for the other disk device. This new partition is the generic cluster disk.
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Figure 12. Create new partition as generic cluster disk
7. Shut down this server. When it is completely shut down, restart the cluster node 2 server.
8. Log on with administrative privileges.
9. Start Computer Management and select Disk Management. The two disks that were
formatted on the cluster node 1 server should not appear without any drive letter mounted to
them. Change the drive letter to correspond to those that were used when these drives were
formatted.
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Figure 13. Change drive letter
10. Shut down the cluster node 2 server. When the cluster node 2 server is completely shut down,
restart the cluster node 1 server.
Note: If there are more than two nodes in the cluster, repeat
the above procedure to initialize the iSCSI virtual disks on
all the cluster servers before continuing.
Configuring Microsoft cluster service
At this point, all the necessary shared storage has been created. The remaining task is to create the
cluster and configure it to use these resources.
Creating a cluster
1. On the cluster node 1 server, start the Cluster Administration console.
2. Select Create new cluster from the Action drop-down list of the Open Connection to Cluster
window.
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Figure 14. Create new cluster
3. Click Next on the New Server Cluster wizard Welcome page to start creating the cluster.
4. On the Cluster Name and Domain page, specify the appropriate cluster and domain names.
Figure 15. Specify cluster name and domain
5. Click Next on the Select Computer page of the wizard. The computer name of the first node
in the cluster should already be filled in. If not, specify the name of the computer in the edit
box.
The wizard analyzes the settings, such as shared resource and network connectivity. If there
are no errors, the Next button is enabled. If there are errors, analyze the information and
correct the errors before proceeding.
6. Click Next.
7. On the IP Address page, specify the IP address for the cluster. This address maps to the cluster
name and should not be used by other computers. Click Next.
8. On the Cluster Service account page, specify a domain account that the service will run as.
This account must be a domain user and have administrative privileges. Click Next.
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9. Verify that all the information on the Proposed Cluster Configuration page is correct. Click
Next to create the cluster.
The wizard attempts to create the cluster. The process may take a few minutes. If there are
errors, analyze the log and error messages to troubleshoot the problem. When complete, the
Next button is enabled.
10. Click Next.
Figure 16. Create cluster status page
11. Click Finish.
The cluster is now operational and additional nodes can be added to the cluster.
Adding a new node
1. Turn on the cluster node 2 server.
2. Log on to the server using an account with administrative privileges.
3. Start the Cluster Administrator console.
4. Select Add nodes to the cluster from the Action drop-down list of the Open Connection to
Cluster window.
5. Specify the name of the newly created cluster in the Cluster or server name drop-down list.
Click OK to add this server to the cluster.
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Figure 17. Add node to cluster
6. Click Next on the Welcome page.
7. On the Select Computers page, click Add to add the server to the cluster. Click Next.
Figure 18. Add server to cluster
The wizard analyzes the configuration provided. If there are no errors, the Next button is enabled. If
there are errors, analyze the detailed information and correct the errors before proceeding.
8. Click Next.
9. Enter the password for the user provided to run the cluster service, and click Next.
10. Click Next on the Proposed Cluster Configuration page to add this server to the cluster.
11. Click Finish.
The server is now a node in the cluster.
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Adding new shared disk resources
It is sometimes necessary to add additional disks to the cluster. To begin, shut down all cluster nodes
except one. Ensure that this node has full control over all the shared resources. See the section
“Exporting iSCSI virtual disks” on page 8 and “Initializing iSCSI Devices” on page 11 to export and
initialize an iSCSI virtual disk to the cluster nodes. Then, follow the directions below to add the disk to
the cluster resource.
Note: Before converting the iSCSI virtual disk to a cluster
disk, ensure that only one cluster server has access to the
newly created iSCSI virtual disk at any one time. Failure to
do so will lead to data corruption of the iSCSI virtual disk.
Converting iSCSI device
1. Log on to the active cluster node using an account with administrative privileges.
2. Start the Cluster Administrator console and open a connection to the cluster.
Figure 19. Open connection to cluster
3. Right-click the Resources node and select New > Resource.
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Figure 20. Create new resource
4. Specify a name for the new resource. For Resource Type, select Physical Disk from the list.
For Group, select the group to which the resource should belong. Click Next.
Figure 21. New resource properties
5. On the Possible Owners page, specify all nodes in the cluster as the possible owners. Click
Next.
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Figure 22. Specify possible resource owners
6. Click Next on the Dependencies page. The disk resource should not require any
dependencies.
7. Select the newly created partition from the list of disks. Click Finish.
Figure 23. Select newly created partition
8. The new resource should appear as offline in the details view of the Resource node. Right-click
the resource and select Bring Online from the context menu. When completed, the disk is
now a cluster disk. Start the other servers in the cluster.
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Figure 24. Bring resource online
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For more information
For more information about HP StorageWorks All-in-One Storage Systems, see
http://www.hp.com/go/AiOStorage.
© 2007 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained
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4AA1-0720ENW, March 2007