Using Sun ZFS Storage Appliance iSCSI LUNs in an Oracle Linux Environment

By Andrew Ness

How to configure iSCSI LUNs in a Sun ZFS Storage Appliance and integrate them into an Oracle Linux environment.

October 2011

Introduction

If your server is running out of internal storage capacity, you can quickly allocate just the right amount of storage from resilient storage pools on the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance from Oracle. This article describes how to use Sun ZFS Storage Appliance iSCSI LUNs in an Oracle Linux environment. Oracle Linux comes with a software iSCSI initiator package that can be configured to integrate iSCSI LUNs presented by the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance into the Oracle Linux environment.

This article first describes how to install the Oracle Linux iSCSI initiator on an Oracle Linux server. Then it describes how to configure an iSCSI LUN on the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance so the LUN can be accessed by an Oracle Linux server using iSCSI protocol. Procedures are provided for configuring the LUN using either the appliance's browser user interface (BUI) or the appliance's command line interface (CLI) . Finally, the article shows how to prepare the LUN for use by the Oracle Linux server.

The procedures in this article assume the following:

• The root password for the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance is known.
• The IP address or host name of the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance is known.
• The network used by the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance has been configured.
• The Sun ZFS Storage Appliance has pools configured with sufficient free space available.
• The root password for the Oracle Linux server is known.

Installing the Oracle Linux iSCSI Initiator

The Oracle Linux iSCSI initiator package is not installed by default so it must be installed manually. The package can be installed using one of these options:

• In the Oracle Linux Standard Desktop Menu system, select System > Administration > Add / Remove Software and select iscsi initiator to add the package.
• Use the yum(8) command as root to execute a text-based installation, as shown in Listing 1.

[root@oel ~]# yum install iscsi-initiator-utils
Loaded plugins: refresh-packagekit
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
--> Package iscsi-initiator-utils.x86_64 0:6.2.0.872-21.0.1.el6 will be 
--> installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

=======================================================================
 Package                 Arch     Version            Repository    Size
=======================================================================
Installing:
iscsi-initiator-utils  x86_64  6.2.0.872-21.0.1.el6  ol6_u1_base  578 k

Transaction Summary
=======================================================================
Install       1 Package(s)

Total download size: 578 k
Installed size: 2.0 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.872-21.0.1.el6.x86_64.rpm   | 578 kB  00:03

Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing : iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.872-21.0.1.el6.x86_64    1/1 

Installed:
  iscsi-initiator-utils.x86_64 0:6.2.0.872-21.0.1.el6                  

Complete!
[root@oel ~]#

Configuring the iSCSI Initiator to Start on Reboot

Once the iSCSI Initiator package is installed, configure the package to start on reboot by completing the following steps:

1. Check that the iSCSI initiator will start when the system is rebooted:

[root@oel ~]# chkconfig --list iscsi
iscsi      	0:off	1:off	2:off	3:off	4:off	5:off	6:off
[root@oel ~]# chkconfig --list iscsid
iscsid     	0:off	1:off	2:off	3:off	4:off	5:off	6:off
[root@oel ~]#

This example shows that both the iscsi and iscsid services are set to off at all run levels, so the iSCSI Initiator will not start at system reboot.

2. If the settings at run level 3, 4, and 5 are not set to on for either the iscsi or iscsid service, enable them, as shown below:

[root@oel ~]# chkconfig iscsi on
[root@oel ~]# chkconfig iscsid on
[root@oel ~]# chkconfig --list iscsi
iscsi      	0:off	1:off	2:on	3:on	4:on	5:on	6:off
[root@oel ~]# chkconfig --list iscsid
iscsid     	0:off	1:off	2:on	3:on	4:on	5:on	6:off
[root@oel ~]# service iscsi start
[root@oel ~]# service iscsid start

The iscsi and iscsid services are now set to start at system reboot.

Identifying the Host IQN

The iSCSI Qualified Name (IQN) of the host is used to identify the host to the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance. The IQN is automatically generated when the iSCSI initiator package is installed and it is stored in a file in /etc/iscsi. To find the IQN for the host, enter the following:

[root@oel ~]# cat /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi
InitiatorName=iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0

The IQN for the host used in this example is iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0.

Setting Up CHAP Authentication

In the following example, CHAP is used to authenticate communication between the host and the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance. The IQN is used as the CHAP name for the iSCSI initiator and a secure password is used for the CHAP secret.

To configure CHAP authentication, edit the file /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf to make the following changes:

1. To activate CHAP authentication, remove the # character from the beginning of the following line:

node.session.auth.authmethod = CHAP

2. To set the CHAP user name and password, complete the following steps:
   1. Edit the lines that set the CHAP user name and password to remove the # character from the beginning of the following lines:

   node.session.auth.username = username
   node.session.auth.password = password
   

   2. Change username to the IQN for the host, for example:

   iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0
   

   3. Change password to a reasonably secure password to be used for authentication. In this example, the password CHAPsecret11 is used.

   The lines now look like this:

   node.session.auth.username = iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0
   node.session.auth.password = CHAPsecret11
   

3. To set the user name and password for all targets, complete the following steps:
   1. Remove the # character from the beginning of the following lines:

   node.session.auth.username_in = username
   node.session.auth.password_in = password
   

   2. Set the user name and password as shown below:

   node.session.auth.username_in = chapuser
   node.session.auth.password_in = CHAPsecret22
   

   Since this user name and password are used for all targets, which may include more than one Sun ZFS Storage Appliance or devices from other manufacturers, the user name should be generic rather than associated with a particular IQN. For this example, the storage administrator has provided the user name chapuser. The CHAP secret is the reasonably secure password, CHAPsecret22.

4. Write the changes to the file and quit the editor.

Next, the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance must be configured to recognize the Oracle Linux host and to present iSCSI LUNs to it.

• To use the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance BUI to complete these configuration steps, go to the next section, Configuring the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance Using the Browser User Interface.
• To use the CLI, go to the section Configuring the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance Using the Command Line Interface.

Configuring the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance Using the Browser User Interface

As a unified storage platform, the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance supports access to block-protocol LUNs using iSCSI and Fibre Channel protocols. This section describes how to use the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance BUI to configure the appliance to recognize the Oracle Linux host and present iSCSI LUNs to it.

To open the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance BUI, do the following:

1. In the address field of a Web browser, enter an address that includes the IP address or host name of the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance, as shown below:

https://<appliance IP address or host name>:215

The login dialog box shown in Figure 1 is displayed.




Figure 1. Sun ZFS Storage Appliance Login

2. Enter a user name and password and click LOGIN.

Defining an iSCSI Target Group

A target group is created on the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance to define the ports and the protocol by which the LUN to be presented to the Oracle Linux server is accessed. For this example, an iSCSI target group is created that contains the LUN as an iSCSI target that is identified by the default IQN for the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance and presented over default appliance interfaces. Since CHAP will be used for authentication between the storage and the host, CHAP parameters are also specified in this example.

To define an iSCSI target group on the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance, complete these steps:

1. Select Configuration > SAN to display the Storage Area Network (SAN) screen, as shown in Figure 2.
2. Click the Targets tab at the right and then select iSCSI Targets at the top of the left panel, as shown in Figure 2.




Figure 2. iSCSI Target Configuration

3. Click the + icon to the left of iSCSI Targets to display the New iSCSI Target dialog box shown in Figure 3.
4. Enter an Alias for the target and select the Initiator authentication mode (for this example, CHAP is selected).
5. Enter the Target CHAP name and a Target CHAP secret that is different from the secret used for the iSCSI initiator. For this example, chapuser and CHAPsecret22 are used.




Figure 3. New iSCSI Target Dialog Box

6. Click OK to confirm.
7. To create an iSCSI target group that includes the iSCSI target just defined, place the cursor over the new iscsi-Targets entry in the left panel. The Move icon () appears to the left of the entry, as shown in Figure 4.




Figure 4. Selecting the iSCSI Target Entry

8. Click the icon and drag it to the iSCSI Target Groups panel on the right. A new entry appears at the bottom of the iSCSI Target Groups column, as shown in Figure 5 (highlighted in yellow).




Figure 5. Creating an iSCSI Target Group

9. Move the cursor over the new target group and release the mouse button. A new iSCSI target group is created with a name targets-n, where n is an integer, as shown in Figure 6.
10. Move the cursor over the entry for the new target group. Two icons appear to the right of the target group box, as shown in Figure 6.




Figure 6. Selecting the New Target Group for Editing

11. Click the Edit icon ( ) to display the dialog box shown in Figure 7.
12. In the Name field, replace the default name with the name to be used for the iSCSI target group and click OK. For this example, the name iscsi-TG is used.




Figure 7. Renaming the iSCSI Target Group

13. Click APPLY. The changes are shown in the iSCSI Targets panel on the left, as shown in Figure 8.




Figure 8. Viewing the New iSCSI Target Group

Defining an iSCSI Initiator

An iSCSI initiator is defined to restrict which servers have access to a particular volume. If more than one host can write to a given volume concurrently, inconsistency in file system caching between hosts can cause corruption in the on-disk image. Typically, a single initiator is given access to a volume, unless a specialized cluster file system is being used.

The iSCSI initiator defines the "host" from the point of view of the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance. To identify the Oracle Linux server to the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance, the Oracle Linux iSCSI initiator IQN must be registered with the appliance by completing the following steps:

1. Select Configuration > SAN to display the Storage Area Network (SAN) screen shown in Figure 9.
2. Click the Initiators tab at the right and then select iSCSI Initiators at the top of the left panel, as shown in Figure 9.




Figure 9. Selecting the iSCSI Initiators Panel

3. Click the + icon to the left of iSCSI Initiators to display the New iSCSI Initiator dialog box shown in Figure 10.
4. Enter the Initiator IQN for the Oracle Linux server (see the previous Identifying the Host IQN section for how to obtain the initiator IQN).
5. Enter a more meaningful symbolic name in the Alias field.
6. If CHAP authentication has been set up (see the previous Setting Up CHAP Authentication section), select the Use CHAP check box. Enter the CHAP name in the Initiator CHAP name field and enter the password in the Initiator CHAP secret field, as shown in Figure 10. The CHAP name and password must be identical to those defined in the host configuration.




Figure 10. Configuring a New iSCSI Initiator

7. Click OK.

Defining an iSCSI Initiator Group

Related iSCSI initiators can be combined into logical groups to allow single commands to be executed on multiple iSCSI initiators, for example, assigning LUN access to all iSCSI initiators in a group by using one command. For this example, the iSCSI initiator group contains one initiator, but in a cluster, where multiple servers are treated as a single logical entity, the initiator group may contain multiple initiators.

To create an iSCSI initiator group, complete these steps:

1. Select Configuration > SAN to display the Storage Area Network (SAN) screen.
2. Select the Initiators tab at the right and the click iSCSI Initiators at the top of the left panel.
3. Place the cursor over the entry for the iSCSI initiator created in the previous section. The Move icon () appears to the left of the entry, as shown in Figure 11.




Figure 11. Displaying the Move Icon for a New iSCSI Initiator

4. Click the icon and drag it to the iSCSI Initiator Groups panel on the right. A new entry appears at the bottom of the iSCSI Initiators Groups panel, as shown in Figure 12 (highlighted in yellow).




Figure 12. Creating an iSCSI Initiator Group

5. Move the cursor over the new entry box and release the mouse button. A new iSCSI initiator group is created with a name initiators-n, where n is an integer, as shown in Figure 13.
6. Move the cursor over the entry for the new initiator group. Two icons appear to the right of the target group box, as shown in Figure 13.




Figure 13. Selecting the iSCSI Initiator Group

7. Click the Edit icon ( ) to display the dialog box shown in Figure 14.
8. In the Name field, replace the default name with the name to be used for the iSCSI initiator group and click OK. For this example, the name linux-servers is used.




Figure 14. Renaming the iSCSI Initiator Group

9. Click APPLY on the SAN configuration screen to confirm all the modifications, as shown in Figure 15.




Figure 15. iSCSI Initiator Configuration Completed

Defining a Sun ZFS Storage Appliance Project

A project can be defined in the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance to group related volumes. A project allows inheritance of properties for file systems and LUNs presented from the project and also allows quotas and reservations to be applied.

To create a project, complete the following steps:

1. Select Shares > Projects to display the Projects screen, as shown in Figure 16.




Figure 16. Viewing a Project

2. Click the + icon to the left of Projects at the top of the left panel to display the Create Project dialog box shown in Figure 17.




Figure 17. Create Project Dialog Box

3. To create a new project, enter a Name for the project and click APPLY. A new project appears in the Projects list in the left panel.
4. Select the new project to view the components that comprise the project, as shown in Figure 18.




Figure 18. Displaying the New linux-project Project

Defining a Sun ZFS Storage Appliance LUN

A LUN must now be created from an existing pool of storage resources, which the Oracle Linux server will access. For this example, a thin-provisioned 64 GB LUN called DocArchive1 will be created. The LUN will be set up for an EXT3 file system.

The target group will be the iSCSI target group created in the Defining an iSCSI Target Group section to ensure that this LUN can be accessed using iSCSI protocol. The initiator group defined in the Defining an iSCSI Initiator Group section will be used to ensure that only the server(s) defined in the linux-servers group can access this LUN (in this example, this group contains only one server).

To create a target group, complete the following steps:

1. Select Shares > Projects to display the Projects screen.
2. In the Projects panel at the left, select the project. Then select LUNs at the top of the panel at the right, as shown in Figure 19.




Figure 19. Viewing LUNs for the linux-project Project

3. Click the + icon to the left of LUNs to display the Create LUN dialog box shown in Figure 20.
4. Enter values, as appropriate, to set up the LUN. For this example, set the Name field to DocArchive1 and the Volume size field to 64 GB, and select the Thin-provisioned check box. Set the Target Group to the iSCSI target group iscsi-TG and the Initiator Group to linux-servers. Set the Volume block size to 32K because the LUN will hold an EXT3 file system.




Figure 20. Create LUN Dialog Box

5. Click APPLY to create the LUN and make it available to the Oracle Linux server.

Configuring the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance Using the Command Line Interface

As a unified storage platform, the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance supports access to block-protocol LUNs using iSCSI and Fibre Channel protocols. This section describes how to use the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance CLI to configure the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance to recognize the Oracle Linux host and present iSCSI LUNs to it.

The CLI must be accessed using an SSH-enabled terminal session. On a host that has an SSH client available, enter the following:

user@host> ssh root@<appliance IP address or host name>
login as: root
Using keyboard-interactive authentication.
Password: XXXXX
Last login: Mon Jul XX XX:XX:XX XXXX from Linux
zfssa:> 

Navigation follows a similar pattern in the CLI as in the BUI with paths used in commands often corresponding to paths through tabs and screens in the BUI.

Defining an iSCSI Target Group

In the example in Listing 2, a target group is created on the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance to define the ports and the protocol by which the LUN to be presented to the Oracle Linux server is accessed. For this example, an iSCSI target group is created that contains the LUN as an iSCSI target that is identified by the default IQN for the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance and presented over default appliance interfaces.

Since CHAP will be used for authentication between the storage and the host, CHAP parameters are also specified in this example.

zfssa:> 
	configuration san targets
zfssa:configuration san targets> 
	iscsi

zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi> 
	create
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi target (uncommitted)> 
	set alias=iscsi-Target                          alias = iscsi-Target (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi target (uncommitted)> 
	commit
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi> 
	list
TARGET     ALIAS
target-000 iscsi-Target
           |
           +-> IQN
           iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:e8589be5-144d-c9b2-89d4-f7fe4e887881

zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi> 
	select target-000
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi target-000> 
	list
Properties:
         alias = iscsi-Target
      iqn = iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:e8589be5-144d-c9b2-89d4-f7fe4e887881
       auth = none
         targetchapuser = (unset)
       targetchapsecret = (unset)
        interfaces = nge0

zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi target-000> 
	set targetchapuser=chapuser
    targetchapuser = 
      iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:e8589be5-144d-c9b2-89d4-f7fe4e887881 
      (uncommitted)

zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi target-000> 
	set targetchapsecret=CHAPsecret22
              targetchapsecret = ************ (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi target-000> 
	commit
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi target-000> 
	list
Properties:
                 alias =
                   iqn =
                  auth =
        targetchapuser = \
            iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:e8589be5-144d-c9b2-89d4-f7fe4e887881
      targetchapsecret = ************
            interfaces =


zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi target-000> 
	cd ..
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi> 
	list
TARGET     ALIAS
target-000 iscsi-Target
           |
           +-> IQN
           iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:e8589be5-144d-c9b2-89d4-f7fe4e887881

zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi> 
	group
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi groups> 
	create
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi group (uncommitted)> 
	set name=iscsi-TG                           name = iscsi-TG (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi group (uncommitted)> 
set targets=iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:e8589be5-144d-c9b2-89d4-f7fe4e887881
                       targets = iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:e8589be5-144d-c9b2-89d4-f7fe4e887881 (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi group (uncommitted)> 
	commit
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi groups> 
	list
GROUP     NAME
group-000 iscsi-TG
          |
          +-> TARGETS
        iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:e8589be5-144d-c9b2-89d4-f7fe4e887881
zfssa:configuration san targets iscsi groups> 
	cd /
zfssa:>

Defining an iSCSI Initiator

An iSCSI initiator is defined to restrict which servers have access to a particular volume. If more than one host can write to a given volume concurrently, inconsistency in file system caching between hosts can cause corruption in the on-disk image. Typically, a single initiator is given access to a volume, unless a specialized cluster file system is being used.

The iSCSI initiator defines the "host" from the point of view of the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance. To identify the Oracle Linux server to the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance, the Oracle Linux iSCSI IQN must be registered with the appliance, as shown in the example in Listing 3.

zfssa:> 
	configuration san initiators
zfssa:configuration san initiators> 
	iscsi
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi> 
	ls
Children:
                           groups => Manage groups

zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi> 
	create
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi initiator (uncommitted)> 
	set alias=OEL                          alias = OEL (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi initiator (uncommitted)> 
	set initiator= iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0           initiator = iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0 (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi initiator (uncommitted)> 
	set chapuser= iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0            chapuser = iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0 (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi initiator (uncommitted)> 
	set chapsecret=CHAPsecret11                     chapsecret = ************ (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi initiator (uncommitted)> 
	commit
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi> ls
Initiators:

NAME          ALIAS
initiator-000 Linux
              |
              +-> INITIATOR
                  iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0


Children:
                           groups => Manage groups

zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi>

Defining an iSCSI Initiator Group

Related iSCSI initiators can be combined into logical groups to allow single commands to be executed on multiple iSCSI initiators, for example, assigning LUN access to all iSCSI initiators in a group by using one command. In the example in Listing 4, the iSCSI initiator group contains one initiator, but in a cluster, where multiple servers are treated as a single logical entity, the initiator group may contain multiple initiators.

zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi> 
	groups
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi groups> 
	create
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi group (uncommitted)> 
	set name=linux-servers                           name = linux-servers (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi group (uncommitted)> 
	set initiators= iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0          initiators = iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0 (uncommitted)
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi group (uncommitted)> 
	commit
zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi groups>
	ls
Groups:

GROUP     NAME
group-000 linux-servers
          |
          +-> INITIATORS
              iqn.1988-12.com.oracle:5fa4af61c4a0

zfssa:configuration san initiators iscsi groups> 
	cd /
zfssa:>

Defining a Sun ZFS Storage Appliance Project

A project can be defined in the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance to group related volumes. A project allows inheritance of properties for file systems and LUNs presented from the project and also allows quotas and reservations to be applied.

zfssa:> 
	shares
zfssa:shares> 
	project linux-project zfssa:shares linux-project (uncommitted)>
	commit
zfssa:shares>
	cd /
zfssa:>

Defining a Sun ZFS Storage Appliance LUN

A LUN must now be created from an existing pool of storage resources, which the Oracle Linux server will access. In the following example, a thin-provisioned 64 GB LUN called DocArchive1 is created. The LUN is set up for an EXT3 file system.

The target group is the iSCSI target group created in the Defining an iSCSI Target Group section to ensure that this LUN can be accessed using iSCSI protocol. The initiator group defined in the Defining an iSCSI Initiator Group section is used to ensure that only the server(s) defined in the linux-servers group can access this LUN (in the example in Listing 5, this group contains only one server).

zfssa:shares> 
	select linux-project zfssa:shares linux-project> 
	lun DocArchive1 zfssa:shares linux-project/DocArchive1 (uncommitted)> 
	set volsize=64G                        volsize = 64G (uncommitted)
zfssa:shares linux-project/DocArchive1 (uncommitted)> 
	set targetgroup=iscsi-TG                    targetgroup = iscsi-TG (uncommitted)
zfssa:shares linux-project/DocArchive1 (uncommitted)> 
	set initiatorgroup=linux-servers                 initiatorgroup = linux-servers (uncommitted)
zfssa:shares linux-project/DocArchive1 (uncommitted)> 
	list
Properties:
                      checksum = fletcher4 (inherited)
                   compression = off (inherited)
                         dedup = false (inherited)
                        copies = 1 (inherited)
                       logbias = latency (inherited)
                secondarycache = all (inherited)
                  volblocksize = 8K (default)
                       volsize = 64G (uncommitted)
                        sparse = false (default)
                      exported = true (inherited)
                   targetgroup = iscsi-TG (uncommitted)
                initiatorgroup = linux-servers (uncommitted)
                      lunumber = (default)
                assignednumber = (default)
                        status = (default)
                   fixednumber = (default)
                       lunguid = (default)
                canonical_name = (default)
                     nodestroy = (default)

Children:
                        snapshots => Manage snapshots
                      replication => Manage remote replication

zfssa:shares linux-project/DocArchive1 (uncommitted)> 
	set volblocksize=32k                   volblocksize = 32K (uncommitted)
zfssa:shares linux-project/DocArchive1 (uncommitted)> 
	commit
zfssa:shares linux-project>
	cd / zfssa:shares>

Configuring a LUN for Use by the Oracle Linux Server

Now that the LUN is prepared and available to an authenticated iSCSI initiator, configure the LUN for use by the Oracle Linux server by completing the following steps:

1. Initiate an Oracle Linux iSCSI session with the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance, as shown in Listing 6. Since the LUN was created prior to initiating the iSCSI session, it will be automatically enabled.

Listing 6: Configuring a LUN for Use by the Oracle Linux Server

[root@oel ~]# service iscsi start
[root@oel ~]# iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p zfssa
192.168.1.12:3260,2 iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:4ec2b85a-9b5d-e02c-ee9c-bdd55452e7de
[fe80::214:4fff:fe0f:92b4]:3260,2 iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:4ec2b85a-9b5d-e02c-ee9c-bdd55452e7de
[root@oel ~]# iscsiadm -m node -p zfssa -login
[root@oel ~]# tail /var/log/messages
Jul 13 14:35:37 oel kernel: scsi21 : iSCSI Initiator over TCP/IP
Jul 13 14:35:37 oel iscsid: Could not set session19 priority. READ/WRITE throughout and
 latency could be affected.
Jul 13 14:35:38 oel kernel: scsi 21:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SUN      Sun Storage NAS  1.0  
	PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
Jul 13 14:35:38 oel kernel: sd 21:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Jul 13 14:35:38 oel kernel: sd 21:0:0:0: [sdb] 134217728 512-byte logical blocks: 
(68.7 GB/64.0 GiB)
Jul 13 14:35:38 oel kernel: sd 21:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Jul 13 14:35:38 oel kernel: sd 21:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, 
doesn't support DPO or FUA
Jul 13 14:35:38 oel kernel: sdb: unknown partition table
Jul 13 14:35:39 oel kernel: sd 21:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
Jul 13 14:35:39 oel iscsid: Connection19:0 to [target: iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:4ec2b85a-9b5d-
e02c-ee9c-bdd55452e7de, portal: 192.168.1.12,3260] through [iface: default] is 
operational now
[root@oel ~]# ls -l /dev/sd?
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8,  0 Jul 13 13:06 /dev/sda
brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 16 Jul 13 14:35 /dev/sdb

2. Prepare the LUN by creating an Oracle Linux partition table using the fdisk(8) command, as shown in Listing 7.

Listing 7: Preparing the LUN

root@oel:~# fdisk /dev/sdb
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0xda0cb962.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)

WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to sectors (command 'u').

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 68.7 GB, 68719476736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8354 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xda0cb962

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-8354, default 1): 1
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (1-8354, default 8354): 8354

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

This device is now available for selection similar to an internal server disk. Examples of disk deployment include:

• Initializing the device as a physical volume for a logical volume manager (LVM) configuration
• Configuring the device as storage for a large EXT3 file system without any intervening virtualization, as shown in Listing 8:

[root@oel ~]# mkfs.ext3 -L DocArchive1 /dev/sdb1
mke2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)
Filesystem label=DocArchive1
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks
4194304 inodes, 16775868 blocks
838793 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=4294967296
512 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8192 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks: 
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 
	2654208, 4096000, 7962624, 11239424

Writing inode tables: done                            
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 27 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
[root@oel ~]# vi /etc/fstab
#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Wed Jul 13 09:19:08 2011
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or blkid(8) for more info
#
/dev/mapper/vg_oel-lv_root /                   ext4   defaults      1 1
UUID=043800a8-30b9-4ba8-9ce2-0c114273d71b /boot    ext4   defaults  1 2
/dev/mapper/vg_oel-lv_swap swap             swap    defaults        0 0
tmpfs               /dev/shm               tmpfs   defaults        0 0
devpts              /dev/pts               devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
sysfs               /sys                   sysfs   defaults        0 0
proc                /proc                  proc    defaults        0 0
LABEL=DocArchive1	/docarchive1	      ext3    defaults	      2 2
[root@oel ~]# mkdir /docarchive1
[root@oel ~]# mount /docarchive1
[root@oel ~]# df -k
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/vg_oel-lv_root
                      29745220   3067908  25166300  11% /
tmpfs                   704376       420    703956   1% /dev/shm
/dev/sda1               495844     70382    399862  15% /boot
/dev/sdb1             66050540    184268  62511100   1% /docarchive1
[root@oel ~]# 

The final two lines of the output from the df(1) command show that approximately 64 GB of new space is now available.

Conclusion

This article described how to configure the software iSCSI initiator package supplied with Oracle Linux to enable an Oracle Linux server to access iSCSI LUNs presented by Oracle's Sun ZFS Storage Appliance.