iSCSI initiator (or client)

Server Guide
1

Wikipedia iSCSI Definition:

iSCSI an acronym for Internet Small Computer Systems Interface , an Internet Protocol (IP)-based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. It provides block-level access to storage devices by carrying SCSI commands over a TCP/IP network.

iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage storage over long distances. It can be used to transmit data over local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), or the Internet and can enable location-independent data storage and retrieval.

The protocol allows clients (called initiators) to send SCSI commands (CDBs) to storage devices (targets) on remote servers. It is a storage area network (SAN) protocol, allowing organizations to consolidate storage into storage arrays while providing clients (such as database and web servers) with the illusion of locally attached SCSI disks.

It mainly competes with Fibre Channel, but unlike traditional Fibre Channel, which usually requires dedicated cabling, iSCSI can be run over long distances using existing network infrastructure.

Ubuntu Server can be configured as both: iSCSI initiator and iSCSI target. This guide provides commands and configuration options to setup an iSCSI initiator (or Client).

Note: It is assumed that you already have an iSCSI target on your local network and have the appropriate rights to connect to it. The instructions for setting up a target vary greatly between hardware providers, so consult your vendor documentation to configure your specific iSCSI target.

Network Interfaces Configuration

Before start configuring iSCSI, make sure to have the network interfaces correctly set and configured in order to have open-iscsi package to behave appropriately, specially during boot time. In Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, the default network configuration tool is netplan.io.

For all the iSCSI examples bellow please consider the following netplan configuration for my iSCSI initiator:

/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg

{config: disabled}

/etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

network:
    ethernets:
        enp5s0:
            match:
                macaddress: 00:16:3e:af:c4:d6
            set-name: eth0
            dhcp4: true
            dhcp-identifier: mac
        enp6s0:
            match:
                macaddress: 00:16:3e:50:11:9c
            set-name: iscsi01
            dhcp4: true
            dhcp-identifier: mac
            dhcp4-overrides:
              route-metric: 300
        enp7s0:
            match:
                macaddress: 00:16:3e:b3:cc:50
            set-name: iscsi02
            dhcp4: true
            dhcp-identifier: mac
            dhcp4-overrides:
              route-metric: 300
    version: 2
    renderer: networkd

With this configuration, the interfaces names change by matching their mac addresses. This makes it easier to manage them in a server containing multiple interfaces.

From this point and beyond, 2 interfaces are going to be mentioned: iscsi01 and iscsi02. This helps to demonstrate how to configure iSCSI in a multipath environment as well (check the Device Mapper Multipath session in this same Server Guide).

If you have only a single interface for the iSCSI network, make sure to follow the same instructions, but only consider the iscsi01 interface command line examples.

iSCSI Initiator Install

To configure Ubuntu Server as an iSCSI initiator install the open-iscsi package. In a terminal enter:

$ sudo apt install open-iscsi

Once the package is installed you will find the following files:

  • /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf
  • /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi

iSCSI Initiator Configuration

Configure the main configuration file like the example bellow:

/etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf

### startup settings

## will be controlled by systemd, leave as is
iscsid.startup = /usr/sbin/iscsidnode.startup = manual

### chap settings

# node.session.auth.authmethod = CHAP

## authentication of initiator by target (session)
# node.session.auth.username = username
# node.session.auth.password = password

# discovery.sendtargets.auth.authmethod = CHAP

## authentication of initiator by target (discovery)
# discovery.sendtargets.auth.username = username
# discovery.sendtargets.auth.password = password

### timeouts

## control how much time iscsi takes to propagate an error to the
## upper layer. if using multipath, having 0 here is desirable
## so multipath can handle path errors as quickly as possible
## (and decide to queue or not if missing all paths)
node.session.timeo.replacement_timeout = 0

node.conn[0].timeo.login_timeout = 15
node.conn[0].timeo.logout_timeout = 15

## interval for a NOP-Out request (a ping to the target)
node.conn[0].timeo.noop_out_interval = 5

## and how much time to wait before declaring a timeout
node.conn[0].timeo.noop_out_timeout = 5

## default timeouts for error recovery logics (lu & tgt resets)
node.session.err_timeo.abort_timeout = 15
node.session.err_timeo.lu_reset_timeout = 30
node.session.err_timeo.tgt_reset_timeout = 30

### retry

node.session.initial_login_retry_max = 8

### session and device queue depth

node.session.cmds_max = 128
node.session.queue_depth = 32

### performance

node.session.xmit_thread_priority = -20

and re-start the iSCSI daemon:

$ systemctl restart iscsid.service

This will set basic things up for the rest of configuration.

The other file mentioned:

/etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi

InitiatorName=iqn.2004-10.com.ubuntu:01:60f3517884c3

contains this node’s initiator name and is generated during open-iscsi package installation. If you modify this setting, make sure that you don’t have duplicates in the same iSCSI SAN (Storage Area Network).

iSCSI Network Configuration

Before configuring the Logical Units that are going to be accessed by the initiator, it is important to inform the iSCSI service what are the interfaces acting as paths.

A straightforward way to do that is by:

  • configuring the following environment variables
$ iscsi01_ip=$(ip -4 -o addr show iscsi01 | sed -r 's:.* (([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3})/.*:\1:')
$ iscsi02_ip=$(ip -4 -o addr show iscsi02 | sed -r 's:.* (([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3})/.*:\1:')

$ iscsi01_mac=$(ip -o link show iscsi01 | sed -r 's:.*\s+link/ether (([0-f]{2}(\:|)){6}).*:\1:g')
$ iscsi02_mac=$(ip -o link show iscsi02 | sed -r 's:.*\s+link/ether (([0-f]{2}(\:|)){6}).*:\1:g')
  • configuring iscsi01 interface
$ sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi01 --op=new
New interface iscsi01 added
$ sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi01 --op=update -n iface.hwaddress -v $iscsi01_mac
iscsi01 updated.
$ sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi01 --op=update -n iface.ipaddress -v $iscsi01_ip
iscsi01 updated.
  • configuring iscsi02 interface
$ sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi02 --op=new
New interface iscsi02 added
$ sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi02 --op=update -n iface.hwaddress -v $iscsi02_mac
iscsi02 updated.
$ sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi02 --op=update -n iface.ipaddress -v $iscsi02_ip
iscsi02 updated.
  • discovering the targets
$ sudo iscsiadm -m discovery -I iscsi01 --op=new --op=del --type sendtargets --portal storage.iscsi01
10.250.94.99:3260,1 iqn.2003-01.org.linux-iscsi.storage.x8664:sn.2c084c8320ca

$ sudo iscsiadm -m discovery -I iscsi02 --op=new --op=del --type sendtargets --portal storage.iscsi02
10.250.93.99:3260,1 iqn.2003-01.org.linux-iscsi.storage.x8664:sn.2c084c8320ca
  • configuring automatic login
$ sudo iscsiadm -m node --op=update -n node.conn[0].startup -v automatic
$ sudo iscsiadm -m node --op=update -n node.startup -v automatic
  • make sure needed services are enabled during OS initialization:
$ systemctl enable open-iscsi
Synchronizing state of open-iscsi.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable open-iscsi
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/iscsi.service → /lib/systemd/system/open-iscsi.service.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/open-iscsi.service → /lib/systemd/system/open-iscsi.service.

$ systemctl enable iscsid
Synchronizing state of iscsid.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable iscsid
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/iscsid.service → /lib/systemd/system/iscsid.service.
  • restarting iscsid service
$ systemctl restart iscsid.service
  • and, finally, login in discovered logical units
$ sudo iscsiadm -m node --loginall=automatic
Logging in to [iface: iscsi02, target: iqn.2003-01.org.linux-iscsi.storage.x8664:sn.2c084c8320ca, portal: 10.250.93.99,3260] (multiple)
Logging in to [iface: iscsi01, target: iqn.2003-01.org.linux-iscsi.storage.x8664:sn.2c084c8320ca, portal: 10.250.94.99,3260] (multiple)
Login to [iface: iscsi02, target: iqn.2003-01.org.linux-iscsi.storage.x8664:sn.2c084c8320ca, portal: 10.250.93.99,3260] successful.
Login to [iface: iscsi01, target: iqn.2003-01.org.linux-iscsi.storage.x8664:sn.2c084c8320ca, portal: 10.250.94.99,3260] successful.

Accessing the Logical Units (or LUNs)

Check dmesg to make sure that the new disks have been detected:

dmesg

[  166.840694] scsi 7:0:0:4: Direct-Access     LIO-ORG  TCMU device >      0002 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[  166.840892] scsi 8:0:0:4: Direct-Access     LIO-ORG  TCMU device >      0002 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[  166.841741] sd 7:0:0:4: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[  166.841808] sd 8:0:0:4: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[  166.842278] scsi 7:0:0:3: Direct-Access     LIO-ORG  TCMU device >      0002 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[  166.842571] scsi 8:0:0:3: Direct-Access     LIO-ORG  TCMU device >      0002 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[  166.843482] sd 8:0:0:3: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
[  166.843681] sd 7:0:0:3: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[  166.843706] sd 8:0:0:4: [sdd] 2097152 512-byte logical blocks: > (1.07 GB/1.00 GiB)
[  166.843884] scsi 8:0:0:2: Direct-Access     LIO-ORG  TCMU device >      0002 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[  166.843971] sd 8:0:0:4: [sdd] Write Protect is off
[  166.843972] sd 8:0:0:4: [sdd] Mode Sense: 2f 00 00 00
[  166.844127] scsi 7:0:0:2: Direct-Access     LIO-ORG  TCMU device >      0002 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[  166.844232] sd 7:0:0:4: [sdc] 2097152 512-byte logical blocks: > (1.07 GB/1.00 GiB)
[  166.844421] sd 8:0:0:4: [sdd] Write cache: enabled, read cache: > enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  166.844566] sd 7:0:0:4: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[  166.844568] sd 7:0:0:4: [sdc] Mode Sense: 2f 00 00 00
[  166.844846] sd 8:0:0:2: Attached scsi generic sg6 type 0
[  166.845147] sd 7:0:0:4: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache: > enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  166.845188] sd 8:0:0:4: [sdd] Optimal transfer size 65536 bytes
[  166.845527] sd 7:0:0:2: Attached scsi generic sg7 type 0
[  166.845678] sd 8:0:0:3: [sde] 2097152 512-byte logical blocks: > (1.07 GB/1.00 GiB)
[  166.845785] scsi 8:0:0:1: Direct-Access     LIO-ORG  TCMU device >      0002 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[  166.845799] sd 7:0:0:4: [sdc] Optimal transfer size 65536 bytes
[  166.845931] sd 8:0:0:3: [sde] Write Protect is off
[  166.845933] sd 8:0:0:3: [sde] Mode Sense: 2f 00 00 00
[  166.846424] scsi 7:0:0:1: Direct-Access     LIO-ORG  TCMU device >      0002 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[  166.846552] sd 8:0:0:3: [sde] Write cache: enabled, read cache: > enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  166.846708] sd 7:0:0:3: [sdf] 2097152 512-byte logical blocks: > (1.07 GB/1.00 GiB)
[  166.847024] sd 8:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg8 type 0
[  166.847029] sd 7:0:0:3: [sdf] Write Protect is off
[  166.847031] sd 7:0:0:3: [sdf] Mode Sense: 2f 00 00 00
[  166.847043] sd 8:0:0:3: [sde] Optimal transfer size 65536 bytes
[  166.847133] sd 8:0:0:2: [sdg] 2097152 512-byte logical blocks: > (1.07 GB/1.00 GiB)
[  166.849212] sd 8:0:0:2: [sdg] Write Protect is off
[  166.849214] sd 8:0:0:2: [sdg] Mode Sense: 2f 00 00 00
[  166.849711] sd 7:0:0:3: [sdf] Write cache: enabled, read cache: > enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  166.849718] sd 7:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg9 type 0
[  166.849721] sd 7:0:0:2: [sdh] 2097152 512-byte logical blocks: > (1.07 GB/1.00 GiB)
[  166.853296] sd 8:0:0:2: [sdg] Write cache: enabled, read cache: > enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  166.853721] sd 8:0:0:2: [sdg] Optimal transfer size 65536 bytes
[  166.853810] sd 7:0:0:2: [sdh] Write Protect is off
[  166.853812] sd 7:0:0:2: [sdh] Mode Sense: 2f 00 00 00
[  166.854026] sd 7:0:0:3: [sdf] Optimal transfer size 65536 bytes
[  166.854431] sd 7:0:0:2: [sdh] Write cache: enabled, read cache: > enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  166.854625] sd 8:0:0:1: [sdi] 2097152 512-byte logical blocks: > (1.07 GB/1.00 GiB)
[  166.854898] sd 8:0:0:1: [sdi] Write Protect is off
[  166.854900] sd 8:0:0:1: [sdi] Mode Sense: 2f 00 00 00
[  166.855022] sd 7:0:0:2: [sdh] Optimal transfer size 65536 bytes
[  166.855465] sd 8:0:0:1: [sdi] Write cache: enabled, read cache: > enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  166.855578] sd 7:0:0:1: [sdj] 2097152 512-byte logical blocks: > (1.07 GB/1.00 GiB)
[  166.855845] sd 7:0:0:1: [sdj] Write Protect is off
[  166.855847] sd 7:0:0:1: [sdj] Mode Sense: 2f 00 00 00
[  166.855978] sd 8:0:0:1: [sdi] Optimal transfer size 65536 bytes
[  166.856305] sd 7:0:0:1: [sdj] Write cache: enabled, read cache: > enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[  166.856701] sd 7:0:0:1: [sdj] Optimal transfer size 65536 bytes
[  166.859624] sd 8:0:0:4: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk
[  166.861304] sd 7:0:0:4: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
[  166.864409] sd 8:0:0:3: [sde] Attached SCSI disk
[  166.864833] sd 7:0:0:3: [sdf] Attached SCSI disk
[  166.867906] sd 8:0:0:2: [sdg] Attached SCSI disk
[  166.868446] sd 8:0:0:1: [sdi] Attached SCSI disk
[  166.871588] sd 7:0:0:1: [sdj] Attached SCSI disk
[  166.871773] sd 7:0:0:2: [sdh] Attached SCSI disk

In the output above you will find 8 x SCSI disks recognized. The storage server is mapping 4 x LUNs to this node, AND the node has 2 x PATHs to each LUN. The OS recognizes each path to each device as 1 SCSI device.

You will find different output depending on the storage server your node is mapping the LUNs from, and the amount of LUNs being mapped as well.

Although not the objective of this session, let’s find the 4 mapped LUNs using multipath-tools.

You will find further details about multipath in “Device Mapper Multipathing” session of this same guide.

$ apt-get install multipath-tools

$ sudo multipath -r

$ sudo multipath -ll
mpathd (360014051a042fb7c41c4249af9f2cfbc) dm-3 LIO-ORG,TCMU device
size=1.0G features='0' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
|-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=1 status=active
| `- 7:0:0:4 sde 8:64  active ready running
`-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=1 status=enabled
  `- 8:0:0:4 sdc 8:32  active ready running
mpathc (360014050d6871110232471d8bcd155a3) dm-2 LIO-ORG,TCMU device
size=1.0G features='0' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
|-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=1 status=active
| `- 7:0:0:3 sdf 8:80  active ready running
`-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=1 status=enabled
  `- 8:0:0:3 sdd 8:48  active ready running
mpathb (360014051f65c6cb11b74541b703ce1d4) dm-1 LIO-ORG,TCMU device
size=1.0G features='0' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
|-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=1 status=active
| `- 7:0:0:2 sdh 8:112 active ready running
`-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=1 status=enabled
  `- 8:0:0:2 sdg 8:96  active ready running
mpatha (36001405b816e24fcab64fb88332a3fc9) dm-0 LIO-ORG,TCMU device
size=1.0G features='0' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
|-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=1 status=active
| `- 7:0:0:1 sdj 8:144 active ready running
`-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=1 status=enabled
  `- 8:0:0:1 sdi 8:128 active ready running

Now it is much easier to understand each recognized SCSI device and common paths to same LUNs in the storage server. With the output above one can easily see that:

  • mpatha device (/dev/mapper/mpatha) is a multipath device for:
    • /dev/sdj
    • /dev/dsi
  • mpathb device (/dev/mapper/mpathb) is a multipath device for:
    • /dev/sdh
    • /dev/dsg
  • mpathc device (/dev/mapper/mpathc) is a multipath device for:
    • /dev/sdf
    • /dev/sdd
  • mpathd device (/dev/mapper/mpathd) is a multipath device for:
    • /dev/sde
    • /dev/sdc

Do not use this in production without checking appropriate multipath configuration options in the Device Mapper Multipathing session. The default multipath configuration is less than optimal for regular usage.

Finally, to access the LUN (or remote iSCSI disk) you will:

  • If accessing through a single network interface:

    • access it through /dev/sdX where X is a letter given by the OS

  • If accessing through multiple network interfaces:

    • configure multipath and access the device through /dev/mapper/X

For everything else, the created devices are block devices and all commands used with local disks should work the same way:

  • Creating a partition:
$ sudo fdisk /dev/mapper/mpatha

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.34).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

Device does not contain a recognized partition table.
Created a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x92c0322a.

Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/mapper/mpatha: 1 GiB, 1073741824 bytes, 2097152 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 65536 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x92c0322a

Command (m for help): n
Partition type
   p   primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
   e   extended (container for logical partitions)
Select (default p): p
Partition number (1-4, default 1):
First sector (2048-2097151, default 2048):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-2097151, default 2097151):

Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 1023 MiB.

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered.
  • Creating a filesystem:
$ sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/mpatha-part1
mke2fs 1.45.5 (07-Jan-2020)
Creating filesystem with 261888 4k blocks and 65536 inodes
Filesystem UUID: cdb70b1e-c47c-47fd-9c4a-03db6f038988
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        32768, 98304, 163840, 229376

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (4096 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
  • Mounting the block device:
$ sudo mount /dev/mapper/mpatha-part1 /mnt
  • Accessing the data:
$ ls /mnt
lost+found

Make sure to read other important sessions in Ubuntu Server Guide to follow up with concepts explored in this one.

References

  1. iscsid
  2. iscsi.conf
  3. iscsid.conf
  4. iscsi.service
  5. iscsid.service
  6. Open-iSCSI
  7. Debian Open-iSCSI
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