Practitioner Level

Configuring iSCSI on Linux

45 minutes

3 Learning Objectives

The Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) allows SCSI commands to be transmitted over a network. This allows block devices to be shared with remote machines as if they were local drives. In this lab, you will be tasked with configuring both the iSCSI target (server), and iSCSI initiator (client), in order to share block devices over a local network.

Learning Objectives

Successfully complete this lab by achieving the following learning objectives:

Configure the iSCSI target

Install the targetcli package.
In the targetcli interface, create the block01, and block02 backstores from /dev/xvdf, and /dev/xvdg respectively.
1. In the targetcli interface, create iSCSI target with the following unique IQN: iqn.2020-08.com.mylabserver.target:t1.
In the targetcli interface, change to the tpg1 directory, and create LUNs from the block01 and block02 backstores.
In the targetcli interface, create an acl for the iSCSI initiator called iqn.2020-08.com.mylabserver.initiator:init.
From the command line, start and enable the target service.

Configure the iSCSI Initiator

Install the iscsi-initiator-utils package.
Add the initiator name to /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi.
Discover and connect to the iSCSI target.
Ensure that the iscsisd and iscsi services are running (if not start them).

Create File Systems on the iSCSI Devices and Ensure They Are Persistently Mounted

Create file systems on /dev/sda, and /dev/sdb.
Create mount points for the file systems on /mnt/accounting, and /mnt/marketing.
Add entries to /etc/fstab for the file systems and then mount them.

Additional Resources

You work as a storage administrator for a small sporting goods chain, and have been tasked with exporting some storage devices for use by the accounting and marketing departments. In order to accomplish this you will need to set up an iSCSI target on, target.mylabserver.com, and an iSCSI initiator on, initiator.mylabserver.com.

For the target host, you will need to install the targetcli package, and enter the targetcli interface. Once in the targetcli interface, you will need to create backstores from the xvdf, and xvdg devices called block01, and block02 respectively.

Next, you will need to create a target with the following IQN: iqn.2020-08.com.mylabserver.target:t1.

Then you will need to change directories to the target portal group (tpg1), and create LUNs from the block01 and block02 backstores.

Next, create an ACL for the initiator host with the following IQN: iqn.2020-08.com.mylabserver.initiator:init. Once completed, exit the targetcli interface and ensure that the target service is started and enable.

For the initiator host, you will need to install the iscsi-initiator-utils, and then update the iniator name to be iqn.2020-08.com.mylabserver.initiator:init.

Finally, you will need to discover the iscsi target, and connect to it using the iscsiadm utility. Once connected, ensure that the iscsid and iscsi service are running and enabled.

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