Is there any official guide or whitepaper for configuring iscsi shared storage?

[BMuellerDSR]

Hello there,

Is there any official guide or whitepaper for configuring iSCSI shared storage as gfs2 datastore?

The documentation only states "Configuring connections to external storage must be done on each host at the OS level."

Thank You

[BMuellerDSR]

I got it working, can s.o. please confirm that this is ok?

Create iSCSI Interface (iface)
	sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iface_iSCSI-A -o new
	sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iface_iSCSI-B -o new	
Edit iqn via vim
	sudo vim /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iSCSI
Restart iSCSI
	sudo systemctl restart iscsid
Connect the iSCSI Interfaces with the physical iSCSI Network Interface Names
	sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iface_iSCSI-A --op=update -n iface.net_ifacename -v eth1 
	sudo iscsiadm -m iface -I iface_iSCSI-B --op=update -n iface.net_ifacename -v eth2
Discovering the Targets
	sudo iscsiadm -I iface_iSCSI-A --mode discovery --type sendtargets --portal 10.10.11.1
		10.10.11.1:3260,1 iqn.2005-10.org.freenas.ctl:ds01
		10.10.12.1:3260,1 iqn.2005-10.org.freenas.ctl:ds01

	sudo iscsiadm -I iface_iSCSI-B --mode discovery --type sendtargets --portal 10.10.12.1
		10.10.12.1:3260,1 iqn.2005-10.org.freenas.ctl:ds01
		10.10.11.1:3260,1 iqn.2005-10.org.freenas.ctl:ds01
Log into the Targets
	sudo iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2005-10.org.freenas.ctl:ds01 -p 10.10.11.1 -I iface_iSCSI-A --login
	sudo iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2005-10.org.freenas.ctl:ds01 -p 10.10.12.1 -I iface_iSCSI-B --login
Log in automatically after restart
	sudo iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2005-10.org.freenas.ctl:ds01 -p 10.10.11.1 -I iface_iSCSI-A --op update -n node.startup -v automatic
	sudo iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2005-10.org.freenas.ctl:ds01 -p 10.10.12.1 -I iface_iSCSI-B --op update -n node.startup -v automatic
Edit multipathing from user_friendly_names yes to no
	sudo vim /etc/multipath.conf
	Defaults
		{
		find_multipaths yes
		user_friendly_names no
		}
Restart multipathing
	sudo systemctl restart multipathd

 Thank You

[dya]

1. Configuring shared storage: Setting up and adding a GFS2 datastore
https://www.hpe.com/jp/ja/resource-library.video.configuring-shared-storage-setting-up-and-adding-a-gfs2-datastore.v100006436.html
※I think it's probably similar to BMuellerDSR's content.

2. HPE All-in-One Information Hub（HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software - Guide: HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Standalone Quick Setup Guide）
https://h50146.www5.hpe.com/directplus_ent/library/vm_essentials/
※This information is for limited release and specific to Japanese sites.

At first, I tried using the CLI like in “1,” but honestly, it was a hassle, so I switched to using the HVM WebUI as described in “2.”

※Apologies if this is difficult to understand due to machine translation.

[jamgwert81 · Accepted solution]

@BMuellerDSR Would you mind sharing your TrueNAS configuration for the iSCSI setup?

I had some trouble getting this to work.  My TrueNAS extent already had VMFS data on it.  I wiped it but was having issues adding the GFS2 Data Store in VME.  I ended up redoing the entire iSCSI extent on the TrueNAS side and was still having some issues.  Finally got it to work on the last attempt, the only thing I did differently was I made sure to make the extent name and GFS2 datastore name match, and I also set the block size on the TrueNAS side to 4K over the default of 512.  Not entirely sure if that's required but interested in seeing the iSCSI setup on the TrueNAS side to understand what actually fixed it.

Thanks in advance!

BTW, this was the video I used for setup on the HVM and VME side.  Very similar to what you posted but your post is great because I don't have to pause to figure out the commands to run.

https://www.hpe.com/us/en/morpheus-vm-essentials-software/resources.html?media-id=%2Fus%2Fen%2Fresources%2Fsoftware%2Fvideo%2Fv100006436%2F_jcr_content.details.json

[BMuellerDSR]

Hi dya,

unfortunately i cant access the VM Essentials Standalone Quick Setup Guide in the japanese partner portal and in the german partner portal i cant find the document.

thank you anyway.

[BMuellerDSR]

[BMuellerDSR]

F.Y.I.: I did a complete resetup of all hosts and vme-mgr vm and all you have to do for iSCSI setup is configuring the iSCSI NICs / IPs / VLANs on each host during host Installation.

Then configure the iSCSI targets on the storage system.

And then go to your cluster-storage-iSCSI in the morpeus ui and add the target portal IPs of your storage.

Then wait for about 2 minutes and do rescan (refresh) of the hosts.

and finally add the datastore(s) as gfs2 pool selecting the right disk devive

(GFS2 works only if you have at least 3 Hosts, else clicking "save" in the wizard does nothing at all)

No Need to configure iscsi via cli / iscsiadm or multipathing.

[jamgwert81]

@BMuellerDSR thanks for sharing!  Looks like TrueNAS Scale.  I acutally just updated to Scale yesterday.

I notice you have the Extent Type selected as File.  I was trying to make mine work as Device, which eventually worked. 

Based on your screenshots, my issue must not have been block size causing me issues based on yours being the default 512.  You also didn't name the extent the same name as what you named it i the GUI either, so it must have just been something weird on my end.

Again thanks for sharing your setup and guidance on setup!

[jamgwert81]

@BMuellerDSR Thanks again for posting your TrueNAS setup.  I went back to mine this last week and realized that even though I had it setup as Extent Type: Device instead of File, it would not work to actually move VMs onto that storage.  It appeared like it was available but I couldn't write anything to it when I tried as it kept failing.

I ended up redoing the iscsi extent and made sure to make it to Extent Type: File and all is good. That works!

[Thaufique_Mod]

Glad to know your concern has been addressed! 
Happy to help in any way we can.

[Mansoor1]

There isn’t a single, end-to-end procedure in the HVM documentation for configuring iSCSI entirely through the HVM Manager — and that’s intentional.
The official documentation clearly states that connections to external storage must be configured on each host at the OS level. You’ll find this in the Host Preparation / Prerequisites sections of the VM Essentials Getting Started Guide:

“Configuring connections to external storage must be done on each host at the OS level.”
 Ref: VME Getting Started Guide

HVM Manager assumes that, before you use it to discover or register storage:

• The iSCSI initiator is installed and configured on each host
• Network connectivity to the target is already in place
• The OS can see and log in to the LUNs

In other words, the Manager is not a replacement for OS-level configuration. Its iSCSI options are there for after host prep:

• To reduce manual steps once the OS is ready
• To give centralized visibility across the cluster
• To onboard storage into HVM so it can be used for datastores and workloads

It’s best to think of HVM Manager as a storage discovery and onboarding tool, rather than a full provisioning tool. Once the hosts are prepared, the Manager makes it easier to register and manage the storage, but it doesn’t replace the need to configure iSCSI at the OS level first.

[SergeMe]

I see a lot of folks struggling with those OS based configs. I think it could be a little easier for many if they installed cockpit. That way they get a Host based UI that gives a Web GUI similar to what folks my be used to on the VMware ESXi side with the host UI.

It could make configuring iSCSI, Networking, etc. and even basic ops on the locally running KVM VMs a lot easier. Perhaps something for the HPE VM Essentials team to think about officially supporting (if they aren't already).

[SprinkleJames]

@Mansoor1 ,

The official documentation currently does not appear to mention VME Manager's iSCSI integration feature at all, so I appreciate your comments on its intended use case. But, based on my experience, it does indeed seem to "replace the need to configure iSCSI at the OS level". 

Say that I've done as @BMuellerDSR described in his post. That is, I've followed these steps:

1. On each host, install HVM using the HPE-customized Ubuntu installer
2. On each host, configure network settings
3. In VME Manager, create the HVM cluster
4. On the storage array, provision storage and create host/LUN mappings for each host using its iqn shown in VME Manager
5. In VME Manager, specify iSCSI discovery IPs in the cluster Storage settings

At this point, VME Manager (8.0.11) seems to have already taken care of iSCSI initiator config, multipathing config, and logging in to the LUNs.

What further OS-level configuration needs to be done on each host?