iSCSI sharing of already formated partitions

[SeekerDK]

Hi Forum / Rocket Division.

I playing around with iSCSI on my home setup and was wondering (correct me if I'm wrong)?

Is there no way to share a already formated and data filled partition (in my case a NTFS) over iSCSI. I know it must generate a massive performances overhead, but the geek/smart-feature factore could prove a major selling point as to implementations ease.

Have i just missed this feat, are there teknological limitations thatprevent this or have this possibility not been implemented for other reasons?

[Val (staff)]

Is there no way to share a already formated and data filled partition (in my case a NTFS) over iSCSI.

Hi,
the feature that allows sharing of volumes as iSCSI targets exists in STarWind from very beginning.
But we removed it from the user interface as it was not so safe to use and near nobody used it.

To allow the feature in the ImageFile plug-in you need to edit StarWind.cfg manually and restart the StarWind service.

<plugin module="ImageFile.dll">
<symlink value="ImageFile"/>
<type value="Image file"/>
<imagedir path="*" flags="cmdfv" alias="My Computer" extensions="img"/>
<volumes value="yes"/>
</plugin>

And add a new target record like following:

<device name="ImageFile0" file="\\.\E:" header="0"/>

After restarting of the StarWind Service the device should be visible as an iSCSI target.

FYI Be carefull with this mode and do not try change the volume from the local system and a remote one simultaneously as it will lead to data corruption.

[SeekerDK]

To allow the feature in the ImageFile plug-in you need to edit StarWind.cfg manually and restart the StarWind service.

<plugin module="ImageFile.dll">
<symlink value="ImageFile"/>
<type value="Image file"/>
<imagedir path="*" flags="cmdfv" alias="My Computer" extensions="img"/>
<volumes value="yes"/>
</plugin>

And add a new target record like following:

<device name="ImageFile0" file="\\.\E:" header="0"/>

After restarting of the StarWind Service the device should be visible as an iSCSI target.

Thanks Valery. I belive this might still prove a useful feature for some customers, if below mentioned bug could be eliminated.

FYI Be carefull with this mode and do not try change the volume from the local system and a remote one simultaneously as it will lead to data corruption.

Auch... I assume you meen this for any write operation to any parts of the disk as long as they are performed at the same time or is it just when editing the same file?
Is this also true if two remote conns try the same?

[Val (staff)]

SeekerDK,
We have no plans to give a new life for this feature.

To share an iSCSI disl between several initiators you need a SAN fylesystem or a wripper (like Tiger Technology MetaSAN or DataPlow SFS). Otherwise your data will be corrupted.

[SeekerDK]

To share an iSCSI disl between several initiators you need a SAN fylesystem or a wripper (like Tiger Technology MetaSAN or DataPlow SFS). Otherwise your data will be corrupted.

Woops. I've might have step in something and assumed what to me seemed logical.

Is there SAN filesystems/wrappers included for Imagefiles, IBVolumes and SPTI devices? Or is the issue just for the before mentioned "partition sharing"?

[Val (staff)]

Is there SAN filesystems/wrappers included for Imagefiles, IBVolumes and SPTI devices? Or is the issue just for the before mentioned "partition sharing"?

Any SAN disk (iSCSI, FC, AoE) can not be shared between several initiators without SAN filesystems/wrappers or a clustering environment.

Standard NTFS and FAT32 were designed to own their disks exclusively.

[SeekerDK]

Standard NTFS and FAT32 were designed to own their disks exclusively.

So I've understod this correct, the issue is not with the iSCSI setup but with the filsystems running on the iSCSI devices/logical disks.

[anton (staff)]

Yes. Grab SFS from DataPlow or use MetaSAN from Tiger Technologies and everything would work just fine. Upcoming release would have both the manuals shipped with StarWind.

Standard NTFS and FAT32 were designed to own their disks exclusively.

So I've understod this correct, the issue is not with the iSCSI setup but with the filsystems running on the iSCSI devices/logical disks.

[rmallico]

So i want to be able to 'share' or for two Hyper-V (or ESX) servers to see the same iSCSI target volume at the same time... basically to be able to use it as a 'share' for some testing...

I have access to MelioFS and wondering if this has been used to allow this type of shared access to a iscsi target..

thanks!

[anton (staff)]

You should be able to do this with MelioFS from SANbolic.

So i want to be able to 'share' or for two Hyper-V (or ESX) servers to see the same iSCSI target volume at the same time... basically to be able to use it as a 'share' for some testing...

I have access to MelioFS and wondering if this has been used to allow this type of shared access to a iscsi target..

thanks!

[stamhaney]

Hey Valery,

I followed your suggestion and modified the .CFG as you said. When I started the initiator on another machine (vista) and added the portal on the "Discovery" tab, the target got automatically listed under the "Targets" tab. The iscsi target was showing as "Inactive". However when I click on "LogOn" , a message "Service Unavailable" is thrown. Could you let me know why isnt the ISCSI target getting "Active" and the reason for the errror? Thanks a lot for your help...

Is there no way to share a already formated and data filled partition (in my case a NTFS) over iSCSI.

Hi,
the feature that allows sharing of volumes as iSCSI targets exists in STarWind from very beginning.
But we removed it from the user interface as it was not so safe to use and near nobody used it.

To allow the feature in the ImageFile plug-in you need to edit StarWind.cfg manually and restart the StarWind service.

<plugin module="ImageFile.dll">
<symlink value="ImageFile"/>
<type value="Image file"/>
<imagedir path="*" flags="cmdfv" alias="My Computer" extensions="img"/>
<volumes value="yes"/>
</plugin>

And add a new target record like following:

<device name="ImageFile0" file="\\.\E:" header="0"/>

After restarting of the StarWind Service the device should be visible as an iSCSI target.

FYI Be carefull with this mode and do not try change the volume from the local system and a remote one simultaneously as it will lead to data corruption.

[Val (staff)]

Hey Valery,

I followed your suggestion and modified the .CFG as you said. When I started the initiator on another machine (vista) and added the portal on the "Discovery" tab, the target got automatically listed under the "Targets" tab. The iscsi target was showing as "Inactive". However when I click on "LogOn" , a message "Service Unavailable" is thrown. Could you let me know why isnt the ISCSI target getting "Active" and the reason for the errror? Thanks a lot for your help...

Hi,

Using of disk volumes as iSCSI targets is obsolete in the recent StarWind versions.

Please use the regular ImageFile targets instead or export whole drives with the DiskBridge module.

[stamhaney]

Hey Valery,

I followed your suggestion and modified the .CFG as you said. When I started the initiator on another machine (vista) and added the portal on the "Discovery" tab, the target got automatically listed under the "Targets" tab. The iscsi target was showing as "Inactive". However when I click on "LogOn" , a message "Service Unavailable" is thrown. Could you let me know why isnt the ISCSI target getting "Active" and the reason for the errror? Thanks a lot for your help...

Hi,

Using of disk volumes as iSCSI targets is obsolete in the recent StarWind versions.

Please use the regular ImageFile targets instead or export whole drives with the DiskBridge module.

Ok. One more question. Is there any valid reason for starwind not supporting partitions? If the user ensures that the partition will be used by only one Initiator, why cant we have support for partitions? Is there any particular reason why image file targets should be used? Also exporting a whole drive with DiskBridgeonly works if there is an extra physical hard disk. If there is only one physical hard disk, this does not work. Which is where I feel that support for partitions would help. Please comment.

[Val (staff)]

Ok. One more question. Is there any valid reason for starwind not supporting partitions? If the user ensures that the partition will be used by only one Initiator, why cant we have support for partitions? Is there any particular reason why image file targets should be used? Also exporting a whole drive with DiskBridgeonly works if there is an extra physical hard disk. If there is only one physical hard disk, this does not work. Which is where I feel that support for partitions would help. Please comment.

The main issue with exporting of isk partitions is they have to be reformatted by the client, so the local system has no acces to the data ever StarWind stops use them.

Completely the same result is achived using ImageFile targets created inside the formatted disk partition. But this way is much more flexible as it does not demand the user to partition the disk.
You can move ImageFiles to other partition, ever to other machine, backup them with standard utilities, so on.

So actually there is little sense to think about partitions as a way to go...

I hope this helps.