Jan 102011
 

I notice quite a bit of traffic coming in (alot of it is the same people coming back) searching for information on VMware vSphere using iSCSI, specifically Lio-Target (because of the compatibility with SCSI persistant reservations).

In the past I’ve been jumping all over the place testing Lio-Target on different distrobutions, test scenarios, etc… I’ve officially implemented it into my production network and just wanted to report it’s been running solid for a few months now.

Current Working Configuration (Stable):

Currently at the moment I have numerous HP Servers (ML350s, DL360s) running ESXi off an internal usb-key. These ESXi hosts are accesing numerous iSCSI targets over gigabit hosted on a DL360 G6 with 2 X MSA20 storage units. The server hosting the storage is running Ubuntu 10.10 and has been rock solid with absolutely no issues. I’m fully utilizing VMotion amongst all the hosts, and all hosts have concurrent access to the iSCSI targets. This is running in full production and I’m fully confident in the configuration and setup.

Future Plans:

Lio-Target is going upstream in to the Linux kernel on the next release (2.6.38). With the testing I did (and blogged about) in the past months, I have not been able to get the newer versions of Lio-target running stable on CentOS. Once a new version of CentOS is released, or there is a kernel upgrade available to bring CentOS to 2.6.38, I will be installing CentOS on to the storage server and adding more disk space. Once this change is complete, that will conclude any future changes for a while (excluding adding more ESXi hosts).

If anyone has any questions on my setup, or configuration with something similar, or have any issues with Lio-Target, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll see if I can help!

  27 Responses to “Update: vSphere and Lio-Target – My Setup and Configuration”

  1. I’ve also been following your articles and implementing a similar setup. Great articles! LIO iSCSI performance is fantastic and very stable on Ubuntu 10.10. I’m now trying to add DRBD and HA into the mix for a fully replicated storage scenario. So far, this has been difficult so I was wondering if you had tried anything similar? The problem seems to revolve around HA (Corosync/Pacemaker) and the outdated iSCSITarget and iSCSILogicalUnit scripts that are included. These scripts only support block_io, and in this instance I’d prefer to use file_io. The scripts will need to be modified so I’d thought I’d check to see if anyone had already “invented the wheel” before I attemped it.
    The LIO wiki also talks about using the built-in md softraid to replicate between two iSCSI datastores instead of using DRBD. This would work as well, but still runs into the same problem with HA.
    I’ve also diverted to other options such as GlusterFS and Lustre, and then adding LIO on top of them. All of them have the same HA problem.
    Anyway, if you’ve discovered any solutions or you’re interested in collaborating, let me know!
    Thanks,

  2. Hi Wade,

    Thanks!

    Unfortunately as of yet, I haven’t tried touching base on anything in regards to DRBD or HA… It has been on my list of things “to-do” but I’ve been busy! lol

    Maybe someone else who follows these posts can contribute something. Once I get a test environment setup I’ll let you know how things go, hopefully it’ll be sometime in the next couple weeks.

    From what I know (preliminary research), I think I know may why it would only work with Block IO, but I’m not saying anything until I actually know what I’m talking about.

    Since I’ve started playing with Lio, I’ve been in touch with the guys who developed it, so maybe they will have some recommendations as to how to achieve what we are both thinking.

    I’ll keep you posted! and if you find anything in the meantime, let us know 🙂

    Thanks,
    Stephen

  3. Could you throw together a quick howto on compiling an Ubuntu kernel with lio?

    Gerald

  4. Hi Gerald,

    If you actually take a look at my blog, there’s another thread titled something like “Getting Lio-Target running on CentOS”.

    The procedure is almost identical, with a few exceptions…
    1) You don’t need to take the step of “Use depreciated SysFS”, since Ubuntu doesn’t use it.
    2) With ubuntu you have to use their own command to generate a initial ramdisk (Initrd). The command would be “update-initramfs -c -k kernel-ver”. In an example: “update-initramfs -c -k 2.6.34-iscsi”
    3) After you have the kernel and initial ramdisk, you have to generate a GRUB2 bootloader config by issuing, “update-grub”.

    Hope this helps…
    Stephen

  5. LIO Target is absolutely glorious! I’m surprised it did not went mainstream. At least yet 🙂

    DBRB-based HA is a poor mans HA really… Active-Stand-By HA model is not going to shine from both performance and fast node switch points of view. Companies using DBRB as a backbone for their HA solutions (like for example Open-E) tend to install third “pinging” node to workaround this issue. But they can do nothing with limited performance shared IP cluster provides.

    Anton Kolomyeytsev

    Proud member of iSCSI SAN community.

  6. Thanks!

    I have a working kernel under Ubuntu 10.10.

    I downloaded lio_utils, and I get a failure on /etc/init.d/target start:

    Loading target_core_mod/ConfigFS core: [OK]
    Calling ConfigFS script /etc/target/tcm_start.sh for target_core_mod: [FAILED]
    Calling ConfigFS script /etc/target/lio_start.sh for iscsi_target_mod: [OK]

    So I downgraded to lio_utils 3.0 (after cleaning up everything I could), and that also failed.

    Any ideas?

  7. Here’s the actual error:

    tcm_node –block iblock_1/array /dev/md0
    ConfigFS HBA: iblock_1
    Successfully added TCM/ConfigFS HBA: iblock_1
    ConfigFS Device Alias: array
    Device Params [‘/dev/md0’]
    IBLOCK: createvirtdev failed for enable_opt with echo 1 > /sys/kernel/config/target/core/iblock_1/array/enable
    Unable to register TCM/ConfigFS storage object: /sys/kernel/config/target/core/iblock_1/array

  8. Just curious, did you build Lio as kernel modules, or did you build it in to the kernel?

    Sounds like it can’t find the module, or it’s trying to load it but there might be a kernel mismatch…

    Could you post the last section of your “dmesg” that coincides with the /etc/init.d/target start ?

  9. lsmod shows me:

    iscsi_target_mod 265970 6
    target_core_mod 318058 9 iscsi_target_mod
    configfs 27505 3 iscsi_target_mod,target_core_mod

    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.736936] TARGET_CORE[0]: Loading Generic Kernel Storage Engine: v3.4.0 on Linux/x86_64 on 2.6.34
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737074] TARGET_CORE[0]: Initialized ConfigFS Fabric Infrastructure: v3.4.0 on Linux/x86_64 on 2.6.34
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737077] SE_PC[0] – Registered Plugin Class: TRANSPORT
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737080] PLUGIN_TRANSPORT[1] – pscsi registered
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737082] PLUGIN_TRANSPORT[4] – iblock registered
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737083] PLUGIN_TRANSPORT[5] – rd_dr registered
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737085] PLUGIN_TRANSPORT[6] – rd_mcp registered
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737086] PLUGIN_TRANSPORT[7] – fileio registered
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737088] SE_PC[1] – Registered Plugin Class: OBJ
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737090] PLUGIN_OBJ[1] – dev registered
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737093] CORE_HBA[0] – TCM Ramdisk HBA Driver v3.1 on Generic Target Core Stack v3.4.0
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737095] CORE_HBA[0] – Attached Ramdisk HBA: 0 to Generic Target Core TCQ Depth: 256 MaxSectors: 1024
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737097] CORE_HBA[0] – Attached HBA to Generic Target Core
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737100] RAMDISK: Referencing Page Count: 8
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737104] CORE_RD[0] – Built Ramdisk Device ID: 0 space of 8 pages in 1 tables
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737107] rd_dr: Using SPC_PASSTHROUGH, no reservation emulation
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737109] rd_dr: Using SPC_ALUA_PASSTHROUGH, no ALUA emulation
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737111] CORE_RD[0] – Activating Device with TCQ: 0 at Ramdisk Device ID: 0
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737204] Vendor: LIO-ORG Model: RAMDISK-DR Revision: 3.1
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737214] Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 05
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737231] T10 VPD Unit Serial Number: 1234567890:0_0
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737244] T10 VPD Page Length: 38
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737246] T10 VPD Identifer Length: 34
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737248] T10 VPD Identifier Association: addressed logical unit
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737249] T10 VPD Identifier Type: T10 Vendor ID based
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737251] T10 VPD ASCII Device Identifier: LIO-ORG
    Mar 11 13:06:28 openfiler kernel: [ 289.737266] CORE_RD[0] – Added TCM DIRECT Ramdisk Device ID: 0 of 8 pages in 1 tables, 32768 total bytes
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.789980] Target_Core_ConfigFS: Located se_plugin: ffff88011474e0e0 plugin_name: iblock hba_type: 4 plugin_dep_id: 1
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.789986] CORE_HBA[0] – TCM iBlock HBA Driver 3.1 on Generic Target Core Stack v3.4.0
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.789988] CORE_HBA[0] – Attached iBlock HBA: 1 to Generic Target Core TCQ Depth: 512
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.789990] CORE_HBA[1] – Attached HBA to Generic Target Core
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.790025] IBLOCK: Allocated ib_dev for array
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.790029] Target_Core_ConfigFS: Allocated se_subsystem_dev_t: ffff88010765b000 se_dev_su_ptr: ffff8801070d0000
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.793978] Target_Core_ConfigFS: iblock_1/array set udev_path: /dev/md0
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.794815] IBLOCK: Referencing UDEV path: /dev/md0
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.795638] Missing iblock_major= and iblock_minor= parameters
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.796112] Target_Core_ConfigFS: Calling t->free_device() for se_dev_su_ptr: ffff8801070d0000
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.796115] Target_Core_ConfigFS: Deallocating se_subsystem_dev_t: ffff88010765b000
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.843195] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> group: ffffffffa065a400 name: iscsi
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.854288] Linux-iSCSI.org iSCSI Target Core Stack v3.4.0 on Linux/x86_64 on 2.6.34

    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.854312] <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.854315] Initialized struct target_fabric_configfs: ffff88010717a000 for iscsi
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.854318] <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.854319] LIO_TARGET[0] – Set fabric -> lio_target_fabric_configfs
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.854455] Spawned 4 thread set(s) (8 total threads).
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.854615] TARGET_CORE[iSCSI]: Allocated Discovery se_portal_group_t for endpoint: None, Portal Tag: 1
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.854626] CORE[0] – Allocated Discovery TPG
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.854628] Loading Complete.
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855009] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> Located fabric: iscsi
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855011] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> ffffffffa073b980
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855014] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> Allocated Fabric: iscsi
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855015] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> Set tf->tf_fabric for iscsi
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855041] lio_target_call_coreaddtiqn(): name: iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855044] CORE[0] – Added iSCSI Target IQN: iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855045] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855047] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> Allocated Node: iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855053] lio_target_tiqn_addtpg() parent name: iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855077] TARGET_CORE[iSCSI]: Allocated Normal se_portal_group_t for endpoint: iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array, Portal Tag: 1
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855091] CORE[iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array]_TPG[1] – Added iSCSI Target Portal Group
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855093] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855094] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> Allocated TPG: tpgt_1
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.855116] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array TPGT: 1 LUN: 0
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.857092] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: DEREGISTER -> iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array TPGT: 1 LUN: 0
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.900160] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array TPGT: 1 PORTAL: 192.168.3.100:3260
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.900215] CORE[0] – Added Network Portal: 192.168.3.100:3260 on TCP on network device: None
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.900220] CORE[iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array] – Added Network Portal: 192.168.3.100:3260,1 on TCP on network device: None
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.900222] CORE[iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array]_TPG[1] – Incremented np_exports to 1
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.900224] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: addnptotpg done!
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.941976] Disabling iSCSI Authentication Methods for TPG: 1.
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.983976] iSCSI_TPG[1] – Added ACL with TCQ Depth: 16 for iSCSI Initiator Node: iqn.2011-03.com.example:9031b9c2
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.983981] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> iqn.2011.com.norscan.iscsi:array TPGT: 1 Initiator: iqn.2011-03.com.example:9031b9c2 CmdSN Depth: 16
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 290.984007] LIO_Target_ConfigFS: Initialized Initiator LUN ACL: iqn.2011-03.com.example:9031b9c2 Mapped LUN: lun_0
    Mar 11 13:06:29 openfiler kernel: [ 291.027133] iSCSI_TPG[1] – Enabled iSCSI Target Portal Group

  10. Apparently, it errors out when I reference /dev/md0 in either block or fileio. If I fileio to a file, it works.

  11. Thanks for your help! I had to go Ubuntu 10.04 and backports 3.5. Essentially the following:

    aptitude install git-core build-essential libsnmp-dev
    git clone git://risingtidesystems.com/lio-core-backports.git lio-core-backports.git
    cd lio-core-backports.git
    make
    make install
    cd ..
    git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/storage/lio/lio-utils.git lio-utils.git
    cd lio-utils.git
    git checkout –track -b lio-3.5 origin/lio-3.5
    make
    make install

    What kind of speed are you getting? Using fileio I get 12 MB/s writes and 60 MB/s reads. I’m sure there are some tweeks I can do, but documentation is thin.

    What is your opinion of write-back vs write-through on a UPS protected/monitored LIO target? Do you know how to turn on write-back so I can test it?

    Thanks,
    Gerald

  12. I think a new change might have been implemented in one of the newer versions, or a change hasn’t been made, but lio-utils is calling the wrong configuration name space…

    I’ll keep you posted if I find anything…

    As for write caching, and speeds. I have two HP MSA20 Modular Smart Array’s hooked up to my storage box. One has 12 X 250GB drives configured in Raid 5. The second MSA20 is running 5 X 500 GB in Raid 5.

    I’m accessing the drives via block IO. The MSA20’s have all write caching enabled since all applicable RAID cards, and the controller cards inside of the MSA20s have battery backed cache. I don’t know the exact read/write speeds (since VMware is accessing the iSCSI targets), but I’m hitting 120MB/sec when doing things like storage vMotion, etc… I believe I could hit higher speeds, but I’m capped due to network bandwidth.

    Keep in mind, I’m running a gigabit network, and my ESXi hosts, and my storage box itself are tanks (multi-core DL360 G5s, multi-core ML350 G5s, plenty of ram (even inside of the SAN server, etc…).

  13. I’m on GigE as well. I modified the LIO 3.5 source code to allow write-back with fileio, and my speeds went up to 40 MB/s. That’s still half of EIT. Nicholas Bellinger gave me a tip on speeding thing sup, so I’ll be trying that today.

  14. Let me know how it turns out.

    PS, 2.6.38 was released yesterday. I havn’t confirmed this, but Lio-Target was merged with the kernel source for the release candidates. Since this is “mainline and stable”, I’m looking forward to giving it a try.

    I’m hoping to get 2.6.38 setup this weekend if I have time (there’s never enough time lol). I’m not sure if I’m going to try it on CentOS, but I’ll probably get it runnin on the latest Ubuntu.

  15. Sorry for the delay in responding.

    Unfortunately, my LIO test machine locked up twice during load testing, with no log file data. I switched back to IET, and the lock ups stopped.

    I tried LIO in order to test mulipathing, and although I got balanced load across 3 GigE cards, I saw no speed increase in throughput.

    Looks like I’m staying with IET for awhile yet.

  16. I’m trying to set this up on Debian Wheezy, which comes with kernel 2.6.38. I haven’t touched the kernel yet. I cloned lio-utils main branch, i.e.:

    git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/storage/lio/lio-utils.git lio-utils.git

    This comes with a debian subdir to make a package – bonus! So I proceeded to:

    alfredo@a3:~/lio-utils.git$ sudo dpkg-buildpackage
    alfredo@a3:~/lio-utils.git$ sudo dpkg -i ../lio-utils

    in order to keep things tidy as I like them (on servers… You got to see my home when I’m alone lol). This will generate a package with version 3.2 of lio-utils as of this writing.

    I have created the tcm node, however it doesn’t say anything about the serial number:

    alfredo@a3:~$ sudo tcm_node –block iblock_0/tarugos-sda2 /dev/sda2
    Status: DEACTIVATED Execute/Left/Max Queue Depth: 0/32/32 SectorSize: 512 MaxSectors: 640
    iBlock device: sda2 UDEV PATH: /dev/sda2
    Major: 8 Minor: 2 CLAIMED: IBLOCK

    alfredo@a3:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/target status
    [—————————] TCM/ConfigFS Status [—————————-]
    \——> iblock_0
    HBA Index: 1 plugin: iblock version: v4.0.0-rc6
    \——-> tarugos-sda2
    Status: DEACTIVATED Execute/Left/Max Queue Depth: 0/32/32 SectorSize: 512 MaxSectors: 640
    iBlock device: sda2 UDEV PATH: /dev/sda2
    Major: 8 Minor: 2 CLAIMED: IBLOCK
    udev_path: /dev/sda2

    [—————————] LIO-Target Status [—————————-]

    It seems to have one, though:

    alfredo@a3:~$ sudo tcm_node –wwn iblock_0/tarugos-sda2
    T10 VPD Unit Serial Number: e2fd3c6c-025f-4dab-8d0e-f967fa8b794d

    However, when I try to create a LUN, I have a problem that looks ConfigFS related:

    alfredo@a3:~/lio-utils.git$ sudo lio_node –addlun iqn.2011-04.sda2.a3.sdr 1 0 A3T0LUN0 iblock_0/tarugos-sda2
    mkdir: cannot create directory `/sys/kernel/config/target/iscsi’: Invalid argument
    Unable to create iSCSI Target Logical Unit ConfigFS directory

    Nothing that catches my eye on syslog:

    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.294267] TCM: Registered subsystem plugin: iblock struct module: ffffffffa01d9170
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.302246] TCM: Registered subsystem plugin: fileio struct module: ffffffffa020f180
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.307811] TCM: Registered subsystem plugin: pscsi struct module: ffffffffa022f190
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.309247] CORE_HBA[0] – TCM iBlock HBA Driver 4.0 on Generic Target Core Stack v4.0.0-rc6
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.309295] CORE_HBA[0] – Attached iBlock HBA: 0 to Generic Target Core TCQ Depth: 512
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.309341] CORE_HBA[1] – Attached HBA to Generic Target Core
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.309453] IBLOCK: Allocated ib_dev for tarugos-sda2
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.309485] Target_Core_ConfigFS: Allocated struct se_subsystem_dev: ffff88007bb59000 se_dev_su_ptr: ffff88007a73e400
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.315162] Target_Core_ConfigFS: iblock_0/tarugos-sda2 set udev_path: /dev/sda2
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.316408] IBLOCK: Referencing UDEV path: /dev/sda2
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.317645] bio: create slab at 1
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.317702] IBLOCK: Created bio_set()
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.317726] IBLOCK: Claiming struct block_device: /dev/sda2
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.317776] iblock: Using SPC3_PERSISTENT_RESERVATIONS emulation
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.317804] iblock: Enabling ALUA Emulation for SPC-3 device
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.317832] iblock: Adding to default ALUA LU Group: core/alua/lu_gps/default_lu_gp
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.317917] Vendor: LIO-ORG Model: IBLOCK Revision: 4.0
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.318017] Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 05
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.318065] Target_Core_ConfigFS: Registered se_dev->se_dev_ptr: ffff88007a73c400
    Apr 15 12:42:26 a3 kernel: [ 2576.318986] Target_Core_ConfigFS: Set emulated VPD Unit Serial: e2fd3c6c-025f-4dab-8d0e-f967fa8b794d
    Apr 15 12:42:54 a3 kernel: [ 2604.115370] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER -> group: ffffffffa02a0000 name: iscsi

    @Gerald: Based on my experience with IET on a VMWare environment, I’d have to get rather serious showstoppers to go back to IET.

    Anybody has an idea about the ConfigFS issue?

    Thanks!

  17. Hi Alfredo,

    When your running the –addlun command I think I notice something missing. I’m not sure if it is missing, or my wordpress blog is just reformatting it improperly.

    Yours:
    lio_node –addlun iqn.2011-04.sda2.a3.sdr 1 0 A3T0LUN0 iblock_0/tarugos-sda2

    Try this:
    lio_node –addlun iqn.2011-04.sda2.a3.sdr:foo 1 0 A3T0LUN0 iblock_0/tarugos-sda2

    Notice how I added :foo to the iqn. You can change “foo” to something else, just noticed it was missing. This could be the “invalid parameter”.

  18. Hi Stephen,

    Nope, it wasn’t that. I started over and got the same when running lio_node:

    alfredo@a3:~$ sudo lio_node –addlun iqn.2011-04.sda2.a3.sdr:sda2 1 0 A3T0LUN0 iblock_0/tarugos-sda2
    mkdir: cannot create directory `/sys/kernel/config/target/iscsi’: Invalid argument
    Unable to create iSCSI Target Logical Unit ConfigFS directory

    Oh well, I’ll give FreeNAS a try and come back later.

    Thanks!

  19. Hi Alfredo,

    Let me see what I can find out and I’ll post back. About 8 months ago I got a stable install running that I’ve been using for my VMware vSphere stuff. I’ve tried making a few test storage boxes in the meantime, and have been running into the same issues you mentioned.

    I’ll post back what I can find out.

  20. I tried with the kernel the howto here mentions:
    http://www.linux-iscsi.org/wiki/Lio-utils_HOWTO

    So I ran:
    git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/nab/lio-core-2.6.git lio-core-2.6.git

    This downloads 2.6.39-rc1, presumably with some patches? However, the end result is the same as with Debian Wheezy stock kernel 2.6.38:

    a1:~# tcm_node –fileio fileio_0/t0lun0 /dev/sdb1 1899999983104
    Status: DEACTIVATED Execute/Left/Max Queue Depth: 0/32/32 SectorSize: 512 MaxSectors: 256
    TCM FILEIO ID: 0 File: /dev/sdb1 Size: 1899999982592 Mode: Synchronous

    a1:~# /etc/init.d/target status
    [—————————] TCM/ConfigFS Status [—————————-]
    \——> fileio_0
    HBA Index: 1 plugin: fileio version: v4.1.0-rc1
    \——-> t0lun0
    Status: DEACTIVATED Execute/Left/Max Queue Depth: 0/32/32 SectorSize: 512 MaxSectors: 256
    TCM FILEIO ID: 0 File: /dev/sdb1 Size: 1899999982592 Mode: Synchronous
    udev_path: /dev/sdb1

    [—————————] LIO-Target Status [—————————-]
    a1:~# lio_node –addlun `iscsi-name` 1 0 puerto0 fileio_0/t0lun0
    mkdir: cannot create directory `/sys/kernel/config/target/iscsi’: Invalid argument
    Unable to create iSCSI Target Logical Unit ConfigFS directory
    a1:~# uname -a
    Linux a1 2.6.39-rc1+ #1 SMP Wed Apr 20 17:30:45 CEST 2011 x86_64 GNU/Linux

    Now compiling 2.6.39-rc4, just for the sake of it, I guess…

  21. Repeated the test. Now the git clone downloads 2.6.39-rc4. Talk about bleeding edge! This works more or less straight out of the box.

    However, the performance is very poor once you start requesting several operations at the same time. I pressume the reserve/release has to do with that, maybe the same root cause of Stephen’s headaches with his lab. Still testing and trying things.

  22. Running v3.5.3, stable for a week straight now – blowing all the stability records set by ietd on my setup. Still haven’t figured out why ietd crashes on me when it seems to work so well for so many people, but ILO is working very well for me now.

  23. Alfredo,

    I just tried compiling the latest stable kernel on CentOS to try and get Lio-Target running. I tried with both Lio-utils, and also rtsadmin to get it going. I’m having absolutely no luck, and having issues identical to yours…

    I think there is some stuff packaged in CentOS or some type of configuration that’s causing it not to work properly. I’m about to give up, until the kernel version that CentOS ships actually contains lio itself.

    Every time I’ve tried to get debian running, i’ve got a stable environment working with absolutely no problems. I think I may just stick to that until CentOS ships with 2.6.39…

  24. Hi Alfredo, Stephen,

    I am trying to setup the LIO in my debain lenny(2.6.26-2-686)

    Below is what I have done:

    – upgraded the kernel to 2.6.39.2

    – installed lio-uitls

    soho-dev-d1:/# /etc/init.d/target start
    Loading target_core_mod/ConfigFS core: [OK]
    Calling ConfigFS script /etc/target/tcm_start.sh for target_core_mod: [OK]
    Calling ConfigFS script /etc/target/lio_start.sh for iscsi_target_mod: [OK]

    soho-dev-d1:/# tcm_node –block iblock_0/my_iblock /dev/vg_1/lv_1
    Status: DEACTIVATED Execute/Left/Max Queue Depth: 0/32/32 SectorSize: 512 MaxSectors: 1024
    iBlock device: dm-0 UDEV PATH: /dev/vg_1/lv_1
    Major: 252 Minor: 0 CLAIMED: IBLOCK

    soho-dev-d1:/# lio_node –addlun iqn.2011.com.raju.iscsi:my_iblock 1 0 my_prtl iblock_0/my_iblock
    mkdir: cannot create directory `/sys/kernel/config/target/iscsi’: Invalid argument
    Unable to create iSCSI Target Logical Unit ConfigFS directory

    So, it is saying “mkdir: cannot create directory `/sys/kernel/config/target/iscsi’: Invalid argument”. That means any module is not loaded properly?

    KERNEL LOG:

    [10443.799266] CORE_HBA[0] – TCM Ramdisk HBA Driver v4.0 on Generic
    Target CoreStack v4.0.0-rc7-ml
    [10443.799272] CORE_HBA[0] – Attached Ramdisk HBA: 0 to Generic Target
    Core TCQDepth: 256 MaxSectors: 1024
    [10443.799278] CORE_HBA[1] – Attached HBA to Generic Target Core
    [10443.799329] Target_Core_ConfigFS: Allocated struct se_subsystem_dev:
    f4ee1000se_dev_su_ptr: f4e3e2c0
    [10443.800370] Missing rd_pages= parameter
    [10443.805761] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER-> group:f8552220 name:iscsi
    [10443.838505] target_core_get_fabric() failed for iscsi
    [10443.841826] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER-> group:f8552220 name:iscsi
    [10443.875313] target_core_get_fabric() failed for iscsi
    [10443.878496] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER-> group:f8552220 name:iscsi
    [10443.910039] target_core_get_fabric() failed for iscsi
    [10443.921684] Target_Core_ConfigFS: REGISTER-> group:f8552220 name:iscsi
    [10443.951926] target_core_get_fabric() failed for iscsi

    Please guide me

    Thanks,
    Raju.

  25. Actually, my apologize… I meant to say Ubuntu, not debian… I havn’t done any testing with debian.

  26. And ontop of my last comment, I’ll be assembling a new Ubuntu Storage server either this weekend or the week after. I’ll post my results, possibly with a video…

  27. Ugh, I’m getting this error Ubuntu as well. Even when using my old trick of “Install latest lio-utils, removing it, installing old, and then uninstalling and installing the new one again”… (This used to work).

    To be honest, I think LIO is loading fine into the kernel. I think there is an issue with the actual Lio-utils. On the Lio site it states that lio-utils has been depreciated and replaced with rtsadmin.

    I tried to get rtsadmin loaded up on CentOS, however it looked like it actually required lio-utils to run. I finally got it running, but it couldn’t configure lio-target. ATM I am trying to get it running on Ubuntu, however I’m fighting with dependencies on a bunch of python packages that are required.

    I will keep you guys up to date. Ultimately I’m just trying to find a way to reliably get lio-target running quick and easy. Also making sure that it can be reproduced on a regular basis for deployment of new machines, etc…

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