Users Guide

• EqualLogic storage supports partitions (for example, using fdisk), but recommends using file systems on the full volume instead of

partitions on that volume.

• If you want to suppress creating partition devices on a volume, see Setting Volume-Specific Configuration Parameters.

• If you want to mount a mount point on system reboot, add it to your /etc/fstab file.

Logging Out of an MPIO Volume

To log off a volume with multiple connections, log out of all iSCSI sessions using the following command:

ehcmcli logout --target target-name

where target-name is the full iSCSI-qualified name or a volume name for the PS Series group target node.

NOTE: You must specify the full iSCSI-qualified name in

target-name

if there are multiple volumes with identical names.

Displaying Connections to a Volume

Issue the ehcmcli status command to show the diagnostic state of the EqualLogic Host Connection Manager (ehcmd) and report

the iSCSI sessions connected to each volume. For information on using ehcmcli, see Using the ehcmcli Diagnostic Tool.

Managing Automatic Logins

In many scenarios, you want to have iSCSI volumes connected at startup without user intervention. To connect the volumes, set the

node.startup property to automatic for individual iSCSI targets.

Dell recommends that you not set the default node.startup property to automatic in the iscsid.conf file. Setting the property

causes the iSCSI initiator to log in to all discovered targets from all configured network interfaces at startup, and your computer will

connect to every iSCSI volume that it discovers when booting. In addition, multiple iface records are configured for the server. Logging in

through all of these records results in excess iSCSI sessions being created at boot time, which negatively impacts startup performance

and unnecessarily strains the SAN resources.

To set a volume to automatically log in at the next system startup, use the --login-at-boot option with the ehcmcli login

command:

# ehcmcli login --target target [--portal portal] --login-at-boot

To set a volume to not automatically log in at the next system startup, use the --no-login-at-boot option with either the ehcmcli

# ehcmcli login --target target [--portal portal] --no-login-at-boot

# ehcmcli logout --target target --no-login-at-boot

It is safe to run ehcmcli login with either of these options, even if you are already logged in to the specified target. The currently

logged-in sessions are not disturbed, but the automatic login management changes take place.

Likewise, it is safe to run ehcmcli logout --no-login-at-boot on a target that is not currently logged in for the purpose of

automatic login management changes.

For the current version of the iSCSI initiator tools, ehcmcli and ehcmd detect the leading login facility, node.leading_login, and use

it to control the number of automatic logins at boot.

NOTE:

Rediscovering targets with iscsiadm -m discovery resets the node properties to the defaults in

iscsid.conf, including the node.startup properties. Dell recommends using iscsiadm -m discoverydb instead, if

available in your version of the iSCSI initiator tools.

Managing iSCSI Interfaces

For iSCSI multipathing, the ehcmd daemon creates iface records based on the MAC addresses that are bound to particular hardware

ports. Multiple iface records for each Ethernet port can be created to allow ehcmd to create multiple sessions from the same Ethernet

port on the server to the same iSCSI target. With newer versions of the iSCSI initiator tools, ehcmd does not have to create multiple

ifaces for each network port.

Configuring Multipath I/O Devices