HP StorageWorks 1510i Modular Smart Array installation and user guide (383070-002, July 2008)

iSCSI overview
• Targets
•Initiators
•Switches
• Key iSCSI best practices
IMPORTANT:
The following overview is very brief. For additional detail, see the
MSA1510i iSCSI concepts and
deployment gu
ide
, provided on the MSA1510i Support CD v2.0 and MSA1510i support page:
h
ttp://www.
hp.com/support.
Targets
A target is a grouping of one or more MSA Logical Units (LUNs). The target is the unit presented to the
network, with the initiator granted access to the target (and its assigned LUNs.)
Consider the following:
• Basic configurations with only one initiator accessing the storage might create a few large
logical drives mapped to one target. An initiator granted access to that target has access to all
of the storage.
• More complex configurations with multiple initiators need to control access to the storage and
create multiple storage units and multiple targets. Each initiator is then granted access to one or
more specific targets. Targets may be shared among groups of initiators.
Initiators
In iSCSI networking, each server is called an initiator.
Depending on the host operating system, iSCSI initiator software and other components, such as
operating system patches or iSCSI Device Specific Modules (DSMs) are installed on the server to manage
the connections to the IP network.
In multipath configurations, iSCSI initiator software, combined with multipathing software or operating
system patches, is used to establish the multiple paths to the storage. Multipathing is enabled in the iSCSI
initiator software by performing multiple logins for each target via defined IP portals on the MSA1510i. A
logon for each path/target combination must be established to enable redundancy.
Switches
The switch provides a physical path between the initiator and the MSA array, routing requests and data
through the switch ports. The MSA1510i connects to its network switches from its Ethernet iSCSI module.
The MSA1510i works with any Gigabit Ethernet switch. A switch is needed if multiple hosts are being
used to connect to the MSA1510i.
Key iSCSI best practices
• Provide a dedicated iSCSI LAN to isolate the iSCSI network from corporate and external networks.
• Isolate management trafficandstoragetraffic on separate LAN segments.
• Use VLANs to control access to the storage targets.
• Enter Access Control List (ACL) settings, to control access at the LUN level.
• Enable mutual iSCSI CHAP authentication between initiators and targets. (Not supported for
all operating systems.)
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