iSCSI Implementation and Best Practices on IBM Storwize

iSCSI Implementation and Best Practices on IBM Storwize

by Megan Gilge, Christopher Bogdanowicz, Shweta Kulkarni, Shanmuganathan Kumaravel, Saiprasad Parkar, Mario Rodriguez, Jeetendra Sonar
Released July 2016
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738441788

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Book description

This IBM® Redbooks® publication helps administrators and technical professionals understand Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) and how to implement it for use with IBM Storwize® storage systems. iSCSI can be used alone or with other technologies.

This publication provides an overview of the iSCSI protocol and helps you understand how it is similar to and different from Fibre Channel (FC) technology. It helps you plan and design your network topology. It explains how to configure your IBM Storwize storage systems and hosts (including IBM AIX®, Linux, VMware, and Microsoft Windows hosts) to interact with it. It also provides an overview of using IBM Storwize storage systems with OpenStack.

This book describes iSCSI configuring for IBM Storwize and SAN Volume Controller storage systems at Version 7.6 or later.

In addition to configuration, this publication provides information about performance and troubleshooting.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. IBM Redbooks promotions
  4. Preface
    1. Authors
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  5. Chapter 1. Introduction to iSCSI in IBM Storwize storage systems
    1. 1.1 What iSCSI is
    2. 1.2 iSCSI sessions
      1. 1.2.1 Components of an iSCSI session
      2. 1.2.2 The three phases of iSCSI login
    3. 1.3 iSCSI adapters
      1. 1.3.1 Ethernet card (network interface card)
      2. 1.3.2 TCP offload engine
      3. 1.3.3 iSCSI offload engine
    4. 1.4 iSCSI routing
    5. 1.5 Ethernet for iSCSI
      1. 1.5.1 Data Center Bridging
      2. 1.5.2 The future of Ethernet and its impact on iSCSI
    6. 1.6 FC: FCoE terms and their iSCSI equivalents
      1. 1.6.1 Fibre Channel zoning
      2. 1.6.2 Virtual SAN
      3. 1.6.3 Buffer-to-Buffer credit
      4. 1.6.4 Worldwide name
      5. 1.6.5 Fabric name server
    7. 1.7 Comparison of iSCSI and FCoE
    8. 1.8 Why use iSCSI
      1. 1.8.1 iSCSI is cost-effective
      2. 1.8.2 No distance limitations
      3. 1.8.3 Good interoperability
      4. 1.8.4 Bandwidth utilization and Converged Enhanced Ethernet benefits
      5. 1.8.5 Security
  6. Chapter 2. Introduction to IBM Storwize iSCSI capabilities
    1. 2.1 IBM Storwize V3500 storage system
      1. 2.1.1 Host interface options for the IBM Storwize 3500 storage system
    2. 2.2 IBM Storwize 3700 storage system
      1. 2.2.1 Host interface options for the IBM Storwize 3700 storage system
    3. 2.3 IBM Storwize V5000 storage system
      1. 2.3.1 Host interface options for the IBM Storwize V5000 storage system
    4. 2.4 IBM Storwize V7000 storage system
      1. 2.4.1 Host interface options for the IBM Storwize V7000 Gen1 storage system
      2. 2.4.2 Host interface options for the IBM Storwize V7000 Gen2 storage system
    5. 2.5 The IBM Storwize V7000 Unified storage system
    6. 2.6 IBM SAN Volume Controller storage systems
    7. 2.7 Comparison of the IBM Storwize family
    8. 2.8 Hardware terminology for IBM Storwize disk systems
      1. 2.8.1 Control enclosures, nodes, and I/O groups
      2. 2.8.2 Expansion enclosures
      3. 2.8.3 IBM Storwize cluster system
      4. 2.8.4 IBM Storwize virtualization
  7. Chapter 3. Planning considerations
    1. 3.1 General considerations
    2. 3.2 Network topology
      1. 3.2.1 Network topology with one Ethernet switch
      2. 3.2.2 Network topology with two VLANs
      3. 3.2.3 Network topology with four VLANs
      4. 3.2.4 Link aggregation between switches
      5. 3.2.5 iSCSI that uses a Layer 3 network topology
      6. 3.2.6 IP replication network topology
    3. 3.3 Planning for an operating system installation
      1. 3.3.1 Planning for IBM AIX
      2. 3.3.2 Planning for Linux
      3. 3.3.3 Planning for VMware
      4. 3.3.4 Planning for Windows
    4. 3.4 IBM Storwize family and iSCSI limits
      1. 3.4.1 Version 7.6 configuration limits and restrictions for the IBM Storwize V3500 storage system
      2. 3.4.2 Version 7.6 configuration limits and restrictions for the IBM Storwize V3700 storage system
      3. 3.4.3 Version 7.6 configuration limits and restrictions for the IBM Storwize V5000 storage system
      4. 3.4.4 Version 7.6 configuration limits and restrictions for the IBM Storwize V7000 storage system
      5. 3.4.5 Version 7.6 configuration limits and restrictions for the IBM SAN Volume Controller storage system
  8. Chapter 4. Configuring the IBM Storwize storage system and hosts for iSCSI
    1. 4.1 Configuring the IBM Storwize storage system for iSCSI
      1. 4.1.1 Setting the IBM Storwize iSCSI IP address
      2. 4.1.2 Setting optional iSCSI settings on IBM Storwize storage systems
    2. 4.2 Configuring initiators for iSCSI
      1. 4.2.1 iSCSI discovery mechanisms
      2. 4.2.2 iSCSI operational parameters
      3. 4.2.3 Considerations for enabling TSO for host network adapters
      4. 4.2.4 Host configuration maximums for iSCSI with IBM Storwize storage systems
    3. 4.3 Configuring iSCSI on AIX 7.1
      1. 4.3.1 Ethernet network configuration
      2. 4.3.2 Selecting the discovery policy
      3. 4.3.3 Working with the IBM Storwize storage volume
    4. 4.4 Configuring iSCSI for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
      1. 4.4.1 Before mapping the iSCSI volume
      2. 4.4.2 Ethernet network configuration
      3. 4.4.3 Discovering and logging in to the iSCSI targets
      4. 4.4.4 Understanding iSCSI sessions for software-based initiators
      5. 4.4.5 Working with the IBM Storwize storage volume
    5. 4.5 Configuring iSCSI for Windows 2012
      1. 4.5.1 Prerequisites
      2. 4.5.2 Ethernet network configuration on Windows hosts
      3. 4.5.3 iSCSI target discovery for Windows hosts
    6. 4.6 Configuring iSCSI for VMware ESXi hosts
      1. 4.6.1 Configuring the Ethernet network on the VMware host
    7. 4.7 iSNS server configuration
      1. 4.7.1 Enabling ISNS server in Windows 2012
      2. 4.7.2 Configuring the iSNS server address on an IBM Storwize storage system
      3. 4.7.3 Configuring the iSCSI initiator with iSNS server details
    8. 4.8 Configuring Priority Flow Control for the IBM Storwize storage system
      1. 4.8.1 Requirements for PFC
      2. 4.8.2 Configuring Priority Flow Control on Brocade VDX
      3. 4.8.3 Verifying Priority Flow Control from the IBM Storwize storage system
  9. Chapter 5. iSCSI storage connection security
    1. 5.1 iSCSI security model
      1. 5.1.1 iSCSI network security
    2. 5.2 Configuring CHAP for an IBM Storwize storage system
      1. 5.2.1 Configuring CHAP for the IBM Storwize storage system by using the GUI
      2. 5.2.2 Configuring CHAP for the IBM Storwize storage system by using the CLI
    3. 5.3 Configuring CHAP authentication for the host
      1. 5.3.1 Setting up authentication for Linux hosts
      2. 5.3.2 Setting up authentication for Microsoft Windows hosts
      3. 5.3.3 Setting up authentication for AIX hosts
      4. 5.3.4 Setting up authentication for VMware hosts
    4. 5.4 iSCSI security
    5. 5.5 Mandatory security in real-world situations
  10. Chapter 6. IBM Storwize performance
    1. 6.1 iSCSI performance
      1. 6.1.1 Jumbo frames
      2. 6.1.2 VLAN separation
      3. 6.1.3 Subnetting
      4. 6.1.4 Quality of service and traffic prioritization
      5. 6.1.5 iSCSI protocol digests and performance
    2. 6.2 Performance monitoring
      1. 6.2.1 Collecting performance statistics
      2. 6.2.2 Real-time performance monitoring
      3. 6.2.3 Performance data collection with IBM tools
  11. Chapter 7. IBM Storwize storage systems for OpenStack
    1. 7.1 Introduction to OpenStack components
    2. 7.2 Cinder configuration to integrate with IBM Storwize storage systems
  12. Chapter 8. Troubleshooting
    1. 8.1 Storage tools on an IBM Storwize storage system
      1. 8.1.1 Management GUI
      2. 8.1.2 Service Assistant GUI
      3. 8.1.3 Command-line interface
      4. 8.1.4 Service CLI
      5. 8.1.5 USB
      6. 8.1.6 Visual indicators (Ethernet port LED status)
    2. 8.2 Storage logs used for analysis
      1. 8.2.1 Support Package on the IBM Storwize cluster
      2. 8.2.2 Event log on the IBM Storwize cluster
      3. 8.2.3 Audit log on the IBM Storwize cluster
      4. 8.2.4 Ethernet logs and statistics on IBM Storwize nodes
      5. 8.2.5 iSCSI logs on IBM Storwize nodes
    3. 8.3 Different IP addresses on the IBM Storwize storage system
      1. 8.3.1 Path failover mechanisms in iSCSI on an IBM Storwize storage system
      2. 8.3.2 iSCSI IP failover
    4. 8.4 Problem determination
      1. 8.4.1 Problem determination: Obtaining a basic configuration overview
      2. 8.4.2 Problem determination: Checking the network configuration
      3. 8.4.3 Problem determination: Checking the IBM Storwize configuration
      4. 8.4.4 Problem determination: Checking authentication
      5. 8.4.5 Problem determination: Checking active sessions from the IBM Storwize storage system
      6. 8.4.6 Problem determination: Checking a host configuration
      7. 8.4.7 Problem determination: Checking for performance problems
  13. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Online resources
    3. Help from IBM
  14. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: iSCSI Implementation and Best Practices on IBM Storwize
  • Author(s): Megan Gilge, Christopher Bogdanowicz, Shweta Kulkarni, Shanmuganathan Kumaravel, Saiprasad Parkar, Mario Rodriguez, Jeetendra Sonar
  • Release date: July 2016
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738441788