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Brocade iSCSI Quick Start and Best Practices Guide First Release August 27, 2007
Contents
This document is a guide written to assist individuals in configuring iSCSI on the FC4-16IP blade for the Brocade
48000 Director. This document is written with focus on the Brocade 48000 Director with Fabric OS v5.3.0 or later. The
material in this guide is for the most part covered in the official Brocade User’s Manuals.
"About This Document" contains the following sections:
• How This Document Is Organized
• What's New in This Guide
• Document Conventions
• Additional Information
• Getting Technical Help
• Document Feedback
Text Formatting
The following table describes the narrative-text formatting conventions that are used in this document.
Convention Purpose
• Identifies command names
• Identifies GUI elements
bold text
• Identifies keywords/operands
• Identifies text to enter at the GUI or CLI
• Provides emphasis
• Identifies variables
italic text
• Identifies paths and internet addresses
• Identifies document titles
Note A note provides a tip, emphasizes important information, or provides a reference to related
information.
A caution alerts you to potential damage to hardware, firmware, software, or data. Cautions
Caution indicate that a particular action or type of connection is not recommended as it may cause
failure of the switch or fabric.
Brocade Resources
The following documentation is available on the Brocade Web site, through Brocade Connect:
Fabric OS
• Brocade iSCSI Gateway Service Administrator’s Guide
• Brocade Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
• Brocade Fabric OS Command Reference
• Brocade Fabric OS Message Reference
• Brocade Fabric OS MIB Reference
For additional Brocade documentation, visit Resources > SAN Info Center > SAN Resources:
http://www.brocade.com
Related publications are provided on the Brocade Partner site or the IBM TotalStorage SAN Switch Support Web site
and are an excellent resource for additional information.
For practical discussions about SAN design, implementation, and maintenance, you can obtain Building SANs with
Brocade Fabric Switches through:
http://www.amazon.com
Release Notes are bundled with the Fabric OS software download.
If you have any questions or problems go to the following Help Center World Telephone Numbers URL:
http://www.ibm.com/planetwide
The Brocade iSCSI Design and Deployment Guide provides information to help you install and configure
the Brocade iSCSI features and software.
iSCSI Concepts
iSCSI is an industry-standard. The iSCSI standard is a protocol that resides on top of TCP and is designed
to transport SCSI commands and data across an IP network, most commonly across Ethernet. The iSCSI
standard was developed by a working group under the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The most
current version is 1.0.
From a software perspective, an iSCSI device appears as a locally attached SCSI drive. The SCSI
commands are intercepted and directed to the iSCSI layer. They are encapsulated, then sent out as TCP
packets. At the far end, the reverse happens so a SCSI command arrives at the device.
There are many applications for iSCSI. It is especially useful for lower-cost connection of second and third-
tier servers into existing Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks (SANs) for block access to storage. Many
applications do not require the high level of performance that Fibre Channel provides, and iSCSI
performance is often "good enough." These applications might include file services, DHCP services, mail
services, or some development applications.
The FC4-16IP SCSI Blade adds iSCSI-FC gateway functionality to the Brocade 48000 Director, translating
iSCSI traffic to Fibre Channel traffic. Using the Brocade FC4-16IP Blade, an iSCSI initiator (server) can
access a Fibre Channel storage device. The iSCSI initiators can either be directly connected to the Ethernet
ports on the iSCSI Blade or across an IP network. The Fibre Channel targets can be connected directly to
the Fibre Channel ports on the Brocade FC4-16IP Blade, to the Fibre Channel ports on the Brocade 48000
Director, or across the Fibre Channel fabric.
For further information about the IBM specific iSCSI implementation, refer to the IBM Redbook, IBM
System Storage : Implementing an IBM SAN. This covers the iSCSI implementation on the Brocade 48000
(IBM TotalStorage 2109-M48).
iSCSI Requirements
This section lists requirements to incorporate and manage iSCSI such as:
• Firmware
• Software
• Hardware
Firmware
To incorporate and manage iSCSI on a Director or fabric, your system must have Fabric OS v5.2.0 or
higher installed (For IBM fabrics Fabric OS 5.3.0 or later for the M48). For information on downloading
Fabric OS firmware, refer to the Brocade Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.
iSCSI protocol is supported on the following Brocade models and Fabric OS releases:
• Brocade AP7420 Fabric OS v7.4.0 or later.
• Brocade 48000, Fabric OS v5.2.0 or later and the 48000 iSCSI blade (FC4-16IP).
Software
If you are implementing iSCSI solution, iSCSI is provided free of charge in Fabric OS versions 5.2 and
higher. Only the proper hardware (the Brocade FC4-16IP Blade) is required. No additional Brocade
licenses are required to enable the iSCSI feature.
Hardware
From the network perspective, iSCSI traffic looks like another IP packet. Existing Ethernet switches and IP
routers work transparently to bridge the iSCSI initiators into the FC4-16IP Blade.
The Brocade FC4-16IP blade acts as an iSCSI gateway between FC-attached targets and iSCSI initiators.
On the iSCSI initiator, iSCSI is mapped between the SCSI driver and the TCP/IP stack. At the iSCSI
gateway port, the incoming iSCSI data is converted to FCP (SCSI on FC) by the iSCSI virtual initiator, and
then forwarded to the FC target. This allows low-cost servers to leverage an existing FC infrastructure.
Note The FC4-16IP iSCSI gateway service is not compatible with other iSCSI gateway platforms,
including Brocade iSCSI Gateway or the Brocade Multiprotocol Router (AP7420).
Note Fabric Manager is an optionally licensed software product that is not included with Fabric OS
and must be installed on a workstation.
This chapter explains the procedures used to install Brocade iSCSI on a Director.
The following information is discussed:
• Overview of iSCSI Installation
• Enabling the iSCSI Service
• Configuring iSCSI using the Launch Usability Wizard
• FC4-16IP Port Numbering
• Basic LUN Mapping
• Advanced LUN Mapping
• Controlling Access to the iSCSI Virtual Target (VT)
• Switch-to-iSCSI Initiator Authentication
The following figure shows the result of using the iscsiCfg - -easycreate tgt command
executed on an FC target with four LUNs.
This will open a new window “Add iSCSI FC Zones to Configs”. This allows you to add the required
“iSCSI_FC_ZONE” to all of the defined zone configs or a select set of configs. If you select the current
effective configuration it will re-enable the effective zoning configuration
We will add a discovery domain (DD) in this example we will name it dd1. You will type the name of the
DD in the box to the right of the “Add” button. Then select “Add”.
Once you have created all the DDs select the “Save” button. We can now create the DDSet in Step 9 of the
wizard.
In the DD Set pane we see the newly added DD Set, "ddset1". The DDset “ddset1” should be highlighted.
In the left window “Available DDs” pane highlight the dd1 and dd2, then click “Add” button to add
"dd1",and "dd2" to the "ddset1". After clicking the “Add” button you should be able to see that "dd1",
"dd2" have been added to "ddset1”.
Like zoning you can have multiple DDSets defined but only one effective at any one time. Only the DDs in
the effective DDSet will be enforced.
In the “Enable DD Set” pull down menu select the DDset you would like to enable, in this example we
select “ddset1”. Then click save.
This takes us to step 10, “Configure CHAP”.
We can verify the GigE iSCSI interface network connecting from any system on the same network as the
newly configured FC4-16IP GigE port. You should be able to ping the IP interfaces. In this example we
configure slot 9/GigE port 0 with an IP address of 192.168.70.2. From a remote host we use the ping
command the IP address of the iSCSI interface. If there is network connectivity between the remote host
and iSCSI interface we should see a reply from the iSCSI interface IP.
C:\>ping 192.168.70.2
This completes the configuration of the FC4-16IP blade on the Brocade 48000.
This chapter explains the procedures used to install the Microsoft iSCSI initiator software v2.04.
The following information is discussed:
• Installing the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
• Configuring the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
This will start the “Software Update Installation Wizard” for the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator.
After all the files have been installed you will see the “successfully completed” message.
If you wish to restart select the “Finish” button. If you wish to restart at a later time, select the “Do not
restart now” check box.
Launch the “Computer Management” console. Select the “Disk Management”, looking at Disk manager we
only have the local c: drive and cd rom 0 drive. We will revisit “Disk Management” after configuring the
Microsoft iSCSI Initiator.
Enter the IP address of the configured GigE port on the iSCSI blade. In this example we will configure
192.168.70.2. Port 3260 is the default TCP listening port for iSCSI sessions.
Select the Advanced button. For the local Adapter select Microsoft iSCSI Initiator, for Source IP select the
desired IP interface. In this example 192.168.70.12. Select OK.
Figure 34. Microsoft iSCSI Initiator “Advanced Settings” General. Source IP tab.
If you receive an error or do not see any “Targets” in the “Targets” tab from this remote iSCSI initiator we
use the ping command the IP address of the iSCSI interface. If there is network connectivity between the
remote host and iSCSI interface we should see a reply from the iSCSI interface IP.
C:\>ping 192.168.70.2
If you do see one or more iSCSI Targets (Virtual iSCSI targets) have been discovered note the status is
“Inactive”. To connect to iSCSI Target high-light the Target and select "Log On" button.
If you want to use Multipathing option check the “Enabled multi-path” box. Then select OK.
After connecting to the iSCSI target disk manager shows our new disk, “Disk 1”.
Best Practices
This chapter explains some Best Practices as they apply to Brocade and IBM iSCSI solutions.
The following information is discussed:
• Connecting to the FC4-16IP
• Using the Easy Create Virtual Targets Wizard
• LUN Masking Considerations
• Hierarchical LUNs on FC Storage Devices
• Configuring the IBM DS8000 for operation with the FC4-16IP
The Advanced Web Tools Virtual iSCSI wizard is able to display the single byte LUN ID correctly.
switch:admin> fclunquery -s
The following WWPNs will be used for any lun query from this switch:
Node WWN: 10:00:00:60:69:e4:24:d8
Port WWN: 21:fd:00:60:69:e4:24:d8
switch:admin> nsshow
N 142800; 3;50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:00;50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:01;
na
FC4s: FCP
PortSymb: [23] "iSCSI Virtual Initiator"
NodeSymb: [51] "IPAddr: 9.11.192.15 Slot/Port: 3/ge0 Logical pn:
40"
Fabric Port Name: 20:28:00:60:69:e4:24:d8
Permanent Port Name: 50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:00
Port Index: 40
Share Area: No
Device Shared in Other AD: No
Redirect: No
N 142900; 3;50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:08;50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:09;
na
FC4s: FCP
PortSymb: [23] "iSCSI Virtual Initiator"
NodeSymb: [51] "IPAddr: 9.11.192.16 Slot/Port: 3/ge1 Logical pn:
41"
Fabric Port Name: 20:29:00:60:69:e4:24:d8
Permanent Port Name: 50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:08
Port Index: 41
Share Area: No
Device Shared in Other AD: No
Redirect: No
N 142a00; 3;50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:10;50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:11;
na
FC4s: FCP
PortSymb: [23] "iSCSI Virtual Initiator"
NodeSymb: [51] "IPAddr: 9.11.192.17 Slot/Port: 3/ge2 Logical pn:
42"
Fabric Port Name: 20:2a:00:60:69:e4:24:d8
Permanent Port Name: 50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:10
Port Index: 42
zone: iSCSI_switch_DS8000_zone
50:05:07:63:03:01:00:6e; <----- DS8000 Port
50:05:07:63:03:03:00:6e; <----- DS8000 Port
50:05:07:63:03:04:00:6e; <----- DS8000 Port
50:05:07:63:03:04:c0:6e; <----- DS8000 Port
50:05:07:63:03:0b:00:6e; <----- DS8000 Port
50:05:07:63:03:11:40:6e; <----- DS8000 Port
50:05:07:63:03:19:40:6e; <----- DS8000 Port
50:05:07:63:03:1c:00:6e; <----- DS8000 Port
50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:00; <----- Slot 3 GbE 0
50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:08; <----- Slot 3 GbE 1
50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:10; <----- Slot 3 GbE 2
50:06:06:9e:42:4d:83:18 <----- Slot 3 GbE 3
Appendix A
Naming Conventions for the IBM System Storage SAN B-type Switch family