Configuring Storage Devices With COMSTAR (Task Map)

This is a general list of tasks associated with configuring storage devices with COMSTAR. Some of the tasks are optional depending on your network configuration needs. Some of the links below will take you to separate documents that describe network configuration and initiator configuration.

Identifying COMSTAR Software and Hardware Requirements
Introduction to Oracle Solaris 11 Networking
Configuring Storage Devices With COMSTAR (Tasks)
Configuring Dynamic or Static Target Discovery
Chapter 4, Configuring Solaris iSCSI Initiators, in Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: SAN Configuration and Multipathing
How to Access iSCSI Disks
Configuring Authentication in Your iSCSI-Based Storage Network in Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: SAN Configuration and Multipathing
Setting Up iSCSI Multipathed Devices in Oracle Solaris in Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: SAN Configuration and Multipathing
Monitoring Your iSCSI Configuration in Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: SAN Configuration and Multipathing

COMSTAR Terminology

Review the following terminology before configuring target devices with COMSTAR.

Term	Description
Discovery	The process that presents the initiator with a list of available targets.
Discovery method	The way in which the iSCSI targets can be found. Three methods are currently available: Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) – Potential targets are discovered by interacting with one or more iSNS servers. SendTargets – Potential targets are discovered by using a `discovery-address.` Static – Static target addressing is configured.
Initiator	The driver that initiates SCSI requests to the iSCSI target.
Initiator group	A set of initiators. When an initiator group is associated with a , only initiators from that group may access the .
`iqn` or `eui` address format	An `iqn` (iSCSI qualified name) address is the unique identifier for a device in an iSCSI network using the form `iqn.date.authority:uniqueid`. An iSCSI initiator or target is assigned an IQN name automatically when the iSCSI initiator or target is initialized. An `eui` (extended unique identifier) address consists of 16 hexadecimal digits, and identifies a class of GUIDs that is used in both the SCSI and InfiniBand standards. SRP devices use the `eui` address format.
Logical unit	A uniquely numbered component in a storage system. When a is associated with one or more SCSI targets, the target can be accessed by one or more SCSI initiators.
Target device	The iSCSI storage component.
Target group	A set of targets. A can be made available to all targets in one target group.
Target portal group	A list of IP addresses that determines which interfaces a specific iSCSI target will listen to. A TPG contains IP addresses and TCP port numbers

Configuring Dynamic or Static Target Discovery

Determine whether you want to configure one of the dynamic device discovery methods or use static iSCSI initiator targets to perform device discovery.

Dynamic device discovery – Two dynamic device discovery methods are available:
- SendTargets – If an iSCSI node exposes a large number of targets, such as an iSCSI to Fibre-Channel bridge, you can supply the iSCSI node IP address/port combination and allow the iSCSI initiator to use the SendTargets features to perform the device discovery.
- iSNS – The Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) allows the iSCSI initiator to discover the targets to which it has access using as little configuration information as possible. It also provides state change notification to notify the iSCSI initiator when changes in the operational state of storage nodes occur. To use the iSNS discovery method, you can supply the iSNS server address/port combination and allow the iSCSI initiator to query the iSNS servers that you specified to perform the device discovery. The default port for the iSNS server is 3205. For more information about iSNS, see RFC 4171:
  
  http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4171.txt
  
  The iSNS discovery service provides an administrative model to discover all targets on a network.
  
  For more information about setting up iSNS support in Oracle Solaris, see Chapter 12, Configuring and Managing the Oracle Solaris Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS).
Static device discovery – If an iSCSI node has few targets or if you want to restrict the targets that the initiator attempts to access, you can statically configure the target-name by using the following static target address naming convention:

target,target-address[:port-number]

You can determine the static target address from the array's management tool.

Note - Do not configure an iSCSI target to be discovered by both static and dynamic device discovery methods. The consequence of using redundant discovery methods might be slow performance when the initiator is communicating with the iSCSI target device.

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