Deploying iscsi storage Solutions on Microsoft Windows Server Platform

Target Configuration Steps

1. Configure Network Settings for iSCSI Target Device

The Rapid Startup Wizard includes a place to set the network configuration. This system was configured to use DHCP on its three Ethernet network interfaces.

2. Launch Management Console

In the center section of the management console, several categories of management functions are available.

3. Guided configuration: Link to the All-in-One Storage Manager (ASM)

The interface includes several wizards which automate configuration, provisioning, and data migration. These include

 Host an Exchange Storage Group

 Create a Shared Folder

 Host a SQL Server Database

 Host a User-Defined Application

Prior to launching any of the interface wizards, administrators will need to install an ASM agent onto their host server (Windows Server 2003 32-bit or 64-bit). This agent packages the Microsoft iSCSI initiator, an ASM Service which runs on the host, as well as some Microsoft .NET components to enable communication between the host server and the AiO. The agent installation process also sets up application specific security parameters for SQL Server and Exchange.

As an example of the guided configuration capabilities of the AiO we will walk you through the ‘Host an Exchange Storage Group” tool.

Clicking the link on the right side of the interface launches the wizard. The first input screen asks the administrator to specify the Name or IP address of the Microsoft Exchange server where they have installed the ASM Agent.

Clicking NEXT enables ASM to communicate with the service on the host server and brings up the ‘Select Storage Group Components’ screen. The service uses the Microsoft Exchange API to gather data about the installation and return it to the AiO administrator. Specifically, the administrator is prompted to choose the Storage Group(s) which need to be moved to the iSCSI target storage.

Clicking NEXT brings up the Storage Allocation screen. Here, ASM has recommended a set of storage settings based on Microsoft ‘best practices’ for Exchange; these include RAID type, stripe settings, exclusive disk use, warning threshold, etc. Administrators can accept these settings or click the Advanced button to manually override. They can also choose between HDD technologies (SATA and/or SAS) if both disk types reside on the AiO or any direct attached storage enclosures.

Clicking on the Data Protection button brings up a screen that allows administrators to configure VSS snapshots for this iSCSI Target storage and to configure a traditional backup job using the HP Data Protector Express software which is included on the AiO.

Clicking NEXT will bring up a task summary of the steps that ASM will automatically perform. Tasks can be run immediately or scheduled for later; in the case of data migration the process will tell the Exchange server to temporary halt the service so that data can be migrated to the newly created iSCSI LUNs and will then restart the service.

Once the job runs the system will automatically

 Create the logical drive on the physical disks

 Create the data volume

 Create iSCSI LUN and connect the host to the target

 Create and format the iSCSI volume

 Set directory quotas and alerts on the iSCSI target storage

 Migrate storage group components

 Create the backup job

Once the job is executed, storage tasks such as expansion and protection of the Storage Group can be managed from the main ASM interface as shown below.

NOTE: Remaining steps 4 through 8 illustrate how to manually configure iSCSI target storage outside of the All-in-One Storage Manager. If using ASM, steps 4 through 9 are performed automatically by the various ASM application tools.