Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 16:44:30 +0100 From: Francisco Cabrita <francisco.cabrita@gmail.com> To: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Question about iSCSI / NAS / Cluster Message-ID: <ba4aa9cb0905250844x6e84abe1v111c84dcadfb88a2@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <ba4aa9cb0905250739r3f17ff25n527272af27d2d761@mail.gmail.com> References: <ba4aa9cb0905250739r3f17ff25n527272af27d2d761@mail.gmail.com>
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I've received a reply from John Nielsen via freebsd-scsi ML. "... Hi John, I first want to say many thanks for your reply. On Mon, May 25, 2009 at 3:56 PM, John Nielsen <lists@jnielsen.net> wrote: > On Monday 25 May 2009 09:30:40 am Francisco Cabrita wrote: > > info: > > I have built a NAS server under FreeBSD. Geom RAID5 over 3 hard disks > > and iSCSI target0 created. > > It is up and running without problems "exporting" a SCSI driver to a Ms > > Windows 2000 Server with Microsoft iSCSI Inititator driver. > > The volume is NTFS. > > > > doubt: > > I have read multiple "old" posts around the web that I can't connect > > multiple initiators (w2k clients) to the same target. Is this true > > nowadays? > > You do not want two machines to have write access to the same SCSI device > at the same time unless you use a filesystem designed for such access. > NTFS is not such a filesystem. Just hooking two win2k boxes to the same > iSCSI target to do NTFS will cause problems. yep I had such problems. > > > Alternatives: > Microsoft clustering (two or more nodes coordinate to provide certain > services, the disk volume is only active on one of them at any given > time) I need to seek a Windows expert down here :) > > Some real clustered filesystem designed for shared access. I don't know of > any for Windows off the top of my head but I haven't ever looked in to > it. > Use the setup you have already with one w2k client, then use Windows > filesharing to export the volume to other clients. > Avoid the middleman, drop iSCSI and just use Samba on the NAS box. (Or NFS > if you want to dabble in Microsoft's Services for Unix... (cue scary > music)) In another company I have another FreeBSD NAS exporting a NFS volume to another FreeBSD Samba server, on wich I share some directories to Ms XP clients. I have no iSCSI on it and it's just fine. Almost 3 years up and running. Avoiding iSCSI it's a nice possibility but, on this new scenario the volumes are exported to both w2k PDC and w2k BDC. My client relies upon a very granular permission scheme. I don't know if I can handle this without a NTFS volume. (If I'm not wrong, we can't format a NTFS partition under FreeBSD) > > > > Facts: > > I really need at least two w2k clients to the same "storage NAS". Any > > tip about how to solve this? > > Maybe some kind of failover technique between both w2k servers? > > This is similar to the MS clustering option, there may be more manual ways > to achieve the same effect. I prefer not to use manual tasks. > > > I really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance > > PS: I am thinking about sending this email to FreeBSD Cluster ML too. > > Note that if you want to stick with iSCSI on the FreeBSD side then your > questions are really Microsoft-centered, so non-FreeBSD resources may be > more appropriate. Questions about configuring your FreeBSD storage box to > allow concurrent access by multiple clients that happen to be running > Windows would be appropriate on the FreeBSD-questions mailing list. Yes you are totally right. I just want to say I am truly grateful about your reply because my primary doubt was about the possibility or not to "map" multiple initiators to one target. And, where is the best place to ask a thing and get a really valid answer? yep FreeBSD ML :) I will try to explore your tips about MS Clustering. Once again Thanks Francisco Cabrita JN ..." On Mon, May 25, 2009 at 3:39 PM, Francisco Cabrita < francisco.cabrita@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I don't know if this ML is the right place to post a question about > NAS/iSCSI and Cluster related issue. I will write it anyway. > > info: > I have built a NAS server under FreeBSD. Geom RAID5 over 3 hard disks and > iSCSI target0 created. > It is up and running without problems "exporting" a SCSI driver to a Ms > Windows 2000 Server with Microsoft iSCSI Inititator driver. > The volume is NTFS. > > doubt: > I have read multiple "old" posts around the web that I can't connect > multiple initiators (w2k clients) to the same target. Is this true nowadays? > > Facts: > I really need at least two w2k clients to the same "storage NAS". Any tip > about how to solve this? > Maybe some kind of failover technique between both w2k servers? > > I really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance > > Best Regards > Francisco > > PS: I sent this email to freebsd-scsi ML too. No anwsers until now. > > -- <http://www.linkedin.com/in/franciscocabrita>; > Any aditional tips are welcome, meanwhile thanks anyway. :) Best regards, Francisco Cabrita
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