MPIO to PowerVault MD3000i with Microsoft iSCSI Initiator

This article is from Dell TechCenter Wiki

This section documents creating multipath connections to iSCSI LUNs on a Dell PowerVault MD3000i using the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator plus Dell's MD3000i iSCSI software. The server connecting to the MD3000i iSCSI LUN was server r3win2950b running 64-bit Windows Server 2003 R2. As shown below each MD3000i controller had two iSCSI ports, with one each in the 10.10.20 and 10.10.22 subnets. The r3win2950b connected to both
network subnets.

MD3000i Network Diagram

The MD3000i uses its own Device Specific Module code and thus required special installation of the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator. Therefore, on the server being connected to MD3000i (r3win2950b in this case), the existing Microsoft iSCSI Initiator instance was uninstalled and the server was rebooted. Then the Microsoft initiator was installed from Initiator-2.04-build3273-amd64fre.exe. All installation options except Microsoft MPIO Multipathing Support for iSCSI were selected:

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Installation Screen
To install the Dell MD3000i iSCSI software, it was necessary to insert the PowerVault MD3000i Resource CD. Upon starting, the software showed a message that it was necessary to upgrade the StorPort driver. The hot fix was unzipped to the local hard drive by clicking on the error message and then run.

MD3000i Installation Screen 1

After rebooting the Resource CD was inserted again, "Install MD3000i Storage Software" was selected and the iSCSI timeout value was adjusted by selecting "OK" at the next prompt:

MD3000i Installation - set iSCSI Timeout

Following this the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manger (MDSM) installation screen appeared:

MDSM Installation Screen 1

After selecting the language the Select Installation Type screen came up:

MDSM Installation Screen - Select Installation Type

"Host" was selected since the MD3000i was already being managed from another server.

Upon completion of the installation the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator was started:

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Initial Screen

In the Discovery tab, the four IP addresses of the MD3000i were entered:

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Discovery Screen

No LUNs were discovered since the host had not been given access to the MD3000i. The Targets tab at this point looked like:

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Targets Screen Before Creating MPIO Connection

The MDSM Configure Host Access (Manual) function was used to give the host access to the MD3000i. First, the host name and operating system type were entered:

MDSM - Configure Host Access Screen

Then the host's iSCSI initiator was added to the list of Selected iSCSI Initiators:

MDSM Configure Host Access Screen - Specify iSCSI Initiators

On the next screen it was specified that this host will not share virtual disks with other hosts:


MDSM Configure Host Access Screen - Specify Host Group

Upon creation a Virtual Disk was created on the MD3000i and mapped to the host. The final Host Topology is:

MDSM Host Topology

Back on the Microsoft initiator on the host, the MD3000i Target was selected and Log On selected:

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Logon Screen

On the Advanced Settings screen, a Source IP and Target Portal in the same subnet were selected using the dropdown menus:

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Logon Screen - Advanced Settings

The logon was repeated with the other three combinations of Source and Target IPs (10.10.22.104 - 10.10.22.28, 10.10.20.104 - 10.10.20.29, 10.10.22.104 -10.10.22.29). The four sessions were seen in the MD3000i target's details:

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Targets Screen After Creating MPIO Connection

The four connections to the LUN (Dell MD3000 SCSI Disk Device) were visible in the Devices tab of any of the sessions:
Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Targets Screen Showing Multiple Connections to LUN

The load balance policy may be set by selecting Advanced. Round Robin with Subset is the default. Note that the two paths corresponding to the MD3000i controller that currently owns the LUN are Active; the other two are in Standby mode:

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Devices Detail Screen

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