When a lun is created the MD3000i alternates which RAID controller it assigns the lun to. So the 1st lun you created was assigned to controller 0 and the 2nd lun was assigned to controller 1. For the host to see the luns you have assigned both of the luns to the host in the MDSM application.
On the host side I suspect you have only logged the iSCSI initiator into controller 0 only. The host sees both of the luns because they have been assigned to it on the MD3000i. The host fails to access the lun on controller 1 because you do not have a connection to it. To test this out, go into MDSM -> Modify -> Change Virtual Disk preferred path -> move the 2nd lun you created over to controller 0. In disk management rescan, then create a partition on the lun.
Since the lun did not trespass over to controller 0 where you have the connection to, I suspect you do not have the MDSM Host Agent installed on the server. You should install the HOST component of MDSM on the server as this provides the MD3000i DSM for MPIO as well as the MDSM Agent. These components allow multipathing, failover, and load balancing
Here is a link to a walk through on how to configure a multipath configuration to a MD3000i in Windows 2003.
Note: The Log On to the array must be completed to each port of the array.
Also, Dell has released the "Dell MD3000i Configuration Utility" that will help configure all of the connections to the MD3000i http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R192086&SystemID=PWV_MD3000I&servicetag=&os=WX64&osl=en&deviceid=18374&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=49&fileid=263757
The issue was indeed related to multi-pathing. I had installed the iSCSI initiator with the multi-path option and added all 4 targets, but it wasn't working. I tried switching the disk ownership to Controller 0 and it worked perfectly witout the need to initialize the disk.
The iSCSI initiator seems to simply login to the first target you specify, so I started with one of the two targets on Controller 1 first and it logs into that perfectly.
Is there a way to remove the multi-path portion of the iSCSI initiator without uninstalling the whole thing and rebooting the server? Once I've done that or just uninstalled/reinstalled it minus the multi-path support, I can then install the Dell Host app on both my servers, as I didn't install it on the other one either!:smileysurprised:
Message Edited by Gazman S2000 on 07-31-2008 02:54 AM
For the MD3000i you don't install the multipathing option of the iSCSI initiator. The MDSM software installs the appropriate multipathing driver. However, when logging in to the array with the iSCSI initiator you do tell it to use multipathing (and it'll use the MD3000i's multipathing driver).
The multipathing driver of the iSCSI initiator loads on boot, so to remove/uninstall it will require a reboot. Possibly you have to uninstall and reinstall the 'host' part of the MD3000i software as well to make sure that that multipathing driver gets installed clean (w/o another multipathing driver on the system that could have caused conflicts with the iscsi initiator multipathing driver).
Dev Mgr
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July 30th, 2008 15:00
Also, both servers do have a connection to both raid controllers (over iSCSI), right?
cjtompsett
104 Posts
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July 31st, 2008 02:00
I have seen this before ....
When a lun is created the MD3000i alternates which RAID controller it assigns the lun to. So the 1st lun you created was assigned to controller 0 and the 2nd lun was assigned to controller 1. For the host to see the luns you have assigned both of the luns to the host in the MDSM application.
On the host side I suspect you have only logged the iSCSI initiator into controller 0 only. The host sees both of the luns because they have been assigned to it on the MD3000i. The host fails to access the lun on controller 1 because you do not have a connection to it. To test this out, go into MDSM -> Modify -> Change Virtual Disk preferred path -> move the 2nd lun you created over to controller 0. In disk management rescan, then create a partition on the lun.
Since the lun did not trespass over to controller 0 where you have the connection to, I suspect you do not have the MDSM Host Agent installed on the server. You should install the HOST component of MDSM on the server as this provides the MD3000i DSM for MPIO as well as the MDSM Agent. These components allow multipathing, failover, and load balancing
Here is a link to a walk through on how to configure a multipath configuration to a MD3000i in Windows 2003.
http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/MPIO+to+PowerVault+MD3000i+with+Microsoft+iSCSI+Initiator
Note: The Log On to the array must be completed to each port of the array.
Also, Dell has released the "Dell MD3000i Configuration Utility" that will help configure all of the connections to the MD3000i http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R192086&SystemID=PWV_MD3000I&servicetag=&os=WX64&osl=en&deviceid=18374&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=49&fileid=263757
Regards,
-cjtompsett
Gazman S2000
9 Posts
0
July 31st, 2008 06:00
Thanks very much for the responses.
The issue was indeed related to multi-pathing. I had installed the iSCSI initiator with the multi-path option and added all 4 targets, but it wasn't working. I tried switching the disk ownership to Controller 0 and it worked perfectly witout the need to initialize the disk.
The iSCSI initiator seems to simply login to the first target you specify, so I started with one of the two targets on Controller 1 first and it logs into that perfectly.
Is there a way to remove the multi-path portion of the iSCSI initiator without uninstalling the whole thing and rebooting the server? Once I've done that or just uninstalled/reinstalled it minus the multi-path support, I can then install the Dell Host app on both my servers, as I didn't install it on the other one either!:smileysurprised:
Dev Mgr
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9.3K Posts
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July 31st, 2008 11:00
The multipathing driver of the iSCSI initiator loads on boot, so to remove/uninstall it will require a reboot. Possibly you have to uninstall and reinstall the 'host' part of the MD3000i software as well to make sure that that multipathing driver gets installed clean (w/o another multipathing driver on the system that could have caused conflicts with the iscsi initiator multipathing driver).