FreeNAS Target side



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FreeNAS 9.3 BETA (as of writing) --- install instructions here!

I'm using two Qlogic QLE2462 HBA cards (1 for each server) 4 Gbps max.

I have 2 ports on each of my cards, both cables plugged in (not required)

Check that Firmware / Driver loaded for card, shown by solid port status light after full bootup

I have the Qlogic-2462 [solid link orange=4Gbps] check your HBA manual for color codes

variable: ispfw_load ____ value: YES_________ type: loader___ (start HBA firmware)?

value: type: (start HBA firmware)? variable: ctl_load ______ value: YES _________ type: loader___ (start ctl service)?

value: type: (start ctl service)? variable: hint.isp.0.role__ value: 0 (zero)______ type: loader___ (target mode FC port 1)?

value: type: (target mode FC port 1)? variable: hint.isp.1.role __ value: 0 (zero)______ type: loader___ (target mode FC port 2)?

value: type: (target mode FC port 2)? variable:ctladm _______value:port -o on -t fc _type:loader___(bind the ports)?

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Type:command________command:ctladm port -o on -t fc____When:Post Init

Choose "Device" and select a

zvol

ESXi Hypervisor Initiator side

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Change the "Path Selection" menu for Round-Robin to load balance with fail-over on both ports. Click "Change" button and "OK" out of everything.

Special thanks to mav@ and jpaetzel ...who should definitely know they've helped me considerably to complete this. Thanks for your posts/replies on the forums.The ESXi/FreeNAS lab is complete.This can be used as either Direct Attached Storage in Point-to-Point or Arbitrated-loop (2/3 nodes)Should also be able to use it in a SAN environment with a Fabric.Here is a short guide for anyone who is looking to set this up.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Install the right versionInstall your(only supported brands are Qlogic to my knowledge.)It's recommended by Qlogic to manual set port speed in your HBA BIOS(yes, reboot and press the Alt+Q screen when prompted)FC- status after bootupAddGo to the "System" section and enter these Tunables...Go to the "Tasks" section and add in thisEnable iSCSI and thenenable iscsi service and create the following...create portal (do not select an IP,create initiator (create target (select your onlyand your only) give it a name...(doesn't quite matter what)create extent (will be a physical disk,will be a file on zfs vol of your choice)create associated target (chose anyfrom the list, link the target and extent)If creating...Choose "File" Select a pool, dataset or zvol from the drop down tree and tag on to the endYou mustin the path ande.g. "Vol1/data/extents/If creating...BE SURE TO SELECT "[ Took me days to figure out why I could not move my VM's folders over to the new ESXi FC datastore... ][ They always failed halfway through and it was due to the block size of the disk. Unchecking this fixed it. _ ]now...sit back and relax - your Direct Attached Storage is setup as a target. The hard part is done.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Check that your FC card is installed and shows upConfiguration > Storage Adapters and clickto check it's availability by selecting your fibre card., make sure you have installed the drivers for it on ESXi. (Total PIA if manual - google it)Adding the storage to ESXi in vSphere (vs.(formatted with V.M.ware F.ile S.ystem)As you know this lets you store multiple VM files and such, like a directly connected drive... but now with greater capacity & IO.Just "" as usual and use the fiber channel disk it should find during the scan and your done.I was fine with this but I personally think, thebetween the server and the storage, the better. If I can eliminate one the performance should theoretically be somewhat less taxed.(Your input and experience here is always welcome.)If you want to use true block level access to the FC iSCSI LUN, you can use a pass-through feature VMware calls "RAW SCSI".This way, you present that LUN you made to a single VM as a Raw SCSI hard disk.To the best of my knowledge this is much like the connection of a SATA drive to the bus on a motherboard.using this method but it should allow for adirect route to get more of a block-level access.Using this method, I would rinse and repeat the steps above and dice up your FreeNAS ZVols to make LUNs for each additional VM as needed.for your VM and when youa newyou will now see the Disk type "" is no longer grayed out. Use this for your VM.Remember it will be dedicated to only this VM Guest.Research MPIO for a performance advantages and redundancy.ESXi also has load-balancing for VMFS. I'm not entirely sure how advantageous this is but feel free to experiment. I think you must have extremely fast SSDs for it matter. Then just Create a ESXiand right-click, select "" and click "Good luck!Please reply if this helped you! I've been trying to get this working for almost 6 months! Thanks again to everyone on the forum.fiber channel direct attached storage storage area network DAS SAN FC LUN