3
Goals / Expectations
Having heard a lot about iSCSI but never used it or set it up, I wanted to learn more about
it. As a storage manager, I wanted to know how to set up storage targets and hosts, how
well it performs and where it fits best in our datacenter.
Environment
Tests were run from two separate hosts, a PC running Linux and a PC running Windows,
both located in the same, local test lab. The storage target was a disk unit a remote data
center approximately 1 block away from the test lab. The disks connect to a SAN via
Fibre Channel (FC) so a FC to iSCSI router was needed to bridge the gap. The router has
two FC ports, which connect to the SAN and two 1Gb/s Ethernet (gigE) ports to connect
to the local Ethernet for iSCSI traffic. The storage luns on the disk unit will be assigned
to the router and the router will then present them to the hosts via iSCSI.
Hardware Used
PC Hardware Dell Poweredge 2650, Intel Xeon 2.8.GHz, 2GB RAM
Linux OS RedHat Enterprise Edition Advanced Server 4 (kernel 2.6.9-
42.ELsmp
).
Windows OS Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Host HBA QLogic QLA4050c, bios version 1.04, firmware version 2.0.0.7
iSCSI router QLogic iSR-6140, hardware version 3, firmware version 2.0.7.0
SAN switch Brocade 12000, FabricOS version 4.4.0c
Disk DataDirectNetworks SanDataDirector 8500 firmware version: 5.20g
Network Topology
The host machines are located in a local test lab and the router and disk storage is located
in a remote data center. The buildings are connected by multiple dedicated 10Gb/s
Ethernet links.
Network Topology
