jcook.atlas
Cadet
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2021
- Messages
- 2
Greetings all, please excuse me if this question has already been asked and answered elsewhere...
I'm currently knee-deep in the planning and design stages of an enterprise-wide, multi-location (based on the enclave model) server upgrade where NAS/SAN will be a major feature and I have a couple questions regarding the implementation of iSCSI in a multiple enclave environment. I have the networking side of things pretty well nailed down with software-defined networks (SDNs) and Virtual LANs for everything - including a dedicated VLAN in each enclave for NAS/SAN services.
Each enclave will host a virtualized TrueNAS server (yes, Ive done all the required and suggested reading about visualizing TrueNAS). Each enclave TrueNAS VM will host ~35TB of cache-backed storage via a ZFS-2 array of eight drives as a single VDEV. The storage and cache drives will be directly connected to the VM via HBA forwarding of a Broadcom 3008. The entire array will be carved up (for quota management) via four use-case specific ZVOLs. Each ZVOL will be formatted NTFS for direct attachment to a Windows environment, and will then be accessed via iSCSI extent targeting initiated by a Windows server in each enclave. So fair pretty straight forward...
Here's where it gets 'fun': How do I enable iSCSI extent-target initiation from multiple servers OUTSIDE the local enclave at the same time- in other words, how do I connect multiple initiators to the same block storage pool extent target via iSCSI over a SDN VLAN? Yes, I know it's easy to do - theoretically. However, I also know that if it isn't done correctly, the first time two initiators attempt to access the same block at the same time , I will lose everything due to corruption.
Is it really as easy as creating multiple iSCSI targets (one for each server) and then associating various target via extents to a single ZVOL device?
Does each server need it's own target AND extent combination or can multiple targets use the same extent without issue?
I'm currently knee-deep in the planning and design stages of an enterprise-wide, multi-location (based on the enclave model) server upgrade where NAS/SAN will be a major feature and I have a couple questions regarding the implementation of iSCSI in a multiple enclave environment. I have the networking side of things pretty well nailed down with software-defined networks (SDNs) and Virtual LANs for everything - including a dedicated VLAN in each enclave for NAS/SAN services.
Each enclave will host a virtualized TrueNAS server (yes, Ive done all the required and suggested reading about visualizing TrueNAS). Each enclave TrueNAS VM will host ~35TB of cache-backed storage via a ZFS-2 array of eight drives as a single VDEV. The storage and cache drives will be directly connected to the VM via HBA forwarding of a Broadcom 3008. The entire array will be carved up (for quota management) via four use-case specific ZVOLs. Each ZVOL will be formatted NTFS for direct attachment to a Windows environment, and will then be accessed via iSCSI extent targeting initiated by a Windows server in each enclave. So fair pretty straight forward...
Here's where it gets 'fun': How do I enable iSCSI extent-target initiation from multiple servers OUTSIDE the local enclave at the same time- in other words, how do I connect multiple initiators to the same block storage pool extent target via iSCSI over a SDN VLAN? Yes, I know it's easy to do - theoretically. However, I also know that if it isn't done correctly, the first time two initiators attempt to access the same block at the same time , I will lose everything due to corruption.
Is it really as easy as creating multiple iSCSI targets (one for each server) and then associating various target via extents to a single ZVOL device?
Does each server need it's own target AND extent combination or can multiple targets use the same extent without issue?
