Microsoft 2022 Cluster Server - How to connect to a TrueNAS iSCSI drive?

[MichaelREmmert]

Hey, everyone, I'm a noob and only recently started using TrueNAS. I'm trying to get the Microsoft 2022 cluster server to recognize a drive I've got on my TrueNAS system.
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz
16GB Ram
500 SSD running TrueNAS
2T mechanical drive (single HD and no RAID) I want to share this with MS Cluster server
I'm using a single NIC to put the 2T drive on the same network as the MS servers - 10.10.10.0
I didn't have any problems installing and setting up TrueNAS, but I'm not sure why the Microsoft Cluster fails to recognize the drive
The MS VM servers have been configured with Failover Clustering, and also iScsi.
I'm unsure if my problem is with a configuration issue on TrueNAS or with some Microsoft Setting.
The MS error I get is "No disks suitable for cluster disks were found."
MS iScsi connects with the TrueNAS hard drive and it shows up in Disk Management as an offline drive.
When trying to use it in Clustering, that's when I get the above error.
If my problem isn't with TrueNAS, then I'll contact MS support for their side of the problem
Note: this is a test configuration, not a production environment.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Hey @MichaelREmmert

I've split your post off from the main VMware discussion thread and changed the title to help with discovery.

Because you mentioned "the MS VM servers" - can you clarify which hypervisor you're using to create these MS cluster members? Have you connected using in-guest iSCSI from each VM, or presented the disk to them at the hypervisor level, so that the guest OS believes it's a physically attached SAS device?

 

[MichaelREmmert]

I'm using Microsoft's Hyper-V to create the VMs, and am using Microsoft's role for "iSCSI Target Server." I'm using that role to find and connect to the IP address of the TrueNAS computer. This is how the VM server

As I said, I'm new at this, so maybe I'm not doing this correctly with either the TrueNAS setup or with Microsoft's Failover Cluster Manager.

 

[MichaelREmmert]

If anyone needs more information or specifications, I'll provide it. Let me know what you need to know.

 

[HoneyBadger]

@MichaelREmmert the "iSCSI Target Server" is used to present storage from the Microsoft system to other devices. You want the other way, with the Microsoft systems connecting to TrueNAS and consuming the storage there.

Use the Server Manager dashboard on your Microsoft servers, click Tools, and then select iSCSI Initiator. You may be prompted to enable the iSCSI service, and you can then try entering the IP address of your TrueNAS iSCSI interface in the 10.10.10.0 subnet and attempting to use Quick Connect.

 

[MichaelREmmert]

Now I'm puzzled. What you're saying, I have done. The TrueNAS server is presenting storage to the network. I have used the iSCSI Initiator and pointed it to the TrueNAS interface. Doing this will create a new storage device on the cluster server. I can bring it online, but it's not formatted. If I format it, then the storage is visible only on that server as a local drive. When I do this on all three of my cluster servers, each one has a new storage device, but any files stored on it are not visible or available to any other device on the network. Any workstation on the network is unable to connect to any of the cluster servers.

are you saying that what I want to do is impossible on my network and with my current hardware? Purchasing additional hardware is not an option that I have available.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Hi @MichaelREmmert

Have you completed the configuration for setting up the Windows File Server Cluster itself? Simply presenting the iSCSI LUN to all servers and formatting it will not properly handle the multi-client access and arbitration.

Please see the example from Microsoft here:

Deploying a two-node clustered file server

This article describes creating a two-node file server cluster

learn.microsoft.com

Connecting the TrueNAS storage to your Hyper-V VM's is only one part of the solution; the Windows VMs must communicate with each other in order to properly allow shared access to the TrueNAS iSCSI resource.