Some people confused when set high availability for iSCSI NIC.
Well, i dont blame them. Let get back to the question
Should I do teaming or MPIO on iSCSI NIC?
If you choose NIC Teaming, then answer is wrong !!!
No, NIC teaming is not supported on the iSCSI interface. Please see more info below:
• Public: Network card that is used for connectivity with external clients. NIC Teaming is fully supported on this interface. See Network adapter teaming and server clustering for additional information.
• Private: Network card that is used for internal cluster communication. NIC Teaming is NOT supported on this interface.
• SAN: Network card that is used for communication to the storage device. NIC Teaming is NOT supported on this interface. Instead use Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO) or multiple connections per session (MCS per iSCSI specification) to achieve fault tolerance
Clarification taken from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/storage/iscsi/iscsicluster.mspx
So since now you’re clear here is simple configuration that you should do on setting high availability on iSCSI NIC.
1. Configure iSCSI NIC 1 and iSCSI NIC 2 an ip address
2. Execute iscsicpl command and click “Quick Connect” to connect to iSCSI storage.
You will be able to see the LUN which has presented to your server
3. Select the LUN and click Connect. Do remember to select Enable Multipath and set to use iSCSI NIC 1
Repeat same process for all LUN.
4. On Server core, install MPIO feature
| ocsetup MultipathIo /norestart |
This will install MPIO feature and will not restart the server
5. Claim all iSCSI attached storage for MPIO
| mpclaim -r -i -d "MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0x9" |
The server will restart . After restart, you can execute MPIOCPL.
You will see a new device hardware ID (MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0x9) in the MPIO Devices tab
6. Now add a second path to each LUN and leave the default Round Robin Load Balancing.
Go to iSCSI Initiator, select the LUN and click Properties
7. Click Add Session > Tick enable Multi path > Click Advanced and select the iSCSI NIC 2.
8. Once complete, click Devices and select MPIO button. You will see two path on the LUN which has set to Round Robin.
9. To verify, execute
| mpclaim –s –d |
To view all LUN which has claimed in the MPIO
10. To verify MPIO policy according to disk #,
| mpclaim –s id <disk #> |
Now you have successful learn on how to set high availability on iSCSI NIC.
