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In this step-by-step instructional guide, I will show you how to configure an Azure StorSimple 1200 virtual appliance as an MPIO-capable iSCSI storage system.
Please read Deploying a StorSimple Virtual Appliance before proceeding with this article.
StorSimple will often be used when demands on an existing storage system have exceeded its capabilities. For example, an application server uses an E: drive to store terabytes of data. Demand continues to grow. The business has decided that instead of continuing to invest in fast and expensive local storage for the virtual hard disks of the virtual machine, they are going to switch to using cloud storage. They need to do so without too much configuration change.
By using the iSCSI capabilities of StorSimple, the customer can:
When you are designing the virtual machine, you probably should keep normal iSCSI concepts in mind:
When you are configuring Network Settings in the local StorSimple browser interface, you will have 3 interfaces to assign IP addresses to:
Configuring Management and iSCSI NICs in StorSimple Virtual Appliance [Image Credit: Aidan Finn]
Setting Up StorSimple as an iSCSI Storage Appliance [Image Credit: Aidan Finn]
Log into your application server and retrieve the IQN for iSCSI communications. In the case of Windows Server:
Retrieving the iSCSI IQN from an Application Server [Image Credit: Aidan Finn]
Go to Volumes and click +Add Volume. In my example, I have to select a virtual appliance. Then, the reset of the Add Volume blade will populate with options. Enter the following details:
Navigate into Connected Hosts. You can select an existing server or click Add New. I will do the latter. Enter the name of the server to describe the access control record (ACR) and paste in the IQN of the application server. Click Add.
Wait for the ACR creation task to complete. Select the ACR and click Select. The Add Volume blade is now complete and you can click Create. A new iSCSI volume is brought online after a few moments.
Creating a New iSCSI Volume in StorSimple [Image Credit: Aidan Finn]
You can allow more servers to connect to an iSCSI volume. Make note, this should only be done when the servers are in the same cluster and are accessing the volume in a coordinated manner.
To add more ACRs, browse to the volume in StorSimple Device Manager, open the volume, and click Connected Hosts. You can add an ACR for each server. Enter the name to describe the connection and the IQN of the server in question.
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