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13 Dell EMC SC Series: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Best Practices | CML1031
2.4.1 Configuration
The Linux system being configured requires an Ethernet port, preferably a dedicated one that can
communicate with the iSCSI ports on the SC Series storage system.
The most important consideration when configuring an iSCSI volume is the network path. Due consideration
is recommended to determine the confidentiality, security, and latency required for the iSCSI traffic. These
needs will drive and define the network topology of the iSCSI architecture (for example: dedicated physical
ports, VLAN usage, multipath, and redundancy).
It is a best practice to separate and isolate iSCSI traffic from routine network traffic by the use of dedicated
ports, switches, and infrastructure. If the physical topology is constrained, it is recommended to separate and
isolate iSCSI traffic by the use of VLAN subnets. It is also a best practice to always use iSCSI in a multipath
configuration to create proper path redundancy.
If VLAN subnets are not possible, two further options that can be explored are as follows:
• Route traffic at the network layer by defining static routes.
• Route traffic at the iSCSI level with the configuration.
The following directions assume that a network port has already been configured to communicate with the SC
Series iSCSI ports.
2.4.2 Initializing and configuring iSCSI
1. Install the software package.
2. The iSCSI software and tools are provided by the iscsi-initiator-utils package. Install the package
with yum if it is not already available on the system.
# yum install iscsi-initiator-utils
3. Start and enable iSCSI daemon.
4. The iSCSI software initiator consists of two main components: the daemon that runs in the
background to handle connections and traffic, and the administration utility used to configure and
modify connections. If the daemon does not start automatically during boot, it must be started before
beginning the configuration.
- For RHEL 6 and older:
# service iscsid start
# chkconfig --levels 345 iscsid on
- For RHEL 7 and newer:
# systemctl start iscsid
# systemctl enable iscsid
5. Discover the IQN names for the SC Series ports.