HP StorageWorks 1510i Modular Smart Array iSCSI concepts and deployment guide (431338-002, July 2008)

Target access
A target is acces
sed through an iSCSI session originating from an iSCSI initiator, with the trafficpassing
through one or more MSA1510i storage portals. These storage portals are made visible to the available
initiators through an iSCSI login discovery process. The MSA1510i supports the standard Send Targets
discovery proc
ess, as well as SLP and iSNS. An initiator that has discovered all the targets and storage
portals defined
foritcanthenestablishiSCSIsessionsthroughauniqueLoginprocessforeachtarget.
NOTE:
For redundancy, an initiator may set up multiple paths to the same targets. For more information about
redundant configurations, see Multipathing.
Target portal groups
A portal group is a set of network storage portals that are grouped together for the purpose of sharing
an iSCSI session. Multiple iSCSI connections may be established to each storage portal within a portal
group to increase throughput. The MSA1510i allows up to two iSCSI connections per session to be
established to the same storage portal or another portal within the same portal group. For more
information about storage portals, see Network storage portals.
There is a system limit of 32 portal groups that maybe defined. HP recommends no more than 16 portal
groups be defined for each controller, to allow for redundant paths to each target (as explained later).
Storage LUNs
The array controller presents its storage to the network using a logical configuration of the physical
hard drives.
Primary components of this logical storage configuration include:
• Physical hard drives
• Logical arrays
• Logical storage units (LUNs)
Proper planning of the storage configuration and its subsequent performance is critical to a successful
deployment of your storage system. Improper planning or implementation can result in degraded
performance, wasted storage space, or inability to expand the system to meet future storage needs.
NOTE:
For information about configuring the physical hard drives, arrays, and logical drives, see the
Storage Management Utility user guide or the MSA1510i Command Line Interface user guide.
These and other MSA1510i-specificuserdocumentsareavailableontheMSA1510iwebsite:
h
ttp://www.hp.com/go/msa1510i.
Mapped storage LUNs
Configured LUNs are assigned (or mapped) to a user-created iSCSI target entity, which is the entity
avail
able to the iSCSI network. One or more LUNs can be mapped to an iSCSI target.
A LUN can be assigned to only one target. As the LUNs are mapped to a target, they are assigned a
LUN number that is local to the OS hosting it.
Consi
der:
• Basic configurations with only one initiator accessing the storage usually create one (or just a
few) large LUNs mapped to one target. An initiator granted access to the target has access
to all of the storage.
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