We’ve installed our QLogic QLE4062C PCI Express HBA so now we need to configure it and add the iSCSI storage repository to XenServer.

There are two ways of configuring the HBA.

1. BIOS

2. Command line configuration utility

XenServer 5.5 and later ships with the QLogic configuration tools build in. The iSCSI version is:

/opt/QLogic_Corporation/SANsurferiCLI/iscli

We used the BIOS configuration utility as we found the iscli to crash frequently.

Configuring QLogic HBA via BIOS

The Fast!Util BIOS configuration is invoked by entering CTRL+Q during the POST.

The initial screen shows the adaptors present. Select the adaptor you wish to configure by highlighting it and pressing enter.

With the adaptor you wish to configure chosen, you now have the main configuration menu. We’ll choose the first option “Configuration settings” to configure the IP address.

The configuration settings menu. We’ll again choose the first item “Host Adapter Settings”

The screen shows the current host adaptor settings including the initiator (that’s us) iSCSI name (think of this like a FQDN or hostname of the adaptor). We want to configure the IP address, so choose “Initiator IP settings”

If there is already an IP address configured it will be displayed here. Otherwise, it will be 0.0.0.0. Highlight the IPv4 (or IPv6 if you are using v6) and hit enter to set the IP address. Do the same for the subnet mask, and Gateway address (if required). If your HBA is on the same layer 2 switch as your iSCSI SAN then no gateway is required.

Once you have set the IP address, escape back to the previous menu. We’ll now configure the iSCSI target that we want to connect to. Note this process is usually used when configuring the server to boot from the iSCSI device, but we won’t enable the boot device support, only configure the targets so that XenServer will detect our iSCSI targets and allow us to add the LUNs as storage repositories later.

Choose “iSCSI Boot Settings”

The QLogic BIOS allows you to setup a primary and secondary boot device (so you can boot your server in the event of a SAN failure). We only need to configure the primary, so choose “Primary Boot Device Settings”

The “Security Settings” option is used to configure a CHAP userid and password. In this example we’ll skip straight to configuring a target IP address.

Enter the IP address of your target iSCSI SAN. It’s usual to leave the port as default (unless you’ve change the iSCSI port on your SAN for some reason). You can choose to enter the iSCSI name manually here, but as they are usually quite long and complex, we will scan for available hosts instead.

Hit escape to return to the previous menu. You will be prompted to save the settings you have configured so far.

Before we scan for available targets, lets test networking connectivity by using the built in PING utility from the main menu.

Enter the IP address of your iSCSI target and choose “PING target”. If you have networking connectivity, you should see the below message:

Right, so know our HBA is configured and can talk to our iSCSI SAN. Lets scan for some targets. Choose “Scan iSCSI devices” and after a few minutes you should be presented with a list with the available targets listed.

As screen real estate is limited, and iSCSI names tend to be quite long, press F1 whilst highlighting one of the IDs and it will display the full iSCSI name

If a target hosts multiple LUNs, then you can choose of the target and get presented with a list as below:

We don’t need to go any further in the BIOS configuration unless we want to boot the XenServer itself from the iSCSI LUN, so exit from the BIOS config, saving any settings that you are prompted for.

Adding the new iSCSI Storage Repository

Using XenCentre, add a new Storage Repository to your server.

Choose “Hardware HBA” as the storage type

The detected LUNs will now be displayed below the type of HBA. The first HBA below is the local SAS storage (which is also presented as a HBA by the RAID controller, but is of course already attached). Our new iSCSI LUNs are shown under “QNAP”.

Type the description and choose the LUN you wish to use.

Accept the warning that adding the LUN will erase any existing data on it.

The Storage Repository will then be formatted and added to your XenServer. You may then start using it.

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