Table of Contents

RPN-SAN : Proxmox

All commands have to be run as the root user

Configuration of Proxmox for the usage of RPN

Connect with SSH to your server, as user root 

ssh root@sd-XXX.dedibox.fr

Edit the file /etc/network/interfaces, and replace the lines referring to eth1 with the following: 

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

Reboot your server after saving the file. Your RPN is configured now.

Installation and configuration of Open-iSCSI

Proxmox needs the software Open-iSCSI to support the mounting of iSCSI volumes. It may not be installed on your system.

Connect with SSH to your server, as user root 

ssh root@sd-XXX.dedibox.fr

Install open-iscsi (for example on Debian or Ubuntu) 

apt-get install open-iscsi

Edit the file /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf 

vi /etc/iscsi/iscsid.conf

and add the following configuration lines 

node.conn[0].timeo.noop_out_interval = 0
node.conn[0].timeo.noop_out_timeout = 0
node.session.timeo.replacement_timeout = 86400

This change is designed to prevent your file system becomes read-only if the connection is interrupted for more than two minutes (by default) between your server and the storage server, which can happen during periods of maintenance.

Configure the parameter that allows an automatic connection to the target 

node.startup = automatic

You can also change these settings to take advantage of the data integrity check, if available 

node.conn[0].iscsi.HeaderDigest = CRC32C,None
node.conn[0].iscsi.DataDigest = CRC32C,None

After these modifications a restart is required

Discovery and connection to targets in Proxmox

In the Server View, click on Datacenter, then on the tab Storage.

Click in the menu Add then at iSCSI Target and fill out the following form:

  • ID: an identifier of your choice for your RPN-SAN storage
  • Portal: The server on which your storage is available (example: san-1.rpn.online.net)
  • Target: click on the arrow and the list of available targets will be displayed (if that is not the case, no need to go further, there is a problem)
  • Nodes: The nodes that can access the target
  • Enable: check this box
  • Use LUNs directly: Do not check if you want to create an LVM Group (recommended, see next step). Check if you want to use the LUN directly.
  • Shared: Attention: Do not check unless you really know what you are doing!

Adding a LVM Group (Optional)

This step only applies if you want to create a LVM Group for the storage of VM images.

Click on Add then on iSCSI Target and fill out the form:

  • ID: an identifier of your choice for your RPN-SAN storage
  • Base Storage: click on the arrow and select the storage space previously mounted
  • Base Volume : click on the arrow and select the line that appears
  • Volume Group : an identifier of your choice for the volume group in the system
  • Nodes : the nodes that can access this space
  • Enable : check this box

Your new storage is ready for use.