Installing the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target Providers

Applies To: Microsoft iSCSI Software Target

A provider is software that supports managing iSCSI virtual disks and snapshots from an iSCSI initiator.

The following providers are included in Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3, and they are installed on initiators that connect to a storage appliance that is running Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3:

• Microsoft iSCSI Software Target Virtual Disk Service Hardware Provider

  Virtual Disk Service (VDS) was introduced in Windows Server 2003. VDS is a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that provides a single interface for managing storage hardware and disks and for creating volumes on those disks. The iSCSI Software Target VDS hardware provider is required manage virtual disks in a storage system that is running non-Microsoft VDS- or VSS-aware applications.

  You install the iSCSI Software Target VDS hardware provider on each iSCSI initiator that is running a storage management application (such as Storage Manager for SANs). You should also install the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target VDS hardware provider on any computer from which you will use VDS-aware management applications to manage the storage appliance.

• iSCSI Software Target Volume Shadow Copy Service Hardware Provider

  A iSCSI Software Target VSS hardware provider is required to create transportable snapshots of iSCSI virtual disks and to create application-consistent snapshots from iSCSI initiators. Snapshots are created by using the Volume Shadow Copy Service in conjunction with a disk storage array.

  You install the iSCSI Software Target VSS hardware provider on the iSCSI initiator server that you use to perform backups. The backup software that you use must support transporting snapshots.

• iSCSI Software Target High Performance Computing Provider

  A iSCSI Software Target High-Performance Computing (HPC) provider enables you to provision iSCSI startup disks for Windows HPC Servers.

**Prerequisite**: To perform the following procedure, you must provide credentials for the Administrator account on the local computer (if you are prompted), or you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.  
  

#### To add an HPC head-node computer account to the Administrators group on a server running Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3

1.  Click Start.

2.  Right-click **Computer** and then choose **Manage**. The Computer Management tool appears.

3.  Expand the **Local Users and Groups** node, and then click to highlight **Groups**. All groups associated with this computer are displayed in the details pane.

4.  Right-click the **Administrators** group, click **Add to Group**, and then click **Add**. The **Select Users, Computers, or Groups** dialog box appears. The computer object is not included in the Administrators group by default. You need to explicitly add the computer object type as follows:
    
    1.  In the **Select Users, Computers, or Groups** dialog box, click **Object Types**. The **Object Types** dialog box appears.
    
    2.  Select the **Computers** check box, and then click **OK**.

5.  In the **Select Users, Computers, or Groups** dialog box, under **Enter the object names to select**, type the name of the computer account that you want to add to the group (the HPC head-node computer name that you added in step 4), and then click **OK**.

The iSCSI target creates snapshots to back up and restore virtual disks that are file-system consistent, and which support restoration at the file-system level. For a virtual disk to be restored in a way that is application consistent so that the server application recovers completely, the snapshots should be made from the iSCSI initiator. This functionality requires the use of the iSCSI Software Target VSS hardware provider on the iSCSI initiator server.

Except as noted, the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target providers can be installed on the following operating systems:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64)

• Windows Server 2008 (x64)

• Windows Server 2008 with SP2 (x64)

• Windows Server 2008 with SP2 (x86)

• Windows Server 2008 with SP1 (x64)

• Windows Server 2008 with SP1 (x86)

• Windows Server 2003 with SP2 (x64)

• Windows Server 2003 with SP2 (x86)

The Microsoft iSCSI Software Target providers require that the computer on which they are installed is in a Windows domain, and that the computer is in the same domain as the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target that they are connecting to.

Installing the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target Providers

The Microsoft iSCSI Software Target providers are distributed as Windows Installer files. Open the Index.htm file to access the installation links, or double-click the applicable iscsitargetClient.msi file. Alternatively, you can type the following commands in a Command Prompt window to install or uninstall the providers.

To install the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target providers

At a command prompt, type the following: msiexec /i iscsitargetClient.msi <options> ALLUSERS=1 [PROPERTY=PropertyValue]

To uninstall the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target Hardware providers

At a command prompt, type the following: msiexec /x iscsitargetClient.msi <options>

The following options are available:

The following properties are available:

To upgrade to Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 providers

1. Uninstall previous versions of the applicable providers.

2. Right-click the iscsitargetClient.msi file for iSCSI initiator 3.32 and select Run as Administrator.

3. Follow the steps in the wizard.