Configuring an SMI-S Provider for iSCSI Target Server

As shown below, two SMI-S providers are installed on the same computer, and each is registered with the Storage Management service for VMM. Due to a known issue with the Storage Management service, only one of the providers will be discovered.

Two WMI-based SMI-S providers are installed on the same computer. One SMI-S provider is intended for VMM management, and the other third-party SMI-S provider is intended for File Server Storage Management. Due to a known issue in the Storage Management service, both VMM and File Service Storage Management will only discover one provider, and it might not be the intended provider for the application.

1. MaskingSet maps to the iSCSI Target object—The friendly name of a MaskingSet by default uses the prefix string “SPC:” + 16-bit random. It is recommended to use a friendly name when creating the MaskingSet. VMM uses either the hostname or cluster name as the friendly name. The SMI-S provider will use the friendly name and this also becomes the “Description” property of the WT_Host object for iSCSI Target Server.
   
   
2. StorageVolume maps to WT_Disk (fixed Virtual Disk)—When a user creates an iSCSI disk using VMM, the SMI-S provider uses the friendly name as the VHD name. If the Virtual Disk already exists during SMI-S discovery, the provider uses its description as the friendly name. If the Virtual Disk already exists but does not have a description string (is empty or NULL), then the Virtual Disk friendly name uses the prefix string “VirtualDiskIndex:” + WTD (integer of the index).
   
   
3. ConcretePool maps to WT_Volume—The friendly name displayed for the SMI-S provider is:  “iSCSITarget: SubsystemName” + first mount point string. For example, if the mount point string is “C:”, then its name is “iSCSITarget: SubsystemName: C:”. There is a single PrimordialPool and its name is fixed as “MS iSCSITarget Primordial”
   
   

VMM in System Center 2012 SP1 requires Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - if you do not have these installed, VMM setup will prompt you to install them. For more information, see Upgrading to VMM in System Center 2012 SP1. The Microsoft Standard-based Storage Management service is enabled during VMM installation.

Enable and install iSCSI Target Server using the following steps:

1. Use the Windows PowerShell cmdlet Add-WindowsFeature FS-IscsiTargetServer to enable iSCSI Target Server. iSCSI Target Server is included in Windows Server 2012.
   
   
2. Install the update described in Microsoft KB article 27558246: Update for Windows 8 (KB2758246). Alternatively, this update is included in the rollup described in Microsoft KB article 2770917: Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 cumulative update: November 2012 installed. This update contains WMI-related changes to iSCSI Target Server that improve VMM discovery performance.
   
   
3. Install the SMI-S provider, using the iSCSI Target SMI-S Provider Setup wizard.
   
   

Note

The SMI-S provider is included with System Center 2012 SP1 installation. You can find the setup file on the installation CD under the path:\amd64\Setup\msi\iSCSITargetSMISProvider.msi, or alternatively on the VMM server under \Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012\Virtual Machine Manager\setup\msi\iSCSITargetProv\iSCSITargetSMISProvider.msi. Complete the wizard to install the SMI-S provider on the iSCSI Target Server computer.

Obtain the iSCSI Target Server local administrator credentials as follows:

$Cred = Get-Credential

Note that any account that is part of the Local Administrators group is sufficient.

Create a RunAs account in VMM as follows:

$Runas = New-SCRunAsAccount -Name "iSCSIRunas" -Credential $Cred

Add the storage provider as follows:

Add-SCStorageProvider -Name "Microsoft iSCSI Target Provider" -RunAsAccount $Runas -ComputerName "<computername>" -AddSmisWmiProvider

Review the storage array attributes as follows:

$array = Get-SCStorageArray -Name “<computername>”

View available storage pools as follows:

$array.StoragePools

Get the specific storage pool to add as follows:

$pool = Get-SCStoragePool -Name "MS iSCSITarget Concrete: D:"

Create a storage classification (if none existed) as follows:

$class = New-SCStorageClassification -Name “gold”

Add the storage pool to VMM as follows:

Set-SCStorageArray -AddStoragePoolToManagement $pool -StorageArray $pool.StorageArray -StorageClassification $class

Allocate the storage pool to a host group as follows:

Set-SCStoragePool -StoragePool $pool -AddVMHostGroup (Get-SCVMHostGroup -Name "All Hosts")

Create an iSCSI logical unit number (LUN) as follows:

$LUN = New-SCStorageLogicalUnit -Name "iSCSI1" -StoragePool $pool -DiskSizeMB 1000

Allocate the LUN to host group as follows:

Set-SCStorageLogicalUnit -StorageLogicalUnit $LUN -VMHostGroup (Get-SCVMHostGroup -Name "All Hosts")

Assign the LUN to the host group as follows:

$host = Get-SCVMhost -ComputerName <host name>

Add the host machine to the host group as follows:

Register-SCStorageLogicalUnit -StorageLogicalUnit $LUN -VMHost $host

Delete a LUN as follows:

Remove-SCStorageLogicalUnit -StorageLogicalUnit $LUN

Remove a storage provider as follows:

Remove-SCStorageProvider -StorageProvider (Get-SCStorageProvider -Name "Microsoft iSCSI Target Provider")