Help! Configuring iSCSI in Server 2008 Core is terrible...

[Guest Ed Swindelles]

I am trying to configure a Server 2008 Datacenter Core server to mount an

iSCSI volume. The server has multiple NIC's, one of which is on the iSCSI

VLAN. The server is in a workgroup and will be a Hyper-V host.

 

On a separate Win 08 box with a full installation and domain membership I

can mount the iSCSI volume no problem with Storage Explorer by entering the

target portal address and logging into the right IQN. In addition, from that

'08 box (or another Vista box that I have) I can fully remotely manage the

Server Core box through a combination of firewall rules and local accounts

(cmdkey /add). So, I know my problems are not permissions related. Again, I

can FULLY manage the server remotely from a domain-joined server or

workstation.

 

BUT, Storage Explorer from that same domain-joined Win 08 box is deaf blind

and stupid when trying to remotely connect to the Core box. It lists the

server as SERVERNAME.WORKGROUP but doesn't give any options for managing it.

It doesn't even show the IQN of the server, so I know its not getting too

far. And the results are the same if I turn off the firewalls on both boxes,

so that's not it.

 

Furthermore, if I join the Core box to the domain, Storage Explorer manages

it just fine. But, domain membership is not part of my spec for Hyper-V

hosts, and since I've got quite a few of these to setup, I can't just change

the spec.

 

So, I've been trying to configure the iSCSI target using ISCSICLI, with no

luck. I can connect to the target portal fine. Then if I do a "listtargets"

I see all of the right IQN's. Then if I do a "logintarget" or

"persistentlogintarget" it successfully creates a session (confirmed by

"sessionlist"). BUT, the target is never exposed to the operating system as

a disk to mount.

 

So, then I tried joining the Core box to the domain and remotely creating

the target from my other Win 08 box. This works great. The target

immediately pops up in Disk Management as a volume to mount. So, then I

dumped the configuration using ISCSICLI on the core box ("listtargetportals"

and "listpersistenttargets"), removed the target, and removed the server from

the domain. I then tried creating the target manually using the same exact

settings as the dump, and I get nothing.

 

addtargetportal 10.x.x.x 3260 "Root\ISCSIPRT\0000_0" 3 0x0 0x0 * * 32 0 60 *

* *

persistentlogintarget <iqn> T 10.x.x.x 3260 Root\ISCSIPRT\0000_0 3 0x0 0x0

None None 32 0 60 * * None * 0

 

* "3" is the index of my NIC that is on the same VLAN as the iSCSI target.

 

There must be something that Storage Explorer is doing that I'm missing.

Does anyone have any insight? Also, has anyone successfully managed a

workgroup Core box with Storage Explorer from a domain?

 

I've tried every different combination of the above ISCSICLI commands, too.

I've tried without specifying the NIC index, with all * parameters, etc. ALL

of them report success, and I can see the session with sessionlist, but its

NEVER exposed to the operating system as a device.

 

thank you thank you thank you