Fibre Channel and iSCSI cluster

Folks,

I need your help. I have a couple of MSCS clusters. The first cluster
contains two nodes using Fibre Channel and the second is a two node cluster
using iSCSI. Both these clusters use resources like Disks from a SAN. Both
the cluster setup are in a single domain.

I created a disk in the SAN and presented to the four nodes of both the
clusters. The SAN allowed this since the SAN sees the 4 nodes as just 4
servers or hosts.

I then created a cluster resource (disk) and then assigned to the iSCSI
cluster. The two nodes in the iSCSI cluster are able to see the disk and one
of the nodes owns it and view its properties. This seems to be right.

However since the SAN presents the same disk to the other FC cluster, the FC
cluster seems to go ahead and do some read/write operations.

I am not sure if this is the expected behaviour? Can you folks help me out?

Thanks!

You should be using zoning on your FC switches for isolation and security
between clusters / LUNs. Same tenets apply for iSCSI...use RADIUS or other
authentication methods to control the discovery of iSCSI targets / volumes.

Hope this helps,
--Ryan

--
Ryan Sokolowski
MVP - Clustering
MCT, MCITP x3, MCTS x7, MCSE x2, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP


"Pradeep Balakrishnan" <Pradeep >
wrote in message news:920343AC-22B0-49C3-978E-...
> Folks,
>
> I need your help. I have a couple of MSCS clusters. The first cluster
> contains two nodes using Fibre Channel and the second is a two node
> cluster
> using iSCSI. Both these clusters use resources like Disks from a SAN. Both
> the cluster setup are in a single domain.
>
> I created a disk in the SAN and presented to the four nodes of both the
> clusters. The SAN allowed this since the SAN sees the 4 nodes as just 4
> servers or hosts.
>
> I then created a cluster resource (disk) and then assigned to the iSCSI
> cluster. The two nodes in the iSCSI cluster are able to see the disk and
> one
> of the nodes owns it and view its properties. This seems to be right.
>
> However since the SAN presents the same disk to the other FC cluster, the
> FC
> cluster seems to go ahead and do some read/write operations.
>
> I am not sure if this is the expected behaviour? Can you folks help me
> out?
>
> Thanks!

I have a 1:1 zoning complete for the FC switch/cluster and the iSCSI cluster
is on a seperate ethernet switch. I am still not sure what the expected
behaviour is or default behaviour is. Can the volume presented for all nodes
be visible on all cluster nodes.

Thanks, Pradeep


"Ryan Sokolowski [MVP]" wrote:

> You should be using zoning on your FC switches for isolation and security
> between clusters / LUNs. Same tenets apply for iSCSI...use RADIUS or other
> authentication methods to control the discovery of iSCSI targets / volumes.
>
> Hope this helps,
> --Ryan
>
> --
> Ryan Sokolowski
> MVP - Clustering
> MCT, MCITP x3, MCTS x7, MCSE x2, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP
>
>
> "Pradeep Balakrishnan" <Pradeep >
> wrote in message news:920343AC-22B0-49C3-978E-...
> > Folks,
> >
> > I need your help. I have a couple of MSCS clusters. The first cluster
> > contains two nodes using Fibre Channel and the second is a two node
> > cluster
> > using iSCSI. Both these clusters use resources like Disks from a SAN. Both
> > the cluster setup are in a single domain.
> >
> > I created a disk in the SAN and presented to the four nodes of both the
> > clusters. The SAN allowed this since the SAN sees the 4 nodes as just 4
> > servers or hosts.
> >
> > I then created a cluster resource (disk) and then assigned to the iSCSI
> > cluster. The two nodes in the iSCSI cluster are able to see the disk and
> > one
> > of the nodes owns it and view its properties. This seems to be right.
> >
> > However since the SAN presents the same disk to the other FC cluster, the
> > FC
> > cluster seems to go ahead and do some read/write operations.
> >
> > I am not sure if this is the expected behaviour? Can you folks help me
> > out?
> >
> > Thanks!
>

The volumes should be visible to all participating cluster nodes, but
remember that only one node can have access to a volume at one time.

--
Ryan Sokolowski
MVP - Clustering
MCT, MCITP x3, MCTS x7, MCSE x2, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP


"Pradeep Balakrishnan" <> wrote
in message news:A2B46BEA-008C-4834-877E-...
>I have a 1:1 zoning complete for the FC switch/cluster and the iSCSI
>cluster
> is on a seperate ethernet switch. I am still not sure what the expected
> behaviour is or default behaviour is. Can the volume presented for all
> nodes
> be visible on all cluster nodes.
>
> Thanks, Pradeep
>
>
> "Ryan Sokolowski [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> You should be using zoning on your FC switches for isolation and security
>> between clusters / LUNs. Same tenets apply for iSCSI...use RADIUS or
>> other
>> authentication methods to control the discovery of iSCSI targets /
>> volumes.
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>> --Ryan
>>
>> --
>> Ryan Sokolowski
>> MVP - Clustering
>> MCT, MCITP x3, MCTS x7, MCSE x2, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP
>>
>>
>> "Pradeep Balakrishnan" <Pradeep >
>> wrote in message
>> news:920343AC-22B0-49C3-978E-...
>> > Folks,
>> >
>> > I need your help. I have a couple of MSCS clusters. The first cluster
>> > contains two nodes using Fibre Channel and the second is a two node
>> > cluster
>> > using iSCSI. Both these clusters use resources like Disks from a SAN.
>> > Both
>> > the cluster setup are in a single domain.
>> >
>> > I created a disk in the SAN and presented to the four nodes of both the
>> > clusters. The SAN allowed this since the SAN sees the 4 nodes as just 4
>> > servers or hosts.
>> >
>> > I then created a cluster resource (disk) and then assigned to the iSCSI
>> > cluster. The two nodes in the iSCSI cluster are able to see the disk
>> > and
>> > one
>> > of the nodes owns it and view its properties. This seems to be right.
>> >
>> > However since the SAN presents the same disk to the other FC cluster,
>> > the
>> > FC
>> > cluster seems to go ahead and do some read/write operations.
>> >
>> > I am not sure if this is the expected behaviour? Can you folks help me
>> > out?
>> >
>> > Thanks!
>>

Volumes are only visible in explorer (double click on my computer) if there
were online on the node after the boot. If you just boot a node, and the
volumes have not yet been online on this node than you will not see them in
explorer. This is an explorer caching issue.

rgds,
Edwin.


"Ryan Sokolowski [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:055EE57E-38CB-4CA8-A66A-...
> The volumes should be visible to all participating cluster nodes, but
> remember that only one node can have access to a volume at one time.
>
> --
> Ryan Sokolowski
> MVP - Clustering
> MCT, MCITP x3, MCTS x7, MCSE x2, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP
>
>
> "Pradeep Balakrishnan" <>
wrote
> in message news:A2B46BEA-008C-4834-877E-...
> >I have a 1:1 zoning complete for the FC switch/cluster and the iSCSI
> >cluster
> > is on a seperate ethernet switch. I am still not sure what the expected
> > behaviour is or default behaviour is. Can the volume presented for all
> > nodes
> > be visible on all cluster nodes.
> >
> > Thanks, Pradeep
> >
> >
> > "Ryan Sokolowski [MVP]" wrote:
> >
> >> You should be using zoning on your FC switches for isolation and
security
> >> between clusters / LUNs. Same tenets apply for iSCSI...use RADIUS or
> >> other
> >> authentication methods to control the discovery of iSCSI targets /
> >> volumes.
> >>
> >> Hope this helps,
> >> --Ryan
> >>
> >> --
> >> Ryan Sokolowski
> >> MVP - Clustering
> >> MCT, MCITP x3, MCTS x7, MCSE x2, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP
> >>
> >>
> >> "Pradeep Balakrishnan" <Pradeep >
> >> wrote in message
> >> news:920343AC-22B0-49C3-978E-...
> >> > Folks,
> >> >
> >> > I need your help. I have a couple of MSCS clusters. The first cluster
> >> > contains two nodes using Fibre Channel and the second is a two node
> >> > cluster
> >> > using iSCSI. Both these clusters use resources like Disks from a SAN.
> >> > Both
> >> > the cluster setup are in a single domain.
> >> >
> >> > I created a disk in the SAN and presented to the four nodes of both
the
> >> > clusters. The SAN allowed this since the SAN sees the 4 nodes as just
4
> >> > servers or hosts.
> >> >
> >> > I then created a cluster resource (disk) and then assigned to the
iSCSI
> >> > cluster. The two nodes in the iSCSI cluster are able to see the disk
> >> > and
> >> > one
> >> > of the nodes owns it and view its properties. This seems to be right.
> >> >
> >> > However since the SAN presents the same disk to the other FC cluster,
> >> > the
> >> > FC
> >> > cluster seems to go ahead and do some read/write operations.
> >> >
> >> > I am not sure if this is the expected behaviour? Can you folks help
me
> >> > out?
> >> >
> >> > Thanks!
> >>
>