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50-67
Cisco MDS 9000 Family Fabric Manager Configuration Guide
OL-17256-03, Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 4.x
Chapter 50 Configuring iSCSI
iSNS
iSNS
Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) allows your existing TCP/IP network to function more effectively
as a SAN by automating the discovery, management, and configuration of iSCSI devices. To facilitate
these functions, the iSNS server and client function as follows:
• The iSNS client registers iSCSI portals and all iSCSI devices accessible through them with an iSNS
server.
• The iSNS server provides the following services for the iSNS client:
–
Device registration
–
State change notification
–
Remote domain discovery services
All iSCSI devices (both initiator and target) acting as iSNS clients, can register with an iSNS server.
iSCSI initiators can then query the iSNS server for a list of targets. The iSNS server will respond with a
list of targets that the querying client can access based on configured access control parameters.
A Cisco MDS 9000 Family switch can act as an iSNS client and register all available iSCSI targets with
an external iSNS server. All switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family with IPS modules or MPS-14/2
modules installed support iSNS server functionality. This allows external iSNS clients, such as an iSCSI
initiator, to register with the switch and discover all available iSCSI targets in the SAN.
This section includes the following topics:
• About iSNS Client Functionality, page 50-67
• Creating an iSNS Client Profile, page 50-68
• About iSNS Server Functionality, page 50-69
• Configuring iSNS Servers, page 50-71
About iSNS Client Functionality
The iSNS client functionality on each IPS interface (Gigabit Ethernet interface or subinterface or
PortChannel) registers information with an iSNS server. You must specify an iSNS server’s IP address
by creating an iSNS profile, adding the server’s IP address to it, and then assigning (or “tagging”) the
profile to the interface. An iSNS profile can be tagged to one or more interfaces.
Once a profile is tagged to an interface, the switch opens a TCP connection to the iSNS server IP address
(using the well-known iSNS port number 3205) in the profile and registers network entity and portal
objects; a unique entity is associated with each IPS interface. The switch then searches the Fibre Channel
name server (FCNS) database and switch configuration to find storage nodes to register with the iSNS
server.
Statically mapped virtual targets are registered if the associated Fibre Channel pWWN is present in the
FCNS database and no access control configuration prevents it. A dynamically mapped target is
registered if dynamic target importing is enabled. See the
“Presenting Fibre Channel Targets as iSCSI
Targets” section on page 50-7 for more details on how iSCSI imports Fibre Channel targets.
A storage node is deregistered from the iSNS server when it becomes unavailable when a configuration
changes (such as access control change or dynamic import disabling) or the Fibre Channel storage port
goes offline. It is registered again when the node comes back online.
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