Skip to main content
Connect a network drive to a dedicated server
Last update:

Connect a network drive to a dedicated server

You can connect the network disk to one or more servers.

  1. Create a SAN.
  2. Connect the network drive to the server.
  3. Connect the network drive to the server in the server OS.
  4. Configure MPIO.
  5. Optional: connect the network drive to another server.
  6. Prepare the network drive for operation.

1. Create a SAN network⁠

  1. В control panels from the top menu, press Products and select Dedicated servers.
  2. Go to the section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks.
  3. Open the disk page → tab Connecting to the server.
  4. Click on the link Create a SAN.
  5. Click Add SAN.
  6. Select accessibility zone.
  7. Enter a subnet or leave the subnet that is generated by default. The subnet must belong to a private address range 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12 or 192.168.0.0/16 and should not already be in use in your infrastructure.
  8. Click Create a SAN.

2. Connect the network drive to the server⁠

  1. В control panels from the top menu, press Products and select Dedicated servers.
  2. Go to the section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks.
  3. Open the disk page → tab Connecting to the server.
  4. In the field Server click Select.
  5. Select the server to which the network disk will be connected. Network drives are available for connection to dedicated servers в bullet MSK-1. You can connect the network disk to dedicated servers of a ready configuration with the tag You can connect network drives and to dedicated servers of arbitrary configuration with an additional 2 × 10 GE network card + connection to a SAN network of 10 Gbps network disks.

3. Connect the network disk to the server in the server OS⁠

You can connect a network disk to the server manually or with the help of a ready-made script, which is formed in the control panel. The script can be used only on Ubuntu OS.

  1. Connect to the server via SSH or through KVM console.

  2. Open the utility configuration file netplan word processor vi:

    vi /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

  3. On the network interfaces connected to the SAN switch, add IP addresses and write routes to gain access to iSCSI targets:

        <eth_name_1>:
                addresses:
                - <ip_address_1>
                routes:
                - to: <destination_subnet_1>
                  via: <next_hop_1>
        <eth_name_2>:
                addresses:
                - <ip_address_2>
                routes:
                - to: <destination_subnet_2>
                  via: <next_hop_2>

    Specify:

    • <eth_name_1> — name of the first network interface, it is configured on the first port of the network card;
    • <eth_name_2> — name of the second network interface, it is configured on the second port of the network card;
    • <ip_address_1> — The IP address of the first port on the network card. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring network interfaces → column Port IP address;
    • <ip_address_2> — The IP address of the second port on the network card. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring network interfaces → column Port IP address;
    • <destination_subnet_1> — destination subnet for the first port on the network card. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring network interfaces → column Destination subnetwork;
    • <destination_subnet_2> — destination subnet for the second port on the network card. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring network interfaces → column Destination subnetwork;
    • <next_hop_1> — gateway for the first port on the network card. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring network interfaces → column Next hop (gateway);
    • <next_hop_2> — gateway for the second port on the network card. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring network interfaces → column Next hop (gateway).

  4. Exit the text editor vi with the changes intact:

    :wq

  5. Apply the configuration:

    netplan apply

  6. Print the information about the network interfaces and verify that they are configured correctly:

    ip a

  7. Optional: reboot the server.

  8. Check the speed of each network interface. It must be at least 10 GBit/sec:

    ethtool <eth_name_1> | grep -i speed
    ethtool <eth_name_2> | grep -i speed

    Specify <eth_name_1> и <eth_name_2> — names of the network interfaces configured in step 3.

  9. If the speed is below 10 Gbps, file a ticket.

  10. Verify that the iSCSI target is available:

    ping -c5 <iscsi_target_ip_address_1>
    ping -c5 <iscsi_target_ip_address_2>

    Specify:

    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> — The IP address of the first iSCSI target. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring the iSCSI connection → field IP address of iSCSI target 1;
    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> — The IP address of the second iSCSI target. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring the iSCSI connection → field IP address of the iSCSI target 2.

  11. Enter the name of the iSCSI initiator:

    vi /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi
    InitiatorName= <initiator_name>

    Specify <initiator_name> — name of the iSCSI initiator. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring the iSCSI connection → field Initiator name.

  12. Restart iSCSI:

    systemctl restart iscsid.service
    systemctl restart multipathd.service

  13. Create iSCSI interfaces:

    iscsiadm -m iface -I <iscsi_eth_name_1> --op new
    iscsiadm -m iface -I <iscsi_eth_name_2> --op new

    Specify:

    • <iscsi_eth_name_1> — name of the first iSCSI interface;
    • <iscsi_eth_name_2> — name of the second iSCSI interface.

  14. Bind the iSCSI interfaces to the network interfaces you configured in step 3:

    iscsiadm -m iface --interface <iscsi_eth_name_1> --op update -n iface.net_ifacename -v <eth_name_1>
    iscsiadm -m iface --interface <iscsi_eth_name_2> --op update -n iface.net_ifacename -v <eth_name_2>

    Specify:

    • <iscsi_eth_name_1> — the name of the first iSCSI interface you created in step 12;
    • <iscsi_eth_name_2> — name of the second iSCSI interface that you created in step 12;
    • <eth_name_1> — the name of the first network interface you configured in step 3;
    • <eth_name_2> — the name of the second network interface you configured in step 3.

  15. Check the availability of the iSCSI target through the iSCSI interfaces:

    iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> --interface <iscsi_eth_name_1>
    iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> --interface <iscsi_eth_name_2>

    Specify:

    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> — IP address of the first iSCSI target;
    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> — IP address of the second iSCSI target;
    • <iscsi_eth_name_1> — name of the first iSCSI interface you created in step 13;
    • <iscsi_eth_name_2> — name of the second iSCSI interface that you created in step 13.

    A list of iSCSI tags will appear in the response. For example:

    10.100.1.2:3260,1 iqn.2003-01.com.redhat.iscsi-gw:workshop-target
    10.100.1.6:3260,2 iqn.2003-01.com.redhat.iscsi-gw:workshop-target

    Here:

    • 10.100.1.2:3260 — IP address of the first iSCSI target;
    • iqn.2003-01.com.redhat.iscsi-gw:workshop-target — IQN of the first iSCSI target. The IQN (iSCSI Qualified Name) is the full unique identifier of the iSCSI device;
    • 10.100.1.6:3260 — IP address of the second iSCSI target;
    • iqn.2003-01.com.redhat.iscsi-gw:workshop-target — IQN of the second iSCSI target.

  16. Configure CHAP authentication on the iSCSI-Initiator:

    iscsiadm --mode node -T <IQN> -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> --op update -n node.session.auth.authmethod --value CHAP

    iscsiadm --mode node -T <IQN> -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> --op update -n node.session.auth.authmethod --value CHAP

    iscsiadm --mode node -T <IQN> --op update -n node.session.auth.username --value <username>

    iscsiadm --mode node -T <IQN> -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> --op update -n node.session.auth.password --value <password>

    iscsiadm --mode node -T <IQN> -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> --op update -n node.session.auth.password --value <password>

    Specify:

    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> — IP address of the first iSCSI target;
    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> — IP address of the second iSCSI target;
    • <IQN> — IQNs of the first and second iSCSI target. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring the iSCSI connection → field Target name;
    • <username> — user name to authorize the iSCSI initiator. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring the iSCSI connection → field Username;
    • <password> — password to authorize the iSCSI initiator. You can look in control panels: from the top menu, press Products → Dedicated servers → section Network disks and storage → tab Network disks → disk page → block Configuring the iSCSI connection → field Password.

  17. Authorize on the iSCSI target through iSCSI interfaces:

    iscsiadm --mode node -T <IQN> -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> --login --interface <iscsi_eth_name_1>
    iscsiadm --mode node -T <IQN> -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> --login --interface <iscsi_eth_name_2>

    Specify:

    • <IQN> — IQNs of the first and second iSCSI target;
    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> — IP address of the first iSCSI target;
    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> — IP address of the second iSCSI target;
    • <iscsi_eth_name_1> — name of the first iSCSI interface;
    • <iscsi_eth_name_2> — name of the second iSCSI interface.

  18. Verify that the iSCSI session for each iSCSI target has started:

    iscsiadm -m session

    Two active iSCSI sessions will appear in the response. For example:

    tcp: [1] 10.100.1.2:3260,1 iqn.2003-01.com.redhat.iscsi-gw:workshop-target (non-flash)
    tcp: [3] 10.100.1.6:3260,2 iqn.2003-01.com.redhat.iscsi-gw:workshop-target (non-flash)

    Here. [1] и [3] — iSCSI session numbers.

  19. Enable automatic disk mount when the server restarts by setting the parameter node.startup to automatic:

    iscsiadm --mode node -T  <IQN> -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> --op update -n node.startup -v automatic
    iscsiadm --mode node -T <IQN> -p <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> --op update -n node.startup -v automatic
    systemctl enable iscsid.service
    systemctl restart iscsid.service

    Specify:

    • <IQN> — IQNs of the first and second iSCSI target;
    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_1> — IP address of the first iSCSI target;
    • <iscsi_target_ip_address_2> — IP address of the second iSCSI target.

  20. Optional: reboot the server.

4. Customize MPIO⁠

MultiPath-IO (MPIO) — Multi-path I/O to improve the fault tolerance of data transfer to a network disk.

In Ubuntu OS, MPIO is configured by default, check the settings.

  1. Open the utility configuration file Device Mapper Multipath word processor vi:

    vi /etc/multipath.conf

  2. Make sure that the file /etc/multipath.conf contains only the following lines:

    defaults {
        user_friendly_names yes
    }

  3. Make sure that in the file bindings has information about the WWID of the block device:

    cat /etc/multipath/bindings
    cat /etc/multipath/bindings

    The command output will display information about the WWID of the block device. For example:

    # Format:
    # alias wwid
    #
    mpatha 3600140530fab7e779fa41038a0a08f8e

  4. Make sure that in the file wwids has information about the WWID of the block device:

    cat /etc/multipath/wwids
    cat /etc/multipath/wwids

    The command output will display information about the WWID of the block device. For example:

    # Valid WWIDs:
    /3600140530fab7e779fa41038a0a08f8e/
    # Valid WWIDs:
    /3600140530fab7e779fa41038a0a08f8e/

  5. Check the network drive connection, and make sure that for the policy specified value service-time 0:

    multipath -ll

    The command output will display information about devices, paths, and current policy. For example:

    mpatha (3600140530fab7e779fa41038a0a08f8e) dm-0 LIO-ORG,TCMU device
    size=20G features='0' hwhandler='1 alua' wp=rw
    |-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=10 status=active
    | `- 8:0:0:0 sdc 8:32 active ready running
    `-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=10 status=enabled
    `- 9:0:0:0 sdd 8:48 active ready running

5. Optional: Connect the network drive to another server⁠

  1. Connect the network drive to the server in the control panel.
  2. Connect the network drive to the server in the server OS.
  3. Configure MPIO.

6. Prepare the network drive for operation⁠

After connecting the network disk to the server, you can format it to the desired file system.

  • A Cluster File System (CFS) is a file system that allows multiple servers (nodes) to simultaneously work with the same data on shared storage. Examples of cluster file systems:

    • GFS2 (Global File System 2), more details in the article GFS2 Overview Red Hat's official documentation;
    • OCFS2 (Oracle Cluster File System 2), more details in the official documentation Oracle Linux.

  • Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is storage virtualization software designed for flexible management of physical storage devices. Read more in the manual Configuring and managing logical volumes Red Hat's official documentation;

  • standard file system, e.g. ext4 or XFS. Note, in read-write mode, such a file system can only be used on one server at a time to avoid data corruption. It is recommended to use clustered file systems for multiple servers to share access;

  • VMFS (VMware File System) is a clustered file system used by VMware ESXi to store virtual machine files. It supports shared storage access by multiple ESXi hosts. VMFS automatically manages locks — preventing virtual machine files from being modified at the same time to ensure data integrity. Read more in the manual VMware vSphere VMFS VMware Storage official documentation.