Buffalo Forums

Products => Storage => : obsidian_suppor April 15, 2009, 11:03:44 AM

: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor April 15, 2009, 11:03:44 AM
   

Hi,

 

I am running this machine with the latest available firmware, 1.01-1.16, I am trying to connect 4 machines to a volume that has been configured, however I seem to have various file corrupting once I have copied them over, also if I add a file over to the device from one machine this is not automatically seen by the other computers.

 

could somebody please recommend the ideal setup for this ISCSI device, is it capable of having multiple machines accessing the same volume via an ISCSI initiator, or should I have separate volumes for each server accessing the device?

 

Thanks

: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: Colin137 April 15, 2009, 07:57:40 PM
Don't connect multiple computers to the same volume, as this can lead to corruption. To write to the device from multiple servers, create separate volumes for each.
Message Edited by Colin137 on 04-27-2009 04:24 PM
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor April 16, 2009, 03:05:56 AM
   

Hi Colin,

 

Thanks for getting back to me, I will follow this route then, one connected to a volume for write access and one connected as read should I need to, one question I have though is the one that I have connected to read does not see any updated files unless I disconnect and reconnect the ISCSI, should this be the case?

: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: Colin137 April 16, 2009, 02:49:02 PM

Let me check into that for you.

: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor April 24, 2009, 03:25:26 AM
   

Hi Colin,

 

have you had any luck with finding out about the issues that I have been having?

 

Another problem that I have is that if I increase the size of a volume the server that I have connected never see's this increase in size, even if I reboot both my server and the buffalo device?

: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: disputator April 24, 2009, 03:57:28 AM
   Just to answer the question. Quite clear: Create a volume for each server. Only if zou disconnect and connect another it works correctly. The iSCSI specification is not for multiple simultaneous access of clients. For that we have NAS. iSCSI is always exclusive access - one volume, one client.
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor April 24, 2009, 06:33:49 PM
   thanks for clearing this up for me, I will go with that for future reference, however when I connect to a volume from one server how come I cannot see the change when I increase the volume size my server still thinks that it is the original size before it had been increased.
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: disputator April 25, 2009, 08:06:05 PM
   How is it if you disconnect and reconnect in iSCSI initiator on your server? (I guess you use Auto connect and it didn't change)
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: Colin137 April 27, 2009, 04:23:11 PM

As disputator notes, "The iSCSI specification is not for multiple simultaneous access ofclients. For that we have NAS. iSCSI is always exclusive access - onevolume, one client."

 

I was incorrect in my previous post, the iSCSI TS will allow multiple computer to connect to the volume in read/write mode, but DON'T DO THIS. It can lead to file, folder, and filesystem corruption. I've edited the offending post to correct the error.

: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor April 27, 2009, 05:21:34 PM
   thanks for the info, i have connected a windows server core installation to a volume on the device, this has seen the files ok without any problems, however the volume reached its size limit of 50GB i increased the volume size for the buffalo volume by a further 50GB to a total of 100GB but i cannot get server-core to see this change, it still thinks that there is only 50GB space available.
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: disputator April 27, 2009, 05:34:20 PM
   Reconnected via MS iSCSI initiator as I suggested above? Any change?
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: Colin137 April 27, 2009, 06:38:59 PM
Well, the filesystem is still only 50 GB... you'll need to delete the partition and reformat to see the whole 100 GB, or expand the partition using software.
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor April 28, 2009, 02:45:34 PM
   

thanks colin I will give that a go.

 

Sorry to bombared you all but I am just getting used to this device, could you explain to me the best form of backup? If I have a server connected via an ISCSI initiator and I want to backup files from a separate backup server what is the best way to achieve this, if any file is in use I want it to be backed up and not skipped.

 

Thanks,

: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: Colin137 April 28, 2009, 03:25:16 PM
Well, copying files that are in use would require a software that supports Shadow Copy. You could share a folder on the iSCSI volume, and connect to the folder from the backup server to perform the backup. This is slightly out of our support scope, though :)
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor April 28, 2009, 03:52:49 PM
   

I have given this a go already, could you tell me what is the supported and prefered method of backup for these devices?

: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor May 01, 2009, 07:33:17 PM
   can anybody help with the backup procedure for this device?
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: disputator May 02, 2009, 09:06:52 AM
   

It is not that I have real experience with it but there is a built-in snapshot. I do not really know how it works and it takes space away.

 

Other wise I agree with all who use a backup yhey are used to; I would use my programs because the TS merely provides the space and controls the RAID. Everything else on this thing is done by external intelligence. My BU program supports shadow copy. Shame that I seldom have need for it. Rather than backup a Windows I always reinstall it and I always have the data somewhere else.

Message Edited by disputator on 05-02-2009 04:11 PM
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: Colin137 May 02, 2009, 10:55:48 AM
There isn't really a preferred method... Anything that works for regular hard drives should work for the iSCSI TS.
: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor May 05, 2009, 10:12:25 AM
   

thanks for the info but I seem to be ever increasingly confused by this at the moment so please bear with me.

 

If I can only connect one server per ISCSI volume does that server that is connected have to perform the backup? If not how can I connect to the ISCSI device with my external backup server running program (Arcserve R12) to backup all data on the device?

 

If I have to create a share of the volume from each connected server how can I overcome the issues with files that are in use? Can I use the connected server's shadow copy feature or would this not work.

 

Basically I am running Hyper-V Server 2008 and have my virtual hard disks stored on an ISCSI volume, I want to be able to back these virtual hard disks up on a daily basis, but need a way of accessing the files as they are always in use, would I need to have a period of downtime on the virtual machines, whilst the backups happens.

 

Any more help would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

: Re: Terastation TS-RIGL Iscsi
: obsidian_suppor May 13, 2009, 10:55:05 AM
   Hi Colin are you albe to help with my backup problem at all?