Solaris Tip of the Week: iSCSI Failover With COMSTAR
Here is a simple demo you can use for experimenting with high-availability iSCSI configurations with the COMSTAR stack to explore iSCSI failover. COMSTAR is a Solaris framework that centralizes and simplifies the deployment of SCSI targets.
LIBISCSI(3) BSD Library Functions Manual LIBISCSI(3)NAME
libiscsi -- iSCSI network storage protocol implementation
LIBRARY
iSCSI protocol library (libiscsi, -liscsi)
SYNOPSIS
#include <iscsi.h>
int
iscsi_target_set_defaults(iscsi_target_t *target);
int
iscsi_target_start(iscsi_target_t *target);
int
iscsi_target_listen(iscsi_target_t *target);
int
iscsi_target_shutdown(iscsi_target_t *target);
void
iscsi_target_write_pidfile(const char *filename);
int
iscsi_target_setvar(iscsi_target_t *target, const char *name, const char *value);
char *
iscsi_target_getvar(iscsi_target_t *target, const char *name);
int
iscsi_initiator_set_defaults(iscsi_initiator_t *initiator);
int
iscsi_initiator_start(iscsi_initiator_t *initiator);
int
iscsi_initiator_discover(iscsi_initiator_t *initiator, char *x, uint64_t a, int b);
int
iscsi_initiator_shutdown(iscsi_initiator_t *initiator);
int
iscsi_initiator_setvar(iscsi_initiator_t *initiator, const char *name, const char *value);
char *
iscsi_initiator_getvar(iscsi_initiator_t *initiator, const char *name);
DESCRIPTION
libiscsi is a library interface to the iSCSI target and initiator. This conforms to IETF RFC 3720. The corresponding command line utilities
for libiscsi are iscsi-initiator(8) and iscsi-target(8).
In normal operation, a process acting as a target (i.e. presenting storage to the network) will call iscsi_target_set_defaults() and will
then set various values using the iscsi_target_setvar() function. The value of a variable can be retrieved at any time using the
iscsi_target_getvar() function. When all of the variables have been set, the iscsi_target_start() function is called, and the block storage
will be served up by the process.
A useful illustration of the use of these functions can be found in the source code to the iscsi-target(8) utility.
The libiscsi library also provides an implementation of the client end of the iSCSI subsystem, which is known as the initiator. The process
acting as an initiator will first call the iscsi_initiator_set_defaults() function, to set default values for the initiator variables. Once
all the values have been set to the user preferences using the iscsi_initiator_setvar() function, then the iscsi_initiator_start() function
is called.
The libiscsi library can be used to perform iSCSI device discovery by calling the iscsi_initiator_discovery() function. This will return a
list of all the iSCSI targets which are serving up block storage according to the variables which have already been set.
SEE ALSO iscsi-initiator(8), iscsi-target(8)HISTORY
The libiscsi library first appeared in NetBSD 4.0. This programmatic interface to the iSCSI subsystem first appeared in NetBSD 6.0.
AUTHORS
Alistair Crooks <agc@NetBSD.org>.
BSD February 19, 2011 BSD