unknown iscsi initiator

[qwertz]

Hi there,
I've got a question about the listed iSCSI Initiator connections for a clustered storage.
I've noticed that i've got 3 additional connections on every target on both clusternodes coming from "iqn.2008-08.com.starwindsoftware:..." on node1 they are from node2 and vice versa.
(Their initiatorname has the targetname included)
To me it seems like some internal connections from starwind, as the connections i've setup via the ms iscsi initiator software are "iqn.1991.com.microsoft:..."
Could you explain me what those connections are / whats their purpose?

Kind regards!

[Anatoly (staff)]

Yes, you're right!
These are StarWind service connections, which, in fact, are used for sync and HB, and the other ones are the iSCSI client connections configured via the ms iSCSI initiator.

I hope that makes sense.

[qwertz]

Yes, this makes perfect sense. I thought HB might be something trivial like ICMP, and Sync something... i don't know... "magical"
follow up question:
The initiator iqn contains an IP from a subnet that shouldn't be used for sync, but for HB.
Does this play a role here? (meaning don't care about the ip in the iqn)
I just had a look with

Code: Select all

netstat -bano | findstr :3260

and there is a connection over this network.
Does HB work over TCP 3260?

[Anatoly (staff)]

Yes, both sync and HB are using 3260 iSCSI port. The iqn does not actually matter, it can have a node ip and can be serving either sync or HB, no matter which subnetwork is in question, that's just a node identifier.

[robnicholson]

One for the wishlist - a tag indicating what is using the connections:

StarWind sync
StarWind heartbeat
External iSCSI

Or whatever... I wondered the same myself.

Cheers, Rob.

[Anatoly (staff)]

That is already on the way.