HP ProLiant Storage Server User Guide (440584-003, September 2007)

Hardware providers
To support advanced management of iSCSI virtual disks and snapshots, yo u can use the following
har d w are prov iders, which come preinstalled on the HP ProLiant Storage Serv er:
• Microsoft iSCS
I Software Target Virtual Disk Service Hardware Provider
Microsoft Wind
ows Server 2003 introduced Virtual Disk Service ( VDS), a set of application programming
interfaces (AP
Is) that provides a single interface for managing disks. VDS provides an end-to-end solution
for managing s
torage hardware and disks, and for creating volumes on those disks. The Microsoft iSCSI
Software Tar
get VDS Hardware Provider is required to manage virtual disks on a storage subsystem.
You install t
he Microsoft iSCSI Software Target VDS Hardware Provider on each iSCSI initiator computer
running a sto
rage management application (such as Storage Manager for SANs) that uses the hardware
provider to manage storage.
• Microsoft iSCSI Software Target Volume Shadow Copy Servic e Hardware Provider
iSCSI snaps
hots are created using Volume Shadow Copy Service and a storage array with a hardware
provider de
signed for use with Volume Shadow Copy Service. A Microsoft iSCSI Software Target VSS
Hardware P
rovider is required to create transportable snapshots of iSCSI virtual disks and create
application consistent snapshots from iSCSI initiators.
You install this hardware provider on the iSCSI initiator server and the server that is to per form backups.
The backup
software you use must support transporting snapshots.
Cluster support
In a cluster with servers running Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and
using an external storage array as the shared cluster disk, you can use iSCSI Software Target to share
highly available storage. To do this, use Cluster Administrator to configure the iSCSI target as a Generic
Service cluster resourc e. iSCSI virtual disks can then be created from the generic cluster disk and
exported to iSCSI initiators.
IMPORTANT:
A single-server iSCSI software target cluster config u ration does not provide the redundant components of
a hardware-based shared disk resource, making it a potential single point of failure. In most c ases,
this type of configuration does not provide the level of availability typically required in a production
environment.
For detailed instructions on how to set up a cluster using Microsoft iSCSI Targ et as the shared-cluster disk
provider, see the HP white paper Using Microsoft iSCSI Software Target to Provide Shared-Disk Resources
to Clusters at h
ttp://h71028.www7. hp.com/ERC/downloads/4AA1-0720 ENW.pdf .
For detailed instructions on how to set up an iSCSI software target cluster, see the
HP white paper Con figuring Microsoft iSCSI Software T arget in a Microsoft Cluster at
h
ttp://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/4AA1-2898ENW.pdf.
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Enterprise storage servers