StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator: Installation Guide

Using command-line utility

The StarNVMeoF_Ctrl.exe command-line utility is used to work with the NVMe-oF initiator.

Discovering targets

1. To discover the target, run the discovery command: StarNVMeoF_Ctrl.exe discovery <target_ip_addr:[port]> <local_ip_addr> by specifying the protocol, target host IP address and port number:

Example: StarNVMeoF_Ctrl.exe discovery 172.16.77.1:4420 172.16.77.2

Where:

<172.16.77.1:4420> — NVMe-oF target host IP and port;
<172.16.77.2> — initiator host IP.

Connecting targets

1. To connect the target, run the command: StarNVMeoF_Ctrl.exe insert <target_ip_addr[:port]> <local_ip_addr> <SubNQN> <HostNQN> [<num_io_queues> <io_queue_depth> <first_core>]

Example: StarNVMeoF_Ctrl.exe insert 172.16.77.1:4420 172.16.77.2 nqn.2008-08.com.starwindsoftware:NVMeofTarget SW_1 512 6 0

Where:

• <172.16.77.1:4420 > — target host IP and port;
• <172.16.77.2> — initiator host IP;
• <nqn.2008-08.com.starwindsoftware:NVMeofTarget> — SubNQN of the target (may be copied from the discovery results screen);
• <SW_1> — local HostNQN;
• <512> — quantity of connections to the target;
• <6> — queue depth;
• <0> — number of the initial core.

2. After the “insert” command is executed, disk LUNs for the connected controller namespaces should appear in the Disk Management.

Getting information about targets

1. To show the list of connected NVMe-oF controllers, run the “StarNVMeoF_Ctrl.exe list” command.

Disconnecting targets

1. To disconnect LUNs from the system, run the controller disconnection command:  StarNVMeoF_Ctrl.exe remove <controllerId>
Example: StarNVMeoF_Ctrl.exe remove 1
Where:

• <1> — controller Id

NOTE: Make sure that LUNs are not used by other applications at the moment of disconnection, as removing LUNs with active file operations may lead to data corruption.

Using MS iSCSI Initiator GUI

Discovering targets

1. Launch Microsoft iSCSI Initiator: Start -> Windows Administrative Tools -> iSCSI Initiator. Alternatively, launch it using the command below in the command line interface:

2. Navigate to the Discovery tab.

3. In Discover Target Portal dialog, type in the IP address of the NVMe-oF target server that will be used to connect the provisioned targets and port number (4420).  Click Advanced.

4. Select StarWind NVMe over Fabrics Storage Controller as the Local adapter, select the Initiator IP in the same subnet as the IP address of the target server from the previous step. Confirm the actions to complete the Target Portal discovery.

5. Now, the target portal is added to the initiator server.

Connecting targets

1. Click the Targets tab. The previously created target is listed in the Discovered Targets section.

2. Press Connect and select StarWind NVMe over Fabrics Storage Controller in the Local adapter dropdown menu.
In the Initiator IP field select the IP address for the initiator.
In the Target portal IP, select the corresponding portal IP from the same subnet. Confirm the actions.

3. Target is connected

4. Open the Disk Management snap-in. The connected disk(s) will appear as unallocated and offline.

5. Bring the disks online by right-clicking on them and selecting the Online menu option.

Disconnecting targets

1. To disconnect the NVMe-oF target choose the specified target from the Discovered Targets list a press the Disconnect button.

NOTE: Make sure that LUNs are not used by other applications at the moment of disconnection, as removing LUNs with active file operations may lead to data corruption.

Using PowerShell

Discovering targets

1. To discover the target, run the discovery commandlet in Powershell: New-IscsiTargetPortal -TargetPortalAddress <target IP> -TargetPortalPortNumber <target port> -InitiatorPortalAddress <initiator IP> -InitiatorInstanceName <‘initiator controller‘> by specifying target host IP address and port number:

Example:

Where:

<172.16.77.1> -TargetPortalAddress;

<4420> -InitiatorPortalAddress

<172.16.77.2> -InitiatorPortalAddress

<‘ROOT\SCSIADAPTER\0000_0’> -InitiatorInstanceName – StarWind NVMe over Fabrics Storage Controller

2. To get NVME targets name, run the commandlet Get-IscsiTarget:

Connecting targets

1. To connect the target, run the commandlet: Connect-IscsiTarget -NodeAddress <NodeAddress>-IsPersistent $True

Example:

4. To get  information about the sessions, run the command:

Disconnecting targets

1. To disconnect the target, run the command: Disconnect-IscsiTarget -NodeAddress <NodeAddress>

Example:

NOTE: Make sure that LUNs are not used by other applications at the moment of disconnection, as removing LUNs with active file operations may lead to data corruption.