What's New in Disk Management?

This section describes new disk management features in the Solaris release.

iSNS Support in the Solaris iSCSI Target and Initiator
Solaris iSCSI Target Support
Solaris iSCSI Initiator Support
x86: Disk Management in the GRUB Boot Environment
Support for SCSI Disks That are Larger Than 2 Tbytes

For a complete listing of new Solaris features and a description of Solaris releases, see Solaris Express Developer Edition What’s New.

iSNS Support in the Solaris iSCSI Target and Initiator

Solaris Express 1/08: This Solaris release provides support for the Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) protocol in the Solaris iSCSI target and initiator software. The iSNS protocol allows for the automated discovery, management, and configuration of iSCSI devices on a TCP/IP network.

In this Solaris release, you can use the iscsitadm command to add access to an existing third-party iSNS server or you can user the Solaris iSNS server to automatically discover the iSCSI devices in your network. The iSNS server can be specified by hostname or IP address. After you add the iSNS server information, you will need to enable access to the server.

See the following resources for step-by-step instructions:

For information about configuring the Solaris iSCSI target to use a third-party iSNS server, see Chapter 14, Configuring Solaris iSCSI Targets and Initiators (Tasks) and iscsitadm(1M).
For information about configuring the Solaris iSCSI target with a Solaris iSNS server, see Chapter 15, Configuring and Managing the Solaris Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) and isnsadm(1M).

Solaris iSCSI Target Support

Solaris Express 8/06: This Solaris release provides support for iSCSI target devices, which can be disk or tape devices. Previous Solaris releases provide support for iSCSI initiators. The advantage of setting up Solaris iSCSI targets is you might have existing fibre-channel devices that can be connected to clients without the cost of fibre-channel HBAs. In addition, systems with dedicated arrays can now export replicated storage with ZFS or UFS file systems.

You can use the iscsitadm command to set up and manage your iSCSI target devices. For the disk device that you select as your iSCSI target, you'll need to provide an equivalently sized ZFS or UFS file system as the backing store for the iSCSI daemon.

After the target device is set up, use the iscsiadm command to identify your iSCSI targets, which will discover and use the iSCSI target device.

For more information, see Chapter 14, Configuring Solaris iSCSI Targets and Initiators (Tasks), iscsiadm(1M), and iscsitadm(1M).

Solaris iSCSI Initiator Support

Solaris Express 6/05: iSCSI is an Internet Protocol (IP)-based storage networking standard for linking data storage subsystems. By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, the iSCSI protocol enables you to mount disk devices, from across the network, onto your local system. On your local system, you can use the devices like block devices.

For more information, see Chapter 14, Configuring Solaris iSCSI Targets and Initiators (Tasks).

Solaris iSCSI Initiator Support Enhancements

Solaris Express 3/06: The following enhancements have been added to the Solaris iSCSI initiator support:

Dynamic target removal support – Provides the ability to remove (or log out) an iSCSI target without rebooting the system. If you try to remove or disable a discovery method or address, and the target is not in use, the target is removed and related resources are released. If the target is in use, the discovery address or method remains enabled, and in use message is displayed.
For more information, see How to Remove Discovered iSCSI Targets.
Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) client support – Enables the iSCSI initiator to discover the targets to which it has access using as little configuration as possible. It also provides state change notification functionality to notify the iSCSI initiator when changes in operational state of storage nodes occur. The iscsiadm command has been enhanced to support iSNS discovery.
For more information, see How to Configure iSCSI Target Discovery.
Multiple session target (MS/T) support – Provides the ability to create more iSCSI sessions or paths to a target on demand. The additional iSCSI paths provide higher bandwidth aggregation and availability in specific configurations, such as iSCSI arrays that support login redirection. The iSCSI MS/T feature should be used in combination with MPxIO or other multipathing software. The iscsiadm command has been enhanced to support MS/T.

For more information about configuring Solaris iSCSI initiators, see Chapter 14, Configuring Solaris iSCSI Targets and Initiators (Tasks) and iscsiadm(1M).

x86: Disk Management in the GRUB Boot Environment

Solaris Express 6/05: The GRUB boot menu has replaced the previous method for booting an x86 system. In the area of disk management, you use the GRUB interface when booting from an alternative device to replace a system disk or when installing the bootblocks.

The GRUB boot environment provides the following features:

Solaris failsafe boot – A Solaris failsafe boot option that boots into the miniroot so you can recover from a problem that is preventing the system from booting without having to boot from an alternative device. Use the arrow keys to select the following option from the GRUB boot menu and then press return:
```
Solaris failsafe
```
You'll need to reboot the system after using the Solaris failsafe boot option.
Network boot – Boot from the network by pressing the F12 key during the BIOS configuration phase.
Single-user boot – Boot to single-user mode by selecting this option from the Solaris failsafe boot menu:
```
kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot
```
Then, use the e (edit) option to add the -s single-user option. For example:
```
kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot -s
```
Press return and then press the b key to boot the system. Press control-D to boot the system back to multiuser mode.

In the GRUB environment, you cannot use the fmthard command to install the boot blocks automatically when run on an x86 system. You must install the boot blocks separately.

For detailed feature information and instructions on using the new GRUB based booting on x86 systems, see Chapter 12, Booting a Solaris System With GRUB (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

For instructions for managing disks in the GRUB boot environment, see the following references:

This feature is not available on SPARC systems.

Support for SCSI Disks That are Larger Than 2 Tbytes

Solaris Express 6/05: The SCSI driver, ssd or sd, is limited to 2 terabytes in the Solaris 10 release. Starting in the Solaris 10 1/06 release, the SCSI driver, ssd or sd, supports 2 terabytes and greater.

The format utility can be used to label, configure, and partition these larger disks. For information about using the EFI disk label on large disks and restrictions with the fdisk utility, see Restrictions of the EFI Disk Label.