Getting Started with iSCSI
1.
Create an iSCSI target on the NAS.
For details, see
2.
Create a LUN on the NAS.
A LUN is a portion of storage space, similar to a volume. LUNs are created from storage pool space
(block-based) or from space in a thick volume (file-based).
For more information, see:
•
•
•
3.
Map the LUN to the iSCSI target.
Multiple LUNs can be mapped to one target.
For details, see
4.
Install an iSCSI initiator application or driver on the host.
The host is the service, computer, or NAS device that will access the LUN.
5.
Connect the iSCSI initiator to the iSCSI target on the NAS.
Warning
To prevent data corruption, multiple iSCSI initiators should not connect to the same LUN
simultaneously.
The LUNs mapped to the iSCSI target appear as disks on the host.
6.
In the host OS, format the disks.
iSCSI Performance Optimization
You can optimize the performance of iSCSI by following one or more of these guidelines:
• Use thick provisioning (instant allocation). Thick provisioning gives slightly better read and write
performance than thin provisioning.
• Create multiple LUNs, one for each processor thread on the NAS. For example, if the NAS has four
processor threads, then you should create four or more LUNs.
Tip
Go to
Control Panel
>
System
>
System Status
>
System Information
>
CPU
to view the
number of processor threads.
• Use separate LUNs for different applications. For example, when creating two virtual machines which
intensively read and write data, you should create one LUN for each VM to distribute the load.
• You can use iSER (iSCSI Extensions for RDMA) for faster data transfers between QNAP NAS devices
and VMware ESXi servers. Enabling iSER requires a compatible network card and switch. For a list of
compatible network devices, see
https://www.qnap.com/solution/iser
QTS 4.5.x User Guide
iSCSI & Fibre Channel
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