[linux-lvm] iSCSI and LVM

[Greg Freemyer]

 >>  Hi,
 >>      Is anyone on this list familiar with iSCSI? I was wondering if
 >>  it'd be possible to setup a Logical Volume as an iSCSI target and export
 >>  it over an IP network for other clients to use. I'm interested in
 >>  setting up an IP SAN, where the storage devices are logical volumes
 >>  managed by LVM. There's this company called SANRAD that makes a hardware
 >>  device called an iSCSI switch. The iSCSI switch is connected to a pool
 >>  of storage disks on the back-end and to a bunch of servers on the
 >>  front-end. It uses logical volume management to carve out logical disks
 >>  from the back-end storage disks, then exports these using iSCSI to the
 >>  front-end servers. (Check out their website http://www.sanrad.com for a
 >>  nice flash movie of this architecture). Anyways, some fellow classmates
 >>  and I are interested in building such an iSCSI switch in software, using
 >>  LVM and other opensource components. Any feedback would be greatly
 >>  appreciated.

 >>  Regards,
 >>  Kai-Min Sung

Ignoring efficiency issues, you should not have any problem putting together a 
Linux Server with lots of internal disk space, then using LVM to manage that 
space, and have iSCSI target software share it out to a small collection of iSCSI 
initiators.

FYI: I have only tested iSCSI exporting of partitions, not LVM LVs.  

I assume you know that iSCSI was formally accepted earlier this year.  I don't 
know if there is a OSS target and initiator pair available yet or not that implements 
the formal spec. 

The Intel reference implementation appears not to have been updated yet:
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/intel-iscsi