Re: iSCSI Boot Process Draft

[csapuntz@cisco.com]

> Is it legal to have a standalone DHCP server serving on behalf of
> serveral iSCSI targets in the network assuming that these iSCSI
> targets don't have a DHCP server.

The iSCSI targets, in general, shouldn't run a DHCP server, since
there should only be one DHCP server on the network. The machine
of which the host configuration servers run can be different than
the storage arrays.

In general, a host accepts a configuration offer from only one DHCP
server. As such, most organizations run one DHCP server on a subnet
and it configures all the hosts. That DHCP server has some sort of
simple database that contains the configuration information for each
machine.

> Also, is there an in-band way of managing the target configuration
> data in the iSCSI target from an iSCSI initiator ? 

What target configuration data are you interested in? There are 
SCSI Mode Pages, iSCSI text options??

> I'm interested in
> knowing if the initiator after installation of a OS on a particular
> LU can configure it as its primary boot disk in the configuration
> data before going down ? 

There is no current way of specifying this. The information on the
primary boot disk will need to either end up in NVRAM on the initiator
or somehow inserted into the database in the DHCP server.

Methods for adding entries/information to a DHCP server is proprietary
to each DHCP server.

-Costa