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12.5.4. Creating an iSCSI-based Storage Pool with virsh

  1. Use pool-define-as to define the pool from the command line

    Storage pool definitions can be created with the virsh command line tool. Creating storage pools with virsh is useful for systems administrators using scripts to create multiple storage pools.
    The virsh pool-define-as command has several parameters which are accepted in the following format: 
    virsh pool-define-as name type source-host source-path source-dev source-name target
    The parameters are explained as follows:
    type
    defines this pool as a particular type, iscsi for example
    name
    must be unique and sets the name for the storage pool
    source-host and source-path
    the host name and iSCSI IQN respectively
    source-dev and source-name
    these parameters are not required for iSCSI-based pools, use a - character to leave the field blank.
    target
    defines the location for mounting the iSCSI device on the host physical machine
    The example below creates the same iSCSI-based storage pool as the previous step. 
    #   virsh pool-define-as --name scsirhel6guest --type iscsi \
     --source-host server1.example.com \
     --source-dev iqn.2010-05.com.example.server1:iscsirhel6guest
     --target /dev/disk/by-path
Pool iscsirhel6guest defined

  2. Verify the storage pool is listed

    Verify the storage pool object is created correctly and the state reports as inactive. 
    # virsh pool-list --all
Name                 State      Autostart
-----------------------------------------
default              active     yes
iscsirhel6guest      inactive   no

  3. Start the storage pool

    Use the virsh command pool-start for this. pool-start enables a directory storage pool, allowing it to be used for volumes and guest virtual machines. 
    # virsh pool-start guest_images_disk
Pool guest_images_disk started
# virsh pool-list --all
Name                 State      Autostart
-----------------------------------------
default              active     yes
iscsirhel6guest      active     no

  4. Turn on autostart

    Turn on autostart for the storage pool. Autostart configures the libvirtd service to start the storage pool when the service starts. 
    # virsh pool-autostart iscsirhel6guest
Pool iscsirhel6guest marked as autostarted
    Verify that the iscsirhel6guest pool has autostart set: 
    # virsh pool-list --all
Name                 State      Autostart
-----------------------------------------
default              active     yes
iscsirhel6guest      active     yes

  5. Verify the storage pool configuration

    Verify the storage pool was created correctly, the sizes reported correctly, and the state reports as running. 
    # virsh pool-info iscsirhel6guest
Name:           iscsirhel6guest
UUID:           afcc5367-6770-e151-bcb3-847bc36c5e28
State:          running
Persistent:     unknown
Autostart:      yes
Capacity:       100.31 GB
Allocation:     0.00
Available:      100.31 GB
An iSCSI-based storage pool is now available.