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9.6. Storage Devices

You can install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on a large variety of storage devices. This screen allows you to select either basic or specialized storage devices.
Storage devices

Figure 9.4. Storage devices

Basic Storage Devices
Select Basic Storage Devices to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the following storage devices:
  • hard drives or solid-state drives connected directly to the local system.
Specialized Storage Devices
Select Specialized Storage Devices to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the following storage devices:
  • Storage area networks (SANs)
  • Direct access storage devices (DASDs)
  • Firmware RAID devices
  • Multipath devices
Use the Specialized Storage Devices option to configure Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) and FCoE (Fiber Channel over Ethernet) connections.
If you select Basic Storage Devices, anaconda automatically detects the local storage attached to the system and does not require further input from you. Proceed to Section 9.7, “Setting the Hostname”.

Note

Monitoring of LVM and software RAID devices by the mdeventd daemon is not performed during installation.

9.6.1.  The Storage Devices Selection Screen

The storage devices selection screen displays all storage devices to which anaconda has access.
Select storage devices — Basic devices

Figure 9.5. Select storage devices — Basic devices

Select storage devices — Multipath Devices

Figure 9.6. Select storage devices — Multipath Devices

Select storage devices — Other SAN Devices

Figure 9.7. Select storage devices — Other SAN Devices

Devices are grouped under the following tabs:
Basic Devices
Basic storage devices directly connected to the local system, such as hard disk drives and solid-state drives.
Firmware RAID
Storage devices attached to a firmware RAID controller.
Multipath Devices
Storage devices accessible through more than one path, such as through multiple SCSI controllers or Fiber Channel ports on the same system.

Important

The installer only detects multipath storage devices with serial numbers that are 16 or 32 characters in length.
Other SAN Devices
Any other devices available on a storage area network (SAN).
If you do need to configure iSCSI or FCoE storage, click Add Advanced Target and refer to Section 9.6.1.1, “ Advanced Storage Options ”.
The storage devices selection screen also contains a Search tab that allows you to filter storage devices either by their World Wide Identifier (WWID) or by the port, target, or logical unit number (LUN) at which they are accessed.
The Storage Devices Search Tab

Figure 9.8. The Storage Devices Search Tab

The tab contains a drop-down menu to select searching by port, target, WWID, or LUN (with corresponding text boxes for these values). Searching by WWID or LUN requires additional values in the corresponding text box.
Each tab presents a list of devices detected by anaconda, with information about the device to help you to identify it. A small drop-down menu marked with an icon is located to the right of the column headings. This menu allows you to select the types of data presented on each device. For example, the menu on the Multipath Devices tab allows you to specify any of WWID, Capacity, Vendor, Interconnect, and Paths to include among the details presented for each device. Reducing or expanding the amount of information presented might help you to identify particular devices.
Selecting Columns

Figure 9.9. Selecting Columns

Each device is presented on a separate row, with a checkbox to its left. Click the checkbox to make a device available during the installation process, or click the radio button at the left of the column headings to select or deselect all the devices listed in a particular screen. Later in the installation process, you can choose to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux onto any of the devices selected here, and can choose to automatically mount any of the other devices selected here as part of the installed system.
Note that the devices that you select here are not automatically erased by the installation process. Selecting a device on this screen does not, in itself, place data stored on the device at risk. Note also that any devices that you do not select here to form part of the installed system can be added to the system after installation by modifying the /etc/fstab file.

Important

Any storage devices that you do not select on this screen are hidden from anaconda entirely. To chain load the Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot loader from a different boot loader, select all the devices presented in this screen.
when you have selected the storage devices to make available during installation, click Next and proceed to Section 9.11, “Initializing the Hard Disk”

9.6.1.1.  Advanced Storage Options

From this screen you can configure an iSCSI (SCSI over TCP/IP) target or FCoE (Fibre channel over ethernet) SAN (storage area network). Refer to Appendix B, iSCSI Disks for an introduction to iSCSI.
Advanced Storage Options

Figure 9.10. Advanced Storage Options

Select Add iSCSI target or Add FCoE SAN and click Add drive. If adding an iSCSI target, optionally check the box labeled Bind targets to network interfaces.
9.6.1.1.1. Select and configure a network interface
The Advanced Storage Options screen lists the active network interfaces anaconda has found on your system. If none are found, anaconda must activate an interface through which to connect to the storage devices.
Click Configure Network on the Advanced Storage Options screen to configure and activate one using NetworkManager to use during installation. Alternatively, anaconda will prompt you with the Select network interface dialog after you click Add drive.
Select network interface

Figure 9.11. Select network interface

  1. Select an interface from the drop-down menu.
  2. Click OK.
Anaconda then starts NetworkManager to allow you to configure the interface.
Network Connections

Figure 9.12. Network Connections

For details of how to use NetworkManager, refer to Section 9.7, “Setting the Hostname”
9.6.1.1.2. Configure iSCSI parameters
To add an iSCSI target, select Add iSCSI target and click Add drive.
To use iSCSI storage devices for the installation, anaconda must be able to discover them as iSCSI targets and be able to create an iSCSI session to access them. Each of these steps might require a username and password for CHAP (Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol) authentication. Additionally, you can configure an iSCSI target to authenticate the iSCSI initiator on the system to which the target is attached (reverse CHAP), both for discovery and for the session. Used together, CHAP and reverse CHAP are called mutual CHAP or two-way CHAP. Mutual CHAP provides the greatest level of security for iSCSI connections, particularly if the username and password are different for CHAP authentication and reverse CHAP authentication.
Repeat the iSCSI discovery and iSCSI login steps as many times as necessary to add all required iSCSI storage. However, you cannot change the name of the iSCSI initiator after you attempt discovery for the first time. To change the iSCSI initiator name, you must restart the installation.

Procedure 9.1. iSCSI discovery

Use the iSCSI Discovery Details dialog to provide anaconda with the information that it needs to discover the iSCSI target.
The iSCSI Discovery Details dialog

Figure 9.13. The iSCSI Discovery Details dialog

  1. Enter the IP address of the iSCSI target in the Target IP Address field.
  2. Provide a name in the iSCSI Initiator Name field for the iSCSI initiator in iSCSI qualified name (IQN) format.
    A valid IQN contains:
    • the string iqn. (note the period)
    • a date code that specifies the year and month in which your organization's Internet domain or subdomain name was registered, represented as four digits for the year, a dash, and two digits for the month, followed by a period. For example, represent September 2010 as 2010-09.
    • your organization's Internet domain or subdomain name, presented in reverse order with the top-level domain first. For example, represent the subdomain storage.example.com as com.example.storage
    • a colon followed by a string that uniquely identifies this particular iSCSI initiator within your domain or subdomain. For example, :diskarrays-sn-a8675309.
    A complete IQN therefore resembles: iqn.2010-09.storage.example.com:diskarrays-sn-a8675309, and anaconda pre-populates the iSCSI Initiator Name field with a name in this format to help you with the structure.
    For more information on IQNs, refer to 3.2.6. iSCSI Names in RFC 3720 - Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) available from http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3720#section-3.2.6 and 1. iSCSI Names and Addresses in RFC 3721 - Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) Naming and Discovery available from http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3721#section-1.
  3. Use the drop-down menu to specify the type of authentication to use for iSCSI discovery:
    iSCSI discovery authentication

    Figure 9.14. iSCSI discovery authentication

    • no credentials
    • CHAP pair
    • CHAP pair and a reverse pair
    • If you selected CHAP pair as the authentication type, provide the username and password for the iSCSI target in the CHAP Username and CHAP Password fields.
      CHAP pair

      Figure 9.15. CHAP pair

    • If you selected CHAP pair and a reverse pair as the authentication type, provide the username and password for the iSCSI target in the CHAP Username and CHAP Password field and the username and password for the iSCSI initiator in the Reverse CHAP Username and Reverse CHAP Password fields.
      CHAP pair and a reverse pair

      Figure 9.16. CHAP pair and a reverse pair

  5. Click Start Discovery. Anaconda attempts to discover an iSCSI target based on the information that you provided. If discovery succeeds, the iSCSI Discovered Nodes dialog presents you with a list of all the iSCSI nodes discovered on the target.
  6. Each node is presented with a checkbox beside it. Click the checkboxes to select the nodes to use for installation.
    The iSCSI Discovered Nodes dialog

    Figure 9.17. The iSCSI Discovered Nodes dialog

  7. Click Login to initiate an iSCSI session.

Procedure 9.2. Starting an iSCSI session

Use the iSCSI Nodes Login dialog to provide anaconda with the information that it needs to log into the nodes on the iSCSI target and start an iSCSI session.
The iSCSI Nodes Login dialog

Figure 9.18. The iSCSI Nodes Login dialog

  1. Use the drop-down menu to specify the type of authentication to use for the iSCSI session:
    iSCSI session authentication

    Figure 9.19. iSCSI session authentication

    • no credentials
    • CHAP pair
    • CHAP pair and a reverse pair
    • Use the credentials from the discovery step
    If your environment uses the same type of authentication and same username and password for iSCSI discovery and for the iSCSI session, select Use the credentials from the discovery step to reuse these credentials.
    • If you selected CHAP pair as the authentication type, provide the username and password for the iSCSI target in the CHAP Username and CHAP Password fields.
      CHAP pair

      Figure 9.20. CHAP pair

    • If you selected CHAP pair and a reverse pair as the authentication type, provide the username and password for the iSCSI target in the CHAP Username and CHAP Password fields and the username and password for the iSCSI initiator in the Reverse CHAP Username and Reverse CHAP Password fields.
      CHAP pair and a reverse pair

      Figure 9.21. CHAP pair and a reverse pair

  3. Click Login. Anaconda attempts to log into the nodes on the iSCSI target based on the information that you provided. The iSCSI Login Results dialog presents you with the results.
    The iSCSI Login Results dialog

    Figure 9.22. The iSCSI Login Results dialog

  4. Click OK to continue.
9.6.1.1.3.  Configure FCoE Parameters
To configure an FCoE SAN, select Add FCoE SAN and click Add Drive.
In the next dialog box that appears after you click Add drive, select the network interface that is connected to your FCoE switch and click Add FCoE Disk(s).
Configure FCoE Parameters

Figure 9.23. Configure FCoE Parameters

Data Center Bridging (DCB) is a set of enhancements to the Ethernet protocols designed to increase the efficiency of Ethernet connections in storage networks and clusters. Enable or disable the installer's awareness of DCB with the checkbox in this dialog. This should only be set for networking interfaces that require a host-based DCBX client. Configurations on interfaces that implement a hardware DCBX client should leave this checkbox empty.
Auto VLAN indicates whether VLAN discovery should be performed. If this box is checked, then the FIP VLAN discovery protocol will run on the Ethernet interface once the link configuration has been validated. If they are not already configured, network interfaces for any discovered FCoE VLANs will be automatically created and FCoE instances will be created on the VLAN interfaces.