Why iscsiadm command does not create proper directory structure in /var/lib/iscsi/nodes?

Solution Unverified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8
  • iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.872-13.el5
  • kernel-2.6.18-308.11.1.el5

Issue

  • iscsiadm does not create proper directory structure in /var/lib/iscsi/nodes

Resolution

Create iscsi target using below commands will create directory structure in /var/lib/iscsi/nodes

# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p _ip_of_iscsi_target:3260
# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.target_name -p _ip_of_iscsi_target:3260 -l

Root Cause

discovering iscsi target with below command

# iscsiadm -m node -o new -T iqn.target_name -p _ip_of_iscsi_target:3260

will not crate dirctory stucture in /var/lib/iscsi/nodes as below command is responsible for creating it

# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p _ip_of_iscsi_target:3260

Diagnostic Steps

If iscsi target is discovered from client side using below command

# iscsiadm -m node -o new -T iqn.target_name -p _ip_of_iscsi_target:3260

then in /var/lib/iscsi/nodes directory we will have file containing iscsi information instead of directory

# pwd 
/var/lib/iscsi/nodes

# ls -ltr
total 4
-rw------- 1 root root 1772 Jul 22 05:24 _ip_of_iscsi_target:3260 <---- this should be directory instared of file

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