Connecting and configuring iSCSI on Windows Server

This is an instruction for connecting an iSCSI disk in Windows Server 2016. When ordering an iSCSI storage service in SIM-Networks, you will receive a message similar to the one below (note that the numbers in the server address may differ from the illustration example, and instead of the letters X,Y, or Z in the message will indicate the real values to configure your access):

The "iSCSI Backup" service is activated. Access options:

Server address (iscsi-target): 185.59.101.184 Login: YYY Password: ZZZ Access to the service is currently limited to only one IP address - XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

Connecting an iSCSI drive

1. Go to "Control Panel -> Administrative Tools" and launch the iSCSI Initiator.

2. In the Properties section of the iSCSI initiator, click the Discovery tab and click the Discover Portal button.

3. In the window that opens, fill in the "IP address" field of the iSCSI server.

4. Open the advanced server connection settings section (click the "Advanced" button). Select the Local Adapter and Initiator IP address as shown in the figure below (where Initiator IP is the IP address of your local network adapter that is allowed to connect to the iSCSI server).

5. Save your settings, make sure you get an image like the one below:

6. In the Properties section of the iSCSI initiator, click the Targets tab, select the inactive object that appears, and click the Connect button.

7. In the "Connect to target" window that opens, click the "Advanced..." button

8. Fill in the fields of the section, as in the figure below. The parameters "Name" and "Secret" are the "Login" and "Password" from the letter sent to you when activating the service.

9. Save your settings. Verify that the value of the State field of the discovered target is Connected, as shown in the figure below. Exit the Properties section of the iSCSI Initiator, saving the settings.

Initializing and Formatting an iSCSI Drive

The connected iSCSI drive must be prepared for use (initialized and formatted).

10. In the "Administration" section, open the "Computer Management" tab.

11. Go to the "Disk Management" section.

12. Make sure that your drive is displayed, its status is "Offline".

13. Select "Online" from the context menu.

14. Initialize the drive.

15. Check that the status of the disk has changed to "Online", but there are no partitions and no file system on it.

16. From the context menu on an unallocated disk, select "Create a simple volume".

17. After the Create Simple Volume Wizard opens, click the Next button.

18. Specify the partition size in the corresponding field, or leave the default value unchanged (if you need to use the entire disk for one partition).

19. Assign a drive letter to the new partition.

20. Select the file system type and volume label.

21. Click the "Finish" button and make sure the formatting of the volume is complete.

Important! During formatting, a window may appear asking you to format the disk. You must ignore this request, close the window and wait for the formatting to complete.

22. Verify that the new volume is in a Healthy state.

23. Verify that the new volume is displayed among the drives in Explorer.

Checking the availability of an iSCSI disk for writing

24. To check the volume, go to the corresponding drive in the "Explorer" and create, for example, a text file, as in the figure below:

25. Verify that there were no problems creating the file - this means that the new iSCSI volume is connected, formatted, and working properly.

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