OpenFiler

OpenFiler
Openfiler is a Linux based storage solution for SMBs. Openfiler is a file-based network-attached storage and block-based storage area network. Openfiler can run with minimal resources.

By using Openfiler you can provide cost effective solutions for your storage needs, instead going for the Enterprise Storage Arrays. Openfiler supports both regular Operating Systems and Virtualization also.Below I will show how we can take the benefit of openfiler to make SAN/NAS storage for our VMware ESX host.
There are two types of openfiler installation. You can click on the installation link to see all details on how to help
1.Text Based Installation
2.Graphical Installation
Note:-Make sure you have not partitioned all the disk space. Make the OS partition to small size and keep rest as free space which later we will use as iSCSI LUN.
At the time of installation or post installation you have to configure static IP address and necessary DNS configuration.
Once your installation is done, after reboot you will get a screen like below where it will give the URL where you can access opnefiler from browser.

Note:- Configure static IP address and necessary DNS configuration before doing anything
Step-1:Now open the URL given at openfiler startup screen using any browser to login to its web interface. For first time it will give a security warning like the picture shown below.

You just need to ignore the warning and proceed to the login page.
You will get a login screen like given below

Note:-Don’t login using the root user credentials what you have provided during openfiler installation.
Default username openfiler
Default Password:-password
Once after successful login you will get a screen which will be containing all your openfiler server information

Step-2:Go to volumes tab.If you are opening this for first time you will get a screen like below.

You have to select create new volume group. Then you will get a screen like below.

Step-3:Click on disk name (Here in my case its /dev/sdb) under Edit Disk which contains the free space we are going to use iSCSI storage. Now you will get a screen where you can make your physical volume.

From Partition Type dropdown menu select Physical volume and click Create.It will create a physical volume.
Step-4:Now click on Volume Groups on the right hand side. You will be presented a window like below.

Here give some valid name for the volume group and select the physical volumes shown in the list in order to add to the volume group. Then click on Add volume group.
Once volume group creation finishes you can see the volume group listed under volumes tab

Step-5:Now volume group creation is done,So we have to configure LUN(Logical Unit Number).To do this click on Add Volume.

Here give some volume name and slide the slider to allocate space to LUN.Choose Filesystemtype as iSCSI and click on create.
Step-6:Next action is to enable iSCSI service. For this open Services tab. You will find there are some service listed and have option to disable/enable the services. From here you have to enable iSCSI target server Service.it will be disabled by default

Step-7:Once iSCSI is enabled we need to share the volume to specific IP/Networks. To do this open System tab and on bottom you will find Network Access Configuration. Here provide the details of the ESX/ESXi server information and click on update

Note:-Sometimes in Network Access Configuration if you will allow only host then the iSCSI volume may not be shown in storage volumes under vSphere client.To overcome this allow the whole network as shown in the second rule in Network Access Configuration.
Step-8:Now you need to configure the iSCSI target and allow for the host.To do this gotoVolumes tab.On right hand side you will find iSCSI Targets.From there goto Target Configuration as shown in figure below.

You will see some long name under Target IQN.This is going to be your iSCSI target name.Click on Add to add the target.
Step-9:Then go to LUN Mapping and click on Map to map the LUN to the iSCSI target.

Step-10:Next goto Network ACL on the same page.You will see the list of network/hostname present here are similar to what you gave in Network Access Configuration before and all will be deny by default.You have to allow them and click onUpdate.