Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Configuring iSCSI Target Server

This section describes how to perform the following tasks for iSCSI Target Server on Windows Server 2012:

• Enabling iSCSI Initiator
• Installing the iSCSI Target Server role service
• Creating iSCSI virtual disks

The section shows how to perform these tasks using both Server Manager and Windows PowerShell.

Enabling iSCSI Initiator

Before you configure iSCSI Target Server, you should enable the iSCSI Initiator feature on the computer that will be connecting to the Target server. The following procedure shows how to enable the iSCSI Initiator feature on a server running Windows Server 2012:

1. Open Server Manager, and select iSCSI Initiator from the Tools menu.
2. When the Microsoft iSCSI dialog box appears, click Yes to start the Microsoft iSCSI Service and close the dialog box.
3. When the iSCSI Initiator Properties dialog box opens, click OK to close it.

You can also enable the iSCSI initiator by using Windows PowerShell to start the Microsoft iSCSI Service and change the service startup type to Automatic by running these two commands:

Start-Service msiscsi
Set-Service msiscsi -startuptype "automatic"

Installing the iSCSI Target Server role

Installing the File And iSCSI Services role service of the File And Storage Services role on a server running Windows Server 2012 adds a new File And Storage Services page to Server Manager. Selecting this page displays a number of subpages, including one named iSCSI, but if you select this iSCSI page you will see a message in the iSCSI Virtual Disks tile. This message indicates you must first install iSCSI Target Server before you can use the page to manage iSCSI storage.

You can install the iSCSI Target Server role using either Server Manager or Windows PowerShell. To install iSCSI Target Server using Server Manager, launch the Add Roles And Features Wizard from the Manage menu. On the Select Server Roles page of this wizard, you will see two iSCSI role services:

• iSCSI Target Server Installing this role service installs services and management tools for iSCSI Targets.
• iSCSI Target Storage Provider (VDS and VSS hardware providers) Installing this role service enables applications on a server that is connected to an iSCSI target to perform volume shadow copies of data on iSCSI virtual disks.

Note:
Installing the iSCSI Target Storage Provider (VDS and VSS hardware providers) role service also enables you to manage iSCSI virtual disks using management tools that use the deprecated Virtual Disk Service (VDS). Examples of such tools include the Disk Management MMC snap-in, the Diskpart command, and the Diskraid command.

You should not install the iSCSI Target Storage Provider role service on a server that has the iSCSI Target Server role service installed. Instead, install the iSCSI Target Storage Provider on the server you use to centrally manage storage for your environment.

You can also use Windows PowerShell to install iSCSI Target Server. You can do this by using the Add-WindowsFeature cmdlet like this:

Add-WindowsFeature -Name FS-iSCSITarget-Server

No restart is needed after installing this role service.