If you’re used to the streamlined, straightforward method of creating iSCSI targets with Solaris you may have been a little perplexed to see an error something like this:

# cannot set property for ‘tank/iscsi/vol001′: invalid property ‘shareiscsi’

This is because the mechanism for creating and manipulating iSCSI has changed significantly in recent versions of Solaris.  I’m not sure why the original syntax wasn’t retained, but nevertheless, you can still achieve the same result with the following sequence:

• Install the new COMSTAR package:

# pkg install pkg:/storage-server

• Create your zfs volume as usual

# zfs create -V 200G tank/iscsi/vol001

This will create a 200Gb volume in the “tank” pool of type ‘volume’ (not ‘filesystem’)

• Using the new sbdadm(1M) command, create a new logical unit based on the volume you just created:

# sbdadm create-lu /dev/zvol/rdsk/tank/iscsi/v001
Created the following LU:

GUID                              DATA SIZE            SOURCE
--------------------------------  -------------------  ----------------
600144f01cfe070000004e3df8200001  214748364800         /dev/zvol/rdsk/tank/iscsi/v001

• Using the new stmfadm(1M) command, verify that you now have a logical unit available:

# stmfadm list-lu -v 600144F01CFE070000004E3DF8200001
LU Name: 600144F01CFE070000004E3DF8200001
    Operational Status: Online
    Provider Name     : sbd
    Alias             : /dev/zvol/rdsk/tank/iscsi/v001
    View Entry Count  : 1
    Data File         : /dev/zvol/rdsk/tank/iscsi/v001
    Meta File         : not set
    Size              : 214748364800
    Block Size        : 512
    Management URL    : not set
    Vendor ID         : OI
    Product ID        : COMSTAR
    Serial Num        : not set
    Write Protect     : Disabled
    Writeback Cache   : Enabled
    Access State      : Active

• Add a view to the newly created object, otherwise we won’t be able to do anything with it

# stmfadm add-view 600144F01CFE070000004E3DF8200001

• Turn on the required service, if you haven’t already.

svcadm enable -r svc:/network/iscsi/target:default

• FINALLY you can now create the iSCSI target:

# itadm  create-target
Target iqn.1986-03.com.sun:02:1cfef154-fa27-4f03-de2d-946adda9eea4 successfully created

So there you go. Nowhere near as simple as setting a property on a ZFS filesystem, but you can eventually achieve the same result.

Summary:

• Create volume
• Create a scsi block device, using the newly-created volume as a backing store.
• Create a logical unit using the previously created block device
• Add a ‘view’ to the logical unit (think of this as making it visible to outsiders – giving them a ‘view’)
• Create an iSCSI target

Simple, eh? :/