CentOS 4 / Redhat Enterprise Linux 4 iSCSI Installation and Configuration ( iscsi initiators )

I’ve received a couple of email about setting up iSCSI under CentOS 4 or RHEL ES 4 server. Previously, I wrote about iSCSI under CentOS 5 / RHEL 5 server.

Requirements

[a] Following instructions tested on RHEL ES 4 and CentOS 4 only. (See RHEL 5/ CentOS 5 / Debian/ Ubuntu Linux specific instructions here).
[b] You need following information
[c] ISCSI Username
[d] ISCSI Password
[e] ISCSI Server IP / hostname

CentOS Linux v4.x – Install iscsi-initiator-utils

Type the following command:
# yum install iscsi-initiator-utils

Redhat ES Linux v4.x – Install iscsi-initiator-utils

Type the following command:
# up2date iscsi-initiator-utils

Configure iSCSI

Open /etc/iscsi.conf file, enter:
# vi /etc/iscsi.conf
Setup it as follows:

DiscoveryAddress=ISCSI_TARGET_HOST_OR_IP
 OutgoingUserName=ISCSI_USER_NAME
 OutgoingPassword=ISCSI_PASSWORD
 LoginTimeout=15

Save and close the file.

Start the iscsi service

Type the following command to start iscsi service so that you can see block device:
# chkconfig iscsi on
# /etc/init.d/iscsi start
Run any one of the following to find out new block device name:
# fdisk -l
# tail -f /var/log/messages
# find /sys/devices/platform/host* -name "block*"

Format iSCSI device

Use fdisk and mkfs.ext3 commands. First, create a partition (assuming that /dev/sdc is a new block device assigned to iscsi) :
# fdisk /dev/sdc
# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdc1
Create /mnt/iscsi directory:
# mkdir -p /mnt/iscsi
Open /etc/fstab file and append config directive:
/dev/sdc1 /mnt/iscsi ext3 _netdev 0 0
Save and close the file. Mount the parition /dev/sdc1:
# mount -a
# df -H

Category	List of Unix and Linux commands
Disk space analyzers	df • ncdu • pydf
File Management	cat • cp • mkdir • tree
Firewall	Alpine Awall • CentOS 8 • OpenSUSE • RHEL 8 • Ubuntu 16.04 • Ubuntu 18.04 • Ubuntu 20.04
Network Utilities	NetHogs • dig • host • ip • nmap
OpenVPN	CentOS 7 • CentOS 8 • Debian 10 • Debian 8/9 • Ubuntu 18.04 • Ubuntu 20.04
Package Manager	apk • apt
Processes Management	bg • chroot • cron • disown • fg • jobs • killall • kill • pidof • pstree • pwdx • time
Searching	grep • whereis • which
User Information	groups • id • lastcomm • last • lid/libuser-lid • logname • members • users • whoami • who • w
WireGuard VPN	Alpine • CentOS 8 • Debian 10 • Firewall • Ubuntu 20.04