This is an old revision of the document!
====== Installing CentOS to an iSCSI target ====== The CentOS installation process is somewhat fragile, and the built-in support for iSCSI installation does not function properly. However, it is possible to work around this limitation and install to an iSCSI target. ===== Starting the installation ===== Start a CentOS installation in the usual way, and proceed up to the point of the graphical welcome screen: {{screenshots:centos_iscsi_install_start.png?400x300|Start of CentOS installation}} Before clicking on //Next//, press //Ctrl-Alt-F2//. This should take you to a root shell prompt. Configure and start up the iSCSI initiator: sh-3.2# mkdir /etc/iscsi sh-3.2# echo InitiatorName=iqn.2007-08.name.dns.initiator.my > \ /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi sh-3.2# iscsid {{ screenshots:centos_iscsi_install_connect.png?320x200|CentOS iSCSI installation connection to disk}} where //name.dns.initiator.my// is your initiator's DNS name in reverse order. (For completeness, you should also replace //2007-08// with the year and month in which you first obtained your DNS domain. The iSCSI naming schemes are somewhat pedantic, but it won’t affect anything in practice; as long as the initiator name is unique then everything will work just fine.) ===== Connecting to the iSCSI target ===== Connect to the iSCSI target to be used for installation: sh-3.2# iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p my.target.dns.name:3260 where //my.target.dns.name// is the DNS name (or IP address) of your iSCSI target. You will see a list of available target IQNs. Log in to the installation target: sh-3.2# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2007-08.name.dns.target.my:iscsiboot -l where //iqn.2007-08.name.dns.target.my:iscsiboot// is the IQN of the target that you want to install to. You are now logged in to the installation iSCSI target. ===== Completing the installation ===== Press //Ctrl-Alt-F6// to return to the graphical installation process, and click on //Next// to proceed to the disk selection screen: {{screenshots:centos_iscsi_install_select_drive.png?400x300|CentOS iSCSI installation disk selection}} You must tick the "Review and modify partitioning layout" box before proceeding to the disk partitioning screen: {{screenshots:centos_iscsi_install_remove_swap.png?400x300|CentOS iSCSI installation swap removal}} Select and delete the swap partition. This is required for two reasons: firstly, swap over iSCSI (or over any network device) is generally a bad idea; secondly, doing so works around a bug in the CentOS installer which would otherwise result in the partition table never being written to disk. Make a note of the iSCSI target IQN that you installed to (//iqn.2007-08.name.dns.target.my:iscsiboot// in the above example). You are now ready to * [[sanboot:iscsi_boot|Boot from your iSCSI target image]]
