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Create and backup an iSCSI share with IDrive BMR

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Create an iSCSI share on the IDrive BMR device

To create an iSCSI share with IDrive BMR,

  1. Connect to the IDrive BMR device interface.
  2. Go to Backup > Network Shares > Create New Share.

    NAS create share

  3. In the Share type tab, select iSCSI share and click Next.
  4. In the Share settings tab, assign a name to your iSCSI share.

    ISCSI create share

  5. Select Apply new settings to assign default settings to your share.
    Alternatively, select Use the configurations of an existing share and select an existing share from the dropdown to replicate its configurations.
  6. Assign Disk space for the iSCSI target, configure Block size, and click Next.
    Note: Sector sizes 8128 Bytes or 64 KB are supported for IDrive BMR device firmware version 8.6.0 and above. For older firmware, select 512 Bytes or 4 KB. 
  7. In the Local snapshot tab, set the snapshot frequency using the dropdown against Capture a local snapshot every.

    ISCSI create share

  8. Select the days for local backup as Daily, Weekdays, Weekend, or select Custom and choose the days.
  9. Set the start and end time for backup.
    Note: Here, Start time and End time are soft cut-offs. The actual start time is dependent on the backup pipeline and the actual end time is dependent on the ongoing tasks that are in progress.
  10. In the Snapshot retention settings section, use the slider to set the limit for retaining local snapshots. You can retain up to 100 local snapshots of a network share. Click Next.
  11. In the Confirm share tab, review the local snapshot summary and click Create. The new share will be added to IDrive BMR’s Network Shares > iSCSI tab.

Sector sizes supported for iSCSI in IDrive BMR NAS

IDrive BMR NAS allows you to create storage block targets of 8128 Bytes or 64 KB with IDrive BMR device firmware version 8.6.0 and 512 Bytes or 4 KB with older firmware version. You will be able to choose your preferred sector size when configuring the iSCSI NAS share.

Note: While you may be able to change the sector size of the iSCSI target from the initiator side, it is, however, not recommended. During negotiation between the target and the initiator, a difference in the block size may cause issues with the iSCSI operations.

Access an iSCSI share on Windows system

To access an iSCSI share on your Windows system,

  1. Launch iSCSI Initiator on your Windows machine.
    Note: Microsoft iSCSI Initiator is installed natively on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012. For other operating systems, it needs to be installed manually.
  2. Enter the IP of your IDrive BMR device in the Target field and click Quick Connect...

    Create_ISCSi_4.png

  3. In the list of discovered targets, select the required iSCSI target and click Connect to access the iSCSI volume.

    Create_ISCSi_5.png

  4. In case CHAP Authentication is enabled, an authentication failure message will be displayed.

To authenticate,

  1. Go to Connect > Advanced.
  2. Enter the pre-defined CHAP username and password and click OK.
  3. Click OK in the Advanced Settings window to access the iSCSI target.

Locally backup NAS/iSCSI share

You can backup your NAS and iSCSI shares locally via local snapshots.

To schedule local snapshots for a network share on the IDrive BMR device,

  1. Connect to the IDrive BMR device interface.
  2. Go to Backup > Network Shares > NAS/iSCSI. All the network shares are displayed here.
  3. Click corresponding to the required network share. The NAS share settings/iSCSI share settings screen appears.
  4. Click corresponding to the Snapshot schedule field, set the frequency for capturing the local snapshots, and schedule the backup.

    ISCSI create share

  5. Click Save.

Pause NAS/iSCSI share backup 

You can pause the backup of your NAS and iSCSI shares.

To pause the local backup of a network share on the IDrive BMR device,

  1. Connect to the IDrive BMR device interface.
  2. Go to Backup > Network Shares > NAS/iSCSI. All the network shares are displayed here.
  3. Click corresponding to the required network share. The NAS share settings/iSCSI share settings screen appears.
  4. Click corresponding to the Snapshot schedule field.
  5. Move the slide toggle to read Disabled.

    ISCSI create share

  6. Click Save to save the local snapshot settings.

Backup space used for iSCSI share in IDrive BMR NAS

The space used to backup your iSCSI shares can be lesser or greater than the actual amount of data physically stored. This is because data compression and de-duplication mechanisms are used in the backend for efficient utilization of the storage space for storing your backups.

Other components such as metadata and references, data fragmentation, and padding space wasted during data alignment between iSCSI blocks and disk blocks also consume a portion of your actual data storage.