How to Connect SLES 10 to a Free NAS iSCSI Server

This How To will give you a guide on how to connect a Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 (SLES) to a Free NAS Server ,using iSCSI.
It is assumed that you have built and configured a Free NAS Server with working iSCSI Targets as detailed in the previous How To on creating a VMware of Free NAS

Install the iSCSI Initiator Package in SLES

Using the Software Management function in YAST add the iSCSI Initiator packages to your system.
Don’t forget to autocheck package dependencies.

Configure the iSCSI Initiator to connect to your Free NAS server

Once you have installed the iSCSI initiator packages it needs to be configured to connect to your iSCSI target in Free NAS
Fire up YAST and go to the Miscellaneous section where you will see iSCSI Initiator.
Launch iSCSI Initiator

Set the iSCSI Initiator Service to start when booting

Once the iSCSi Initiator GUI has launched on the first Tab set the Service Start to when booting

Add the iSCSI target

One the second Tab of the iSCSI Initiator you now need to input the Free NAS Target
Go to the Connected Targets Tab and click add
Input the IP address of your Free NAS Server and leave the TCP Port as the Default
For Free NAS keep the No Authentication Check box in place.
Click Next and the GUI will return to the previous screen with your target attached

Establish Target Connection

Once your new Target has been added Click Connect and in the next screen keep No Authentication checked
Click Next
You should now return to the screen that shows the list of iSCSI Targets and the one you just added should have a status of connected.
Click Next again to return to the main iSCSi initiator Screen

 

Change Startup

In the iSCSI Initiator GUI on the Connected Targets Tab Toggle startup to automatic by clicking the Toggle Startup button.
Click Finish.

Adding the iSCSI Target to the Linux File system

The next step is to add the newly added iSCSI target to the Linux File system using the YAST tool Partitioner
From YAST launch Partitioner from the system section.
In this screen you should see your iSCSI targets under the /dev/sdb and /dev/sdd devices in my example above
You next need to create a Linux Partition based on your iSCSI target and then assign it a mount point

 

 

Creating the Linux Partition and assigning a mount point Part One

Next Click the Create Button to convert Disk to Partition
Choose the relevant device for example /dev/sdd in my example
Click OK and Choose Primary Partition and then OK again

Creating the Linux Partition and assigning a mount point Part Two

You now need to format the newly created partition and set a mount-point
In my case I am using a mount point of /freenas
Click OK to return to the main Partitioner screen and don’t forget to click Apply
A pop up will appear asking if you really want to make the changes and choose apply
It will then return to the main partitioner screen where you should see your new mount point
If everything is ok Click Quit to finish
Close YAST

Check the new Mount-point

Now go to terminal and check that the new mount-point exists and is writeable
cd into your new mount-point and test it is writeable by touching a file there.
Well done you have successfully completed this How To !!!!!!

Apache LDAP Authentication How To

This lesson will show you how to install and configure Apache 2.2.x on Windows with LDAP Basic Authentication against Microsoft Active Directory

Install Apache 2.2.x

Download the latest Apache 2.2.x installer from http:://www.apache.org

Download the AUTH LDAP module for Apache 2.2 and also SUN C++ SDK

Download the SUN C++ SDK for Windows NT4 optimized version from the SUN SDK Website http://www.sun.com/download/products.xml?id=3ec28dbd
Download the version 3.11 of the pre compiled mod auth ldap dll from here http://muquit.com/muquit/software/mod_auth_ldap/mod_auth_ldap.html#directives Choose MS Windows binary v3.11 for Apache 2.2.2

Extract both zip files
Place the file mm_mod_auth_ldap.dll into the Apache modules Directory
Place the dlls from the SDK extracted zip file into the Apache Modules Directory

Open the Apache Httpd.conf file in your Favourite Text Editor

In order to control which URL requires LDAP authentication we use an Apache Location Directive

Add the Following to your httpd.conf and modify to fit your environment

All Values in the Screen Shot above with Red Arrows must be changed

# LDAP Stuff
LoadModule mm_auth_ldap_module modules/mm_mod_auth_ldap.dll

LDAP_UseMemoryCache_G On
LDAP_HashTableSize_G 1024
LDAP_CacheTTL_G 5000
LDAP_Persistent_G On
SupportNestedGroups_G On

<Location /wordpress>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
order allow,deny
allow from all
AuthBasicProvider “mm_ldap”
#AuthLDAPAuthoritative Off
#AuthAuthoritative Off
#AuthOnBind On
#Sub_DN “ou=CIS,ou=People”
Bind_Tries 3
AuthName “Authorized imaginary staff only”
AuthType Basic
LDAP_Debug On
LDAP_Server 192.168.254.40
LDAP_Protocol_Version 3
LDAP_Connect_Timeout 1000
Base_DN “CN=Users,DC=sjdec,DC=local”
UID_Attr “sAMAccountName”
Bind_DN    ”CN=Administrator,CN=Users,DC=sjdec,DC=local”
Bind_Pass “livelink”
require valid-user
</Location>

Save the Httpd.conf and restart Apache

Test the Page in a Browser

Call the page defined by the Location Directive in a browser and a login popup should appear
Then Login with a LDAP User and Password

Use The Firefox Addon Live HTTP headers to check authentication

Install the Firefox Addon Live Http Headers and then repeat the login test above and view the HTTP response headers to check that authentication is working as expected
You should see the server issue an HTTP 401 when the page is called and then Basic Authorization being set once the user has logged in

Creating a Network Attached Storage VMware using Free NAS

This Tutorial will give you a run down on how to create a VMware using the free NAS FreeBSD Distro Free NAS http://freenas.org

Create a new VMware Virtual Server

Using the create new Server wizard create a new vmware server of type Other Linux 2.4 kernel
Assign a HDD of at least 8GB
Assign at least 256MB RAM
Download the freenas distro from the freenas site http://www.freenas.org/
Assign Networking of type bridged or host only as the NAS server should have a fixed IP address
Start up the Newly created VMware Server and allow Free Nas to boot up until it reaches the Console Setup Screen (See Above Screen Shot)

Install Free NAS on the Virtual machine

From the Console Setup Window choose option 9 Install/Upgrade to Hard Drive
Choose Option 2 Install embedded OS on HDD + Data Partition.
Click OK
Click OK
Select the CD-ROM Drive Found as the Installer source
Select the Target VMWare virtual disk as the Installer Target
Allow the Installer to continue
After it has formatted the disk Select Enter to return to the Install & Upgrade Screen
Choose Exit Option to return to the Setup Console

 

Assign a LAN IP Address for the Install

From the Console Setup Screen Choose Option 2 to Set the LAN IP address
Assign an IPv4 Static Address DO NOT USE DHCP
Once the IP has been assigned shutdown the System from the Console Setup menu and remove the ISO image of Free NAS from the virtual machine and then Start up the VM again to ensure it boots from the newly installed O/S and not the CD-ROM.

 

Access the Free NAS Admin Web GUI

Once the Virtual Machine has restarted you should now be able to reach the Free NAS Web Admin GUI using the IP address set in the previous Step
Login with user admin and password freenas

Add The Data Portion of the Data Disk

from The Web GUI Go to the Disk Menu and Choose Management
From The Disk Drop Down Choose the Vmware HDD and Click Add
Click Apply Changes

Add the Data Portion of the HDD as a new Mount-point

From the Web GUI Choose the Mount-point Menu Disks/Mount-point
click the Red Cross to add a Mount Point
Choose the Disk from the Drop Down created in the previous Step
Choose Partition of type 2 from the PArtition Drop Down
Input a Share Name e.g DATA
Dont Change any Other Options
Click Add
Then Click Apply Changes

Manually Adding Extents

For Each ISCSI Disk we wish to create for our NAS we must create an ISCSI Extent and Target
The Extents are based on a file in the Mount-point created in the previous step and must be created from the shell
Go back to the VMware and choose option 6 (Shell) from the Console Setup menu and this will return a standard linux Shell Prompt
Change Directory to the mount-point created earlier e.g cd /mnt/DATA
For each iSCSI Disk we require we must create an extent file
In this example I will create just one
At the shell prompt in the mount-point directory type touch QD
The name is not important.
We can now add the ISCSI Targets via the WEB GUI so can now go back to the Web GUI

Adding iSCSI Targets

From the WEB GUI go to the Services / iSCSI Target Page

Adding the Extent to the iSCSI Target

On the iSCSI target page in the Web GUI Click the + to add a new extent
On the Add Extent Page Choose Type File and in the Path window set the path to the extent file created from the shell (Use the Radio Button at the right of the window to choose the path to the file.
Set a Size for the Extent in MB and add a comment if you wish
Click Add and the browser should return to the previous page showing the newly added extent.

Creating an iSCSi Target using the newly created extent

From the iSCSI Target Page Click the + at the right of the Target section to add a new iSCSi target.
Choose the extent created in the previous step
Choose the Authorized Network that will have access to this iSCSI Target e.g. 192.168.254.0 / 24.
Click Add to return to the next page.

Completing the iSCSi Target Creation

From the iSCSI Target Page
Select the Enable Checkbox
Then click the Apply Changes button
Then Click the Save and Restart Button to apply the Changes to the Free NAS Server.
We are now finished with the Free NAS setup.
We should now able to attach a Windows Server to this iSCSI Target using the Windows iSCSI Initiator.

Download and Install the iSCSI Initiator

Download the Microsoft iSCSi Initiator from the Microsoft website http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=12cb3c1a-15d6-4585-b385-befd1319f825&displaylang=en
Once the download has finished run the installer
The Installer will place a short cut to the iSCSi configuration tool on your Desktop
Then Launch the Configuration tool in order to add an iSCSi target from our Free NAS server
In the Discovery Tab add the Free NAS server as a Target Portal

Go To the Targets Tab to see the iSCSi disks

In the iSCSI Initiator Tool go to the Targets Tab and you should see the iSCSI Targets provided by your Free NAs server
Select the relevant one and click the Logon button and then check the Automatically Restore this connection checkbox
Click OK
Click OK
The newly attached Disk should now be available in the Disk Management Admin Tool in Windows

Attach a Drive Letter and format the iSCSI disk

Open Administrative Tools Computer Management and go to Disk Management
A wizard should now run once it detects the new Disk
Assign a Drive Letter and format the Drive (NTFS)
You now have an iSCSI attached NAS disk that can be used for example to create a Windows Cluster
Have Fun !!!