Package: open-iscsi
Version: 2.1.3-2
Severity: wishlist
An upstream maintainer suggested that Debian should not use iscsistart
for booting from an iSCSI volume but instead include iscsid and iscsiadm
in the initrd. The same is already done in SUSE.
Please, consider such a change for Debian Bookworm.
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: [open-iscsi/open-iscsi] iscsistart fails with 15 - session
exists with ipv6 (#241)
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2021 15:29:41 -0800
From: Lee Duncan <notificati...@github.com>
Reply-To: open-iscsi/open-iscsi
<reply+aau6vyfpnkpbnnqngx2juof6glyglevbnhhc445...@reply.github.com>
To: open-iscsi/open-iscsi <open-is...@noreply.github.com>
CC: Heinrich Schuchardt <xypron.g...@gmx.de>, Mention
<ment...@noreply.github.com>
@gonzoleeman <https://github.com/gonzoleeman>
Let me emphasize again: iscsistart is not great. Using
iscsiadm/iscsid is still the recommended way to use open-iscsi.
Debian uses iscsistart when booting from iSCSI. Is this the wrong
way to do it?
Cf.
https://salsa.debian.org/linux-blocks-team/open-iscsi/-/blob/master/debian/extra/initramfs.hook
<https://salsa.debian.org/linux-blocks-team/open-iscsi/-/blob/master/debian/extra/initramfs.hook>
The proper way to use open-iscsi is to (1) start the daemon, then (2)
use iscsiadm to talk to the daemon.
There are a couple of problems with the iscsistart approach: first, it
has no error handling. All the error handling is built into iscsid.
Sure, some of it might have gotten copied to iscsistart, but not most of
it. For example, once iscsistart exits, there is *no* error handling at
all. The second problem is that iscsistart is not maintained, since it's
not used as much. It also has other issues, like not setting up the
session correctly, so that trying to log out of that session fails on
the first attempt.
I'm fairly sure this approach was taken because it's more complex to
start them daemon then use iscsiadm. But it's not a lot more complex.
That's the approach we take at SUSE. To be fair, there are shortcomings
even when using iscsid/iscsiadm. In our case, when we switch from
virtual root to the real root disc, we stop then restart the iscsid
daemon. So even in our case there is a window when no error handling can
occur.
But iscsistart is still part of the open-iscsi distribution, so until
and unless somebody removes it, it's supported, even if I like to
discourage it's use. (I also discourage use of iscsi NOPs, if that
matters, so this isn't the only windmill I tilt at.)
I hope that answers your question. If you wanted to convert debian to
using iscsid/iscsiadm, I'd be glad to help!
