Q: REQUEST: iSCSI initiator in Lion

lchichiarelli wrote:

 

Can't believe windows has it nativeli and OSX even with Lion doesn't provide it...

There is no built-in iSCSI initiator in Mac OS X, but there are two available ones you can get and use.

There is the commercial Xtend iSCSI initiator from Atto Technology see http://www.attotech.com/products/product.php?scat=17&sku=INIT-MAC0-001&PHPSESSID =3a4768e36b14fa747b74b04cf8c4c76e this is not free as you will see, but reports I have seen suggest it works well with Lion.

There is the free globalSAN iSCSI initiator from Studio Network Solutions see http://www.studionetworksolutions.com/support/faq.php?pi=11&fi=51 this is free and some people have reported success using it under Lion but also having needed to tweak settings to get it to work. Some people have also reported that the latest version - the only one that works at all under Lion is rather slow.

Just screwing around with my SAN and Newly installed Mountain Lion... I decided to be a bit adventurous...

I did the following:

• Download the legacy iSCSI initiator from GlobalSAN (http://www.snsftp.com/public/globalsan/Legacy/globalSAN_4.1.0.279.dmg)
• Installed it
• Rebooted it
• Setup an iSCSI target
• Opened a beer... it's Working!!!

No Lion Server does not have an iSCSI initiator.  There are only two that are commercially available.  They are both expensive.  I have commissioned a team of programmers to build one.  We anticipate being able to offer it for around $39 dollars, and will ensure its compatibility with Mountain Lion, as well as backwards to 10.6.8.

MiSCSI

Tried too. Can connect to my test target. And then ?

What steps did you took to mount the volume and use it on the Mac ?

It looks like something missing or is incompatible with Lion / Mountain Lion.

Confirmation of my own findings, it does not work on Lion nor on Mountain Lion, except their new version 5. So no iSCSI initiator on Mac, except by paying 3 times the OS street price for an important standard protocol that Apple (purposedly?) chose NOT to implement for years.

http://www.snsftp.com/public/globalsan/Legacy/globalSAN_4.1.0.279.dmg

worked just fine for me on Mountain Lion with the free iSCSI server from Starwind on the backend (http://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-free)

--Clayton

Brilliant!  I installed it fine on ML, it does find iSCSI taget and connects but no volumes show up?  I have used paid v5 on another machine and it works fine on same target without issues.

Do I need to tweak settings on this legacy version to make it work?

I should have added that my target is Synology disktation 411+II

MiSCSI: Do you have any progress to report?

It is a shame that Apple just ignores this request, how can you claim to be an enterprise operating system while the operating system itself can't connect/mount an ISCSI target. Microsoft certainly beats Apple on this!!!

Please Apple, iSCSI is one truly useful feature that is sorely missing from OSX.

How far is your work on iSCSI Initiator development?

I confirm!

This version is working and it's fast: works like a charm even on my OSX Lion installation.