I was looking to try iSCSI as the storage mechanism for my Knoppmyth backend (back story at the end of the post, for anyone interested). After some digging through various logs, I found why Debian's open-iscsi package was having trouble on Knoppmyth. One of the objects is compiled into the kernel in Knoppmyth, and open-iscsi expects it to be compiled as a module.
Various posts are strewn throughout the forum on how to compile the kernel in Knoppmyth, so I will not repeat those instructions here. Two posts I found particularly helpful:
Take to heart the suggestions to keep a backup of your original kernel as well as your modules folder; you very well may need them later.
When running menuconfig, one change puts the appropriate object into a module and out of the kernel:
Code:
Device Drivers ---> SCSI device support ---> SCSI Transports ---> <M> iSCSI Transport Attributes
Doing so provides the needed module:
Code:
/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/scsi/scsi_transport_iscsi.ko
Cecil: Would you mind making this change in future kernels so that this does not have to be done in the future? I tend to make a mess of the kernel when I need to compile it myself.
I do realize that I probably am the only person who will ever use this.
BACK STORY
--------------------------------------------
I am looking to put iSCSI servers into production at work, and I was thinking about different ways that I can test an iSCSI server for speed and stability. As I was pondering, it dawned on me: what better way to exercise a storage device than with MythTV and KnoppMyth!
So, after a bit of research, I learned how to run the iSCSI initiator (the client software, in iSCSI speak) "the Debian way." When trying to apply the same instructions on my KnoppMyth box, things went awry.
After some digging, I finally found the conflict between KnoppMyth's kernel and open-iscsi's expectations. One quick kernel compile later, and all seems right with the world.
So far, I have found that I get nearly twice the throughput through one 1Gb Intel card as my existing, four-drive software RAID-5 SATA array. That is before any kind of tweaking and without using multi-port capabilities (something I will not be able to attempt with my current setup; not enough slots!) Not too shabby!
