After adding or updating hardware or software that might impact the Networking stack e.g. Network Drivers, OS service packs etc., you must re-run the iscsibcg.exe with /verify /fix command line options. See instructions here: Upgrading/Installing Network Drivers, OS Service Packs, or New Hardware.
After setting up the system for iSCSI Remote Boot with two ports connected to a target and successfully booting the system, if you later try to boot the system with only the secondary boot port connected to the target, Microsoft Initiator will continuously reboot the system.
To work around this limitation follow these steps:
1. Using Registry Editor, expand the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
2. Create a DWORD value called DisableDHCPMediaSense and set the value to 0.
In a Windows* installation, if you move the iSCSI adapter to a PCI slot other than the one that it was in when the drivers and MS iSCSI Remote Boot Initiator were installed, then a System Error (Blue Screen) occurs during the middle of the Windows Splash Screen. The error code is 0x0000007B. This issue goes away if you return the adapter to its original PCI slot. We recommend not moving the adapter to a different slot once an iSCSI target has been established. This is a known OS issue.
If you have to move the adapter to another slot, then you can install a new adapter to another slot and setup that adapter for iSCSI Remote Boot and then remove the previous adapter.
If the driver for the device in use for iSCSI Remote Boot is uninstalled via Device Manager, Windows will blue screen on reboot and the OS will have to be re-installed. This is a known Windows issue.
During uninstallation all other Intel Network Connection Software is removed, but drivers for iSCSI Remote Boot adapters that have boot priority assigned as Primary or Secondary are not uninstalled.
A workaround for this issue is to change the following registry value to "0":
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\IOATDMA\Start
Only change the registry value if iSCSI Remote Boot is enabled and if you want I/OAT offloading. A blue screen will occur if this setting is changed to "0" when iSCSI Remote Boot is not enabled. It must be set back to "3" if iSCSI Remote Boot is disabled or a blue screen will occur on reboot.
If you are using two Intel® PRO/1000 PT Server Adapters in two PCI Express x8 slots of a rack mounted Xeon system, Windows installation can be done only via a local HDD procedure.
If an iSCSI Remote Boot port CHAP user name and secret do not match the target CHAP user name and secret, Windows Server 2008 may blue screen or reboot during installation or boot. Ensure that all CHAP settings match those set on the target(s).
If you are performing an F6 Windows without a Local Disk installation, do not use Standby Mode.
If you perform a WDS installation and attempt to manually update drivers during the installation, the drivers load but the iSCSI Target LUN does not display in the installation location list. This is a known WDS limitation with no current fix. You must therefore either perform the installation from a DVD or USB media or inject the drivers on the WDS WinPE image.
Microsoft has published a knowledge base case explaining the limitation in loading drivers when installing with iSCSI Boot via a WDS server.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960924
Teaming is not supported with iSCSI Remote Boot. Creating a team using the primary and secondary iSCSI adapters and selecting that team during the Microsoft initiator installation may fail with constant reboots. Do not select a team for iSCSI Remote Boot, even if it is available for selection during initiator installation.
For load balancing and failover support, you can use MSFT MPIO instead. Check the Microsoft Initiator User Guide on how to setup MPIO.
Performing an F6 diskless installation while a removable or temporary storage device (such as a USB flash drive or Firewire drive) is loaded may cause a change in the BIOS boot order. If this occurs, you must re-start the F6 diskless installation. For this reason we recommend not loading a removable or temporary storage device while performing an F6 diskless installation.
This is a known issue for Windows Server 2003 and cannot be rectified by Intel iSCSI Remote Boot. Additional information about this Windows Server 2003 issue can be found in Microsoft support article kb816793.
Do not set LAA on ports with iSCSI Remote Boot enabled.
An F6 installation may fail during the reboot in step 10 of “Installing Windows 2003 without a Local Disk” because of a conflict between the Intel F6 driver, the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator and the following EMC target model firmware versions:
To avoid the failure, ensure that the secondary iSCSI port cannot reach the target during the reboot in step 10.
These error messages do not indicate a block in login or booting and may be safely ignored.
Linux Channel Bonding has basic compatibility issues with iSCSI Remote Boot and should not be used.
In an iBFT system using RHEL 5.2, Anaconda does not automatically start networking upon installation. The user has to manually bring up networking through a console. Please refer to the RedHat documentation for details on how to manually force up the network.
RHEL 5.2 does not support CHAP during installation time. If you use CHAP authentication on the target, please disable CHAP during installation and enable it after the installation is complete.
On RHEL5.1 systems, the wrong network interface is brought up on the first iSCSI Boot after installation. This causes the system to hang and requires a reinstallation at the very least. The workaround for this issue is to edit the init script soon after installation and change the interface you wish to bring up. We strongly encourage our users to use RHEL5.2 to avoid this issue.
LRO (Large Receive Offload) is incompatible with iSCSI target or initiator traffic. A panic may occur when iSCSI traffic is received through the ixgbe driver with LRO enabled. To workaround this, the driver should be built and installed with:
# make CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DIXGBE_NO_LRO install
From a remote LUN, iSCSI boot only works on the same port that was used to install to the remote LUN. You cannot boot from an alternate LAN port after iSCSI is install.
Last modified on 11/09/09 10:35a Revision 56