Multiple iSCSI initiators to single iSCSI target?

[maleitch]

I apologize if this has been previously covered by someone, but I am having a rough time finding a definitive solution to this question.

Running a VSphere 4.1 cluster and we have a cheaper older Polywell SAN running OpenFiler 2.3 that we use for backups.

Years ago I was instructed that you could only have multiple iSCSI initiators connected to a single iSCSI target if the file system supported it.

Will the 4.1 version of the vmware iSCSI initiator allow mutiple ESXi hosts to connect to a single iSCSI target?  For cluster and vmotion purposes I would think that this is a pretty common scenario.  If anyone could set me straight on this or point me where I can find further documentation on the subject I would be very grateful.

Thank you for everyone's time.

[rickardnobel]

Yes, no problems. The VMFS file system is constructed to allow multiple read/writes from different iSCSI initiators at the same time.

[Anton_Kolomyeyt]

Question has nothing to do with OpenFiler, initiator or SAN concept in general - it's all about file system. Cluster-aware FSes (like VMFS) can support multiple connections taking care of reserve/release sequence processing no problem! Cluster non-friendly FSes (like NTFS) needs distributed lock manager (Google for MetaSAN) or ugly hack as having SMB share on top of NTFS to allow data coming from the other node.