2012 R2 ISCSI (MSFT Virtual HD SCSI Disk Device) still visible after ISCSI Disconnected

Hi,

Thank you for your posting!

Based on your descriptions, I suggest you to follow the next steps to troubleshoot your issue:

1) Try to run the PowerShell command for disconnecting your target to see what will happen:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/iscsi/disconnect-iscsitarget?view=windowsserver2019-ps

-- is there any error maeesges or codes coming up? If so, you can provide us with them to let us better help you troubleshoot your issue.

2) Taking the disk offline in Disk Management first before disabling your target

3) Disabling the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator device in Device Manager (requires a reboot)

4) Check if you have removed the third target from 'Favorite Targets' and target portals in the iSCSI properties dialoge

5) Stop the "MICROSOFT ISCSI INITIATOR SERVICE" from services MMC and make sure you're logged in as admin

6) You can try to turn the computer off and on again you should be able to click disconnect and it may be work

Thank you for your time!

Best regards
Joan

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Hi Joan

Thanks for your reply

The issue we have here is we need this to disconnect automatically when the ISCSI Target drops.

This is not a case of us just trying to remove it from Windows when we need to as we know we can do this via the ISCSI Initiator etc.

The problem we have is if the ISCSI Target drops we have no way of knowing straight away so Windows will keep trying to write to the Targets but its unable to do so which causes lots of issues with the software we are using.

We have a script that has been designed for us that checks the drives and stops a service if they become unavailable, this works on the majority of our ISCSI targets but this last one it cannot work out it has dropped as Windows still lists its connects for a very long time after the incident, this can then cause issues with the data thats trying to be written to the disks via the software we use.

What we need is a way that the drive can be disconnected as soon or as very close as possible to when the target fails.

In normal operation everything is running ok we just need to be able to take steps of a ISCSI Target fails at any point.

I ran the PowerShell command against the target we need to disconnect after we had disabled it on the san and the PowerShell command just hangs until we re enable the target on the SAN, then drops the drive without issues, this doesn't help if the SAN or the Iscsi Target was to go offline that's our main problem.

Jay

Hi,

Thank you for your reply!

1) I am getting a little confused that how could Windows keeps trying to write to the targets if there are no such targets? Can you provide me with more details such as error codes or messages in Event Viewer?

2) I suppose your issue is kind of equivalent to that the deleted iscsi target remains on the list. It's possible you have multiple targets defined for the same target. Disconnecting from the target tab is not enough. Are you removing them from the favorite targets tab as well?

Thank you for your time!

Best regards
Joan

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Hi Joan

ill try and explain a little further to see if this helps

We have 4 2012 r2 servers.

3 servers are storage servers and uses the Microsoft Iscsi Target to allow our 4th server to connect to the storage using Iscsi.

On the 4th server we have Iscsi connections to each of the 3 storage servers ,1 iscsi drive on each server.

The first 2 servers do not have caching enabled on the drives yet the third one does have it enabled, but we cannot turn it off, this may solve the issue if we could.

Currently, if one of the first 2 servers goes offline the drives drop straight away from the 4th server, yet the 3rd server the drive stays "connected" in the 4th server even though the connection cannot be made, because it was connected before the server went offline it stays visible in the 4th server, if we try to write to the 3rd server drive it tries to write and hangs the system for a long time. the drive never drops.

We only have one target listed for each connection to each of the storage servers, this is a test setup so we have only ever had a single connection to each server.

ive reconnected the drive and made sure its not listed as a favourite but we have the same issue.

Jay

Hi,

Thank you for your waiting!

After our research, we suppose you have figured out the possible cause:

"The first 2 servers do not have caching enabled on the drives yet the third one does have it enabled, but we cannot turn it off, this may solve the issue if we could."

So, can you tell us more information about this caching issue? Why you cannot turn it off and was there any error messages or codes that appeared when you were trying to turn it off?

Best regards
Joan

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