Connecting Mikrotik to iSCSI target using ROSE Storage

RouterOS General
1

Hi,

I am trying to connect a Mikrotik router to an iSCSI target running on Synology NAS using the following CLI command:

[admin@l009] /disk> add type=iscsi iscsi-address=192.168.3.6 iscsi-iqn=iqn.2000-01.com.synology:nas.target-1.a7deb01406e
[admin@l009] /disk> print 
action timed out - try again, if error continues contact MikroTik support and send a supout file (13)

My problem is that not only is this not working, but it makes the /disk entirely inaccessible, in that just using the print command takes several minutes before timing out as seen above.

Additionally, when rebooting the router from CLI, the router now hangs during reboot and the following message is written to the serial console:

MikroTik 7.15.3 (stable)
l009 Login: failed to stop diskd: std failure: timeout (13)
could not umount system: Resource busy

This prevents the router from rebooting, and the only path to bringing it back online is a power cycle.

The only way I have found to restore normal operations is to uninstall and reinstall the ROSE storage package.

I have seen this issue on a L009, a RB5009, and a CHR, on all ROS version since 7.10.

I created a support ticket (SUP-120327) June '23, but it has seen little traction, so my questions are:

  • Are anyone successfully connecting Mikrotik routers to iSCSI targets using ROSE Storage?
  • If yes, are anyone connecting to iSCSI targets from Synology?

I realise that this may be some kind of misconfiguration on my side, but I do not like the fact that the router hangs during a soft reboot, as it has caused me some grief with a router on a remote site.

I hope someone will be able to share their experience :slight_smile:

2

I tried running the example outlined here, between 2 Mikrotiks:
https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ROS/ROSE-storage#ROSEstorage-Configurationexample
With an L009 with a USB drive as target, and a CHR as initiator. This works also leads to the initiator (the CHR) stopping to respond, and stalling during a soft reboot (see attached).

I am starting to think that the initiator side might just be generally broken, and it is not related to e.g. the Synology NAS.
IMG_0788.png

3

Hi xrlls! Did you resolve the issue? I’m trying to make the same - add iSCSI on my Synology NAS, and I’m using 7.17beta2 on my CCR2004 - exactly the same thing happens now, seems no changes to this.

4

I really dont understand why MikroTik is waiting development time by implementing these Linux features into RouterOS and calling it RouterOS Enterprise.

They should instead pivot and properly rename for MikroTIK NAS or MikroTik EnterpriseOS… [Not RouterOS].

Why do we need our routers performing NFS,SMB, and now iSCSI connections? Who has these needs of their routers? Especially with “enterprise” in the name. Sigh.

5

@nickvacula
Mikrotik acknowledged the latest addition to my (still) open support case late August, but couldn’t give me an ETA of a fix at that time. The case has not been updated since, and judging from the release notes, nothing has happened.

@toxicfusion
At least the client side makes sense to me. It is a way to connect to an off device storage. Personally I use SMB shares for router configuration backups. The is a million different ways I could have achieved the same but it works very well in my environment. I really don’t think this should be seen as a competitor to a NAS, more as added flexibility to make routerOS fit into more environments. If on the other hand had called out the media server functionality they’ve baked in, then I would agree :smiley:

6

Thanks for your reply, @xrlls! Hope Mikrotik will include some fix soon.

@toxicfusion - in general I agree, router should route and do it perfectly. My case now is a “home lab”, so having a handy was to play with configuration backup/restore and run some small containers like custom DNS server or route web traffic through reverse proxy inside my LAN is just a nice to have feature at the router device.

7

Hi,

I have the same problem. Connecting Mikrotik CRS520-4XS-16XQ to an iSCSI target running on Synology FS6400. Using routeros 7.19.6. Exactly the same behavior (router hangs during a soft reboot as well). Any solution so far?

8

On the 'Tik support system the status is:

Activity

  • Your request status changed to Closed with resolution Done.

25/Oct/24 3:36 AMLatest

I did not bother to follow up at the time, as I had other things to attend to, but I tried over the summer, and found it still to cause the same issue. I have no recollection of which version I tried on though.

So if it is important, I would encourage you to open a new ticket and follow up here :slight_smile:

9

Something interesting happened on 7.21beta2 - and now it works! :grin: