Services Dependent on iSCSI Volumes at Boot Time

Your server software may need to access volumes during boot time (e.g. file server or SQL server). If those services load before the iSCSI Initiator service, they may not have access to volumes during a host boot.

If you want volumes to be available to these services during a host reboot, you must configure your host using the following steps:
  1. When connecting to a target using the Connection Manager, make sure to set a check mark next to the “Connect on startup” option. This will make persistent connections, which will ensure that the volumes will be mounted after each host reboot.
  2. "Auto Configure" your iSCSI targets by completing the following steps:
    1. In the Control Panel, select the iSCSI Initiator option.
    2. Click the Volumes and Devices tab.
    3. Click the Auto Configure button.
    4. Review the Volume List to ensure that the volumes you need accessible to other services during a host boot are listed.

These actions bind the volume(s) so that they are readily available for use after Windows reboots. For additional information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 870964.