iSCSI Target (Linux LIO) on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

iSCSI Target turns a single VM into a software defined SAN. Built on the Linux kernel LIO subsystem — the in kernel SCSI target engine used across enterprise Linux storage — it exports raw block devices (LUNs) over ordinary TCP/IP, so any standards compliant iSCSI initiator on Linux, Windows, VMware or a hypervisor can log in and use the LUN exactly as if it were a locally attached disk. This cloudimg image runs on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and is ready to use on first boot.

The target is administered entirely from the command line with targetcli, so backstores, LUNs, portals and access control are all scriptable, and the configuration is persisted to disk and restored on every boot. The image ships a demo 1 GiB file backed LUN behind a target IQN on a portal listening on TCP port 3260; you can add larger file backed LUNs or block backed LUNs on dedicated data disks with a few targetcli commands.

Security is built in. No default or shared credentials ship in the image, and no target is exported at all until first boot, so there is never a window in which a default secret is live. On first boot every VM builds its own target and generates a unique CHAP username and 16 character secret, written to a root only file for the operator. One way CHAP authentication is enforced at the target portal group, so an initiator that presents the wrong secret is refused; only the correct per instance secret establishes a session.

The LIO target and its targetcli tooling are free and open source — the kernel target is GPL licensed and the targetcli-fb tooling is Apache 2.0 licensed — with no per CPU or per deployment fee. cloudimg is not affiliated with or endorsed by the upstream projects. cloudimg provides packaging, per instance credential automation, a secure default configuration, security patching, and 24/7 support with a guaranteed 24 hour response SLA.