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iSCSI has got nothing to do with vCenter Server.<br />
<br />
iSCSI is configured per ESXi host. (either via Host HTML client or via vCenter Server if applicable).<br />
<br />
You only need to do bindings, with mulitpath....<br />
<br />
The first thing you want to do is use ping and vmkping 10.0.0.10 which will test if you can send packets to the SAN (iSCSI)<br />
<br />
You can use -I vmk0 to send actual vmkping packets through this interface, this confirms communications.<br />
<br />
NEXT, you've got to configure iSCSI LUNs, and add the IQN of the hba, to grant access to the LUN, before the LUN will be connected ?
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Ping and vmkping to 10.0.0.10 work fine. &nbsp;<br />
Defined a vswitch3 with a vmkernal adapter pointing to a dedicated 10gb adapter bound to it.<br />
<br />
Under Storage, the ISCSI Storage Adapter is defined and points to vswitch3.<br />
Properties for this adapter has 10.0.0.10:3260 under dynamic discovery.<br />
<br />
Under Storage Devices the ISCSI entry does not appear. &nbsp;Something I'm missing?<br />
<br />
--Ben
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Okay, so communications looks good from VMKernel portgroup to the iSCSI SAN. (from ESXi end)<br />
<br />
One thing done and out of the way.<br />
<br />
If the IP Address of 10.0.0.10:3260 is in place under Dynamic Discovery....<br />
<br />
A rescan of the adaptor (hba) should be enough for it to reach out to the SAN and try a connection.....<br />
<br />
BUT, if there is no LUN defined, or access control (IQN) defined for the IQN of the ESXi IQN HBA, it will not map, also if chap is defined on the SAN it will reject....<br />
<br />
Can you check on the SAN, if it detects and observes a connection ?
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I set it up w/o authentication in Windows. &nbsp; <br />
The Storage Adapter Properties tab has the following :<br />
Name &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;vmhba64<br />
Model &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;iSCSI Software Adapter<br />
iSCSI Name &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:5bc<wbr />a76e2-fc3a<wbr />-0efa-0b7b<wbr />-ac1f6b19f<wbr />7c0-68c496<wbr />c2<br />
iSCSI Alias &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;LUN1<br />
Target Discovery &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Send Targets, Static Targets <br />
<br />
Where do I define a LUN? &nbsp;IQN? &nbsp;Not sure how to query Windows 2012 to determine if it sees a connection.
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Have you created a LUN?<br />
<br />
Added the IQN in Windows ?
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I don't believe I have created a LUN. &nbsp; Where do I do that?<br />
<br />
&nbsp;In the Windows server, I see the IQN value as:<br />
iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:<wbr />backup-lun<wbr />1-target<br />
<br />
Where do I add this?
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CTO, SAS developer

Ben Conner

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Wow. &nbsp;Nice article. &nbsp;Going through it now.
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Found the issue I was having with vSphere not seeing the MS ISCSI target; I needed to add the host's IQN to the MS side. &nbsp;Once I did that and re-scanned, it showed up. &nbsp;Starwind is also installed. &nbsp;Added it as a Datastore and now will test it for speed, latency, etc.<br />
<br />
Thanks much for pointing me in the right direction!<br />
<br />
--Ben
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Yep.... glad you sorted it out!<br />
<br />

<blockquote>
BUT, if there is no LUN defined, or access control (IQN) defined for the IQN of the ESXi IQN HBA, it will not map, also if chap is defined on the SAN it will reject....
</blockquote>
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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Trying out Starwind (free version). &nbsp;Did some very basic configuration for it and it appears to be running.<br />
<br />
In the web UI host configuration, I have an ISCSI Software Adapter running (vmhba64), status Online, with a server defined at 10.0.0.10:3260 (which is the IP address of the Windows 10gb nic cards). &nbsp;But it also shows Under Targets/devices/paths 0 &nbsp;0 &nbsp;0 &nbsp;for all 3.<br />
<br />
Selecting that adapter, there is nothing under the Devices tab below, nor Paths, &nbsp; Dynamic Discovery has the 10.0.0.10:3260 listed.<br />
Network Port Binding shows VMkernael (vSwitch2) as the port group, &nbsp;vmk0 as the VMkernal Adapter, and Compliant as the port group policy. &nbsp;The Path Status is &lt;&gt;Not used, and points to vmnic2 for the Physical Network Adapter.<br />
<br />
Pretty sure I haven't finished the configuration on this properly yet. &nbsp;?<br />
<br />
--Ben
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</div>


Trying out Starwind (free version).  Did some very basic configuration for it and it appears to be running.

In the web UI host configuration, I have an ISCSI Software Adapter running (vmhba64), status Online, with a server defined at 10.0.0.10:3260 (which is the IP address of the Windows 10gb nic cards).  But it also shows Under Targets/devices/paths 0  0  0  for all 3.

Selecting that adapter, there is nothing under the Devices tab below, nor Paths,   Dynamic Discovery has the 10.0.0.10:3260 listed.
Network Port Binding shows VMkernael (vSwitch2) as the port group,  vmk0 as the VMkernal Adapter, and Compliant as the port group policy.  The Path Status is <>Not used, and points to vmnic2 for the Physical Network Adapter.

Pretty sure I haven't finished the configuration on this properly yet.  ?

--Ben

Configuring ISCSI in VCSA 6.7.0

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.