esx 4 iscsi mpio installation with software iscsi

8/6/2019 ESX 4 Iscsi Mpio Installation With Software Iscsi

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ESX 4.0 installation on Dell Blade M600

ESX Partitions

Default

Swap 600mb

Var 2GB

/ 5GB

Recommended

/ ext3 5GB use 10GB

Swap swap 1600MB

/Home ext3 512MB

/tmp ext3 2GB

/vmimages ext3 512MB

/var ext3 2GB

Or

Primary:

/ ext3 10GB

Swap ext3 1600MB

Extended:

/var ext3 5GB

/var/core ext3 10GB

/home ext3 4GB


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/opt ext3 4GB

/tmp ext3 4GB

VMFS storage LocalStorage

After installation

ESX IP address

129.97.6.14 255.255.255.0 129.97.6.1 VLAN 6

DNS 129.97.128.10 129.10

NTP 129.97.128.10

ESX Host Name VM4Serv1.math.uwaterloo.ca

Install drivers for networking

vmware-esx-drivers-net-bnx2_400.2.0.7c-1.0.4.00000.229199

ISCSI configuration

1. Configure VSwitch

2. Enable JUMBO Frames

3. Create iscsi vmkernel ports

4. Add physical network interface cards

5. Associate vmkernel ports to the vmnic

6. Enable vmware iscsi software initiator

7. Bind vmkernel ports to iscsi software adapter

8. Connect to Equallogic storage

9. Connect to a volume

10.Enable VMware Native Multipathing round Robin

11.


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Create new switch

Esxcfg-vswitch a vswitch2

Enable jumbo frames on newly created vswitch

Esxcfg-vswitch m 9000 vswitch2

ESX support max 8 nos. of connections per volume

Create single physical path per NIC in the environment. You can also over subscribe

NICs if required by creating more vmkernel ports

In 3.5 required only 1 VMKERNEL port and also service console port but in ESX 4

service console is not required and also have to create multiple vmkernel ports

Create vmkernel port (iscsi port)

Esxcfg-vswitch A iscsi1 vswitch2

Esxcfg-vswitch A iscsi2 vswitch2

Apply ip address and jumbo frame support for the port created

Esxcfg-vmknic a i 129.97.70.25 n 255.255.255.0 m 9000 iscsi1

Esxcfg-vmknic a i 129.97.70.25 n 255.255.255.0 m 9000 iscsi2

Assign the VMNICs to the vswitch from the GUI interface

Esxcfg-vswitch l

Remove 1 nic from each iscsi port and leave 1 to 1 assosiation

Esxcfg-vswitch p iscsi1 N vmnic1 vswitch2

Esxcfg-vswitch p iscsi2 N vmnic2 vswitch2

Enable iscsi software adapter (it will open firewall automatically to allow iscsi)

note vmhba for iscsi software adapter to bind vmkernel port to iscsi adapter

Esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmk0 d vmhba34

Esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmk1 d vmhba34


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To list

Esxcli swiscsi nic list d vmhba34

Broadcom cards with iSCSI Offload capabilities are also Hardware iSCSI Initiators. Toconfigure them for hardware iSCSI, perform one of these procedures:

Note: To log into the terminal for VMware ESXi hosts, see Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi4.1 (1017910).

1. Configure LUN Access, as any other hardware iSCSI HBA, within the BIOS of theBroadcom Card during system boot. It is recommended to ensure that your SAN issupported to use Broadcom as a hardware initiator before using this option.

Or

2. Add the Physical Network Interface as a binding to the Software iSCSI HBA Device byrunning the following commands. In this example, we are referencing the Software iSCSIHBA as vmhba32:

i. List the currently-bound Network Interfaces to the Software iSCSI HBA byrunning the following command:

# esxcli swiscsi vmnic list -d vmhba32

ii. List the current available network interfaces available on the ESX Host andidentify the interface(s) you wish to bind:

# esxcfg-vmknic -l

iii. Bind the network interface(s) identified in the previous step to the Software iSCSIHBA Device:

# esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk0 -d vmhba32

iv. Verify the network interface(s) were successfully bound to the HBA:

# esxcli swiscsi vmnic list -d vmhba32

v. Enable the Software iSCSI Adapter in the Storage Adapters section of theConfiguration tab.

vi. Enter the dynamic discovery addresses of the storage array.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1017910http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1017910http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1017910http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1017910


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vii. At the top-right, perform a Rescan of the Software iSCSI HBA.

Note: You may repeat this process and create additional bindings. For additionalinformation, see the below section.

esxcfg-nics -l

To list virtual switch

esxcfg-vswitch -l


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to add Phyiscal NIC to vSwitch

esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic1 vSwitch0

to remove Physical NIC to vSwitch

esxcfg-vswitch -U vmnic0 vSwitch0

To restart the NIC

service network restart

#1) service network restartThe service X restart command is an excellent command that allows you to restart any servicerunning on your ESX Server. In our case, we are using the networkkeyword to restart networkservices. This is the command you should run after making changes to your ESX networkingconfiguration. You can also do network start ornetwork stop. This brings down all networkinterfaces, then brings up the interfaces configured to start at boot.

Here is an example of what it looks like an an ESX Server:

#2) ifconfigThe second command is ifconfig. Similar to the Windows command, ipconfig, this command isused to view the status of all network interfaces on the system. However, it can do a lot morethan just view an interface, it can reconfigure interfaces, bring them down, or back up. You canchange the IP address of your interfaces with ifconfig.

Here is an example of what it looks like an an ESX Server:

#3) esxcfg-vswifNext, we have the ESX command that allows you to view the status of or reconfigure theVMware Service console network interface. That SC network interface is called "vswif" and thefirst interface is always "vwsif0". To view the status of it, you can use the -l (L for list)command, like this:
http://www.petri.co.il/images/5-critical-vmware-esx-cli-network-troublehooting-commands-02.jpghttp://www.petri.co.il/images/5-critical-vmware-esx-cli-network-troublehooting-commands-01.jpg


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#4) esxcfg-vswitch

The fourth command on the list is the esxcfg-vswitch command. This command is used to viewthe status of or reconfigure the VMware virtual switches (called vswitch). These vswitches areused to connect the physical NIC in the server (called vmnic) to the ESX port groups (such as the"Service Console" and the "VM Network" port groups). To view the status of your vswitches,you can use the -l (L for list) command, like this:
http://www.petri.co.il/images/5-critical-vmware-esx-cli-network-troublehooting-commands-04.jpghttp://www.petri.co.il/images/5-critical-vmware-esx-cli-network-troublehooting-commands-03.jpg


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As you can see, this ESX server has 4 port groups but they are all associated with a single VMnicinterface.

#5) esxcfg-nicsLastly, we have the esxcfg-nics command. This command is used to view the status of or

reconfigure the VMware Physical Network interface cards that are installed in the physicalserver. These physical NICs are called "vmnic" and they start with "vmnic0". The vmnics areconnected to vswitches to connect the physical network to the virtual networks.

To view the status of your vmnics, you can use the -l (L for list) command, like this:

As you can see, this server just have a single physical NIC, vmnic0

Changing settings from the physical or remote console connection

Changing the IP for the Service Console must be done from the physical console or through a remoteconsole session. If you make changes through a network connection such as SSH, network connectivityto the Service Console disconnects because the Service Console's network interface changes.

1. Run the following command to set the IP address:

[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswif -i -n vswif0 , where

is the IP address and is the subnet mask.

Note: In this example, vswif0 is the Service Console adapter that is the interface to which you

are applying the IP address change.

2. Open the /etc/hosts file with a text editor and modify it so that it reflects the correct IP addressand hostname.

3. To change the default gateway address and the hostname, edit the /etc/sysconfig/networkfile and change the GATEWAY and HOSTNAME parameters to the proper values.
http://www.petri.co.il/images/5-critical-vmware-esx-cli-network-troublehooting-commands-05.jpg


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4. For the changes to take place, reboot the host or restart the network service with the command:

[root@server root]# service network restart

Note: This command breaks any current network connections to the Service Console.

Changing the hostname without rebooting

To dynamically change the hostname, run the command:

[root@server root]# hostname newname

Note: This command creates a temporary hostname change. This change is lost when the system isrebooted.

Changing the DNS server settingsTo change the DNS server settings, update the nameserver IPs and search domain the/etc/resolv.conf file.

Changing settings in VMware vSphere or Infrastructure ClientTo change the hostname, domain, DNS servers, and default gateway in VMware vSphere orInfrastructure (VI) Client:

1. Highlight the ESX host and click the Configuration tab.

2. Click DNS and Routing.

3. Click Properties.

4. To change the hostname, domain, and DNS servers, click the DNS Configuration tab and enterthe appropriate values.

Note: Disable VMware High Availability if you do not want virtual machines to failover during the

hostname IP change.

5. To change the default gateway, click the Routing tab and enter the appropriate value.

6. Reboot the ESX host for the changes to take effect.

7. Reconnect the ESX host to vCenter Server with the new IP address.

esx 4 iscsi mpio installation with software iscsi

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