ESXi

Hi,

We have 2*ESXi 6.5 server. Each server have dedicated 2 Physical NIC reserved for software iSCSI storage. Can anyone tell, if i should create one vSwitch with both the NIC as active or i should create two switch with each of the individual NIC. In any case, Port binding are require to be configured ?

Thanks

Port binding mainly depends on whether both the storage vmkernel ports (and the array targets) are going to be in the same network or in different network. If both the iSCSI vmkernel ports are going to be in the same subnet, create a single vSwitch and two vmkernel ports. Assuming the two uplinks are vmnic2 and vmnic3 - For vmkernel port-1, vmnic-2 should be active and vmnic-3 should be in unused. And vice versa for vmkernel port-2. Only then, you will have a compliant iSCSI port binding configuration. More details in the below links -

VMware Knowledge Base

iSCSI Port Binding in vSphere 6 – Virtual Reality

Cheers,

Supreet

Thanks SupreetK.

So port binding are really require if all the iSCSI ports from server and storage are in same subnet ?

Yes, below are the three pre-requisites for port binding -

- Array Target iSCSI ports must reside in the same broadcast domain and IP subnet as the VMkernel port.

- All VMkernel ports used for iSCSI connectivity must reside in the same broadcast domain and IP subnet.

- All VMkernel ports used for iSCSI connectivity must reside in the same vSwitch.

Cheers,

Supreet

Great, thanks a lot.

As per VMware Knowledge Base  ,

in the second example "When to use port binding",  i see only one IP / target on the storage side.

However, in our setup here, 

ESXi -1 has two physical interface - vmnic1 and vmnic2 dedicated for iSCSI - VLAN A

ESXi -2 has two physical interface - vmnic1 and vmnic2 dedicated for iSCSI - VLAN A

On the storage EMC VNXe3200 side,

SP-A controller has two interface in VLAN-A

SP-B controller has two interface in VLAN-A

So, Do i need to configure single target only on storage side ? any special config needed on storage side ?

Thanks,

You can have as many targets as you want. The requirement for port binding is that they all should be in the same subnet.

Cheers,

Supreet