When configuring ESXi to boot from iSCSI SAN, I will typically use two separate IP addresses. I will assign one IP address to the iSCSI boot initiator and then assign a different IP to the storage initiator in ESXi when configuring the connection to the SAN for the VMFS datastores. Keep in mind that this is using the same SAN and iSCSI IP network for both boot LUN storage and VMFS storage.
I recently had a client request that we use the same IP address that we assigned to the boot process for the VMFS datastore initiators. I have completed extensive research on this and cannot find a definitive answer on whether this is a supported practice or not. Everything I have read from both VMware and storage manufactures tends to lean towards not doing it, but nothing says "DON'T". We have tested this re-use of IP addresses and it seems to be working.
Is this supported or not? Would you be comfortable with this config?
Just in my opinion, I would not re-use the IPs in my own environment, but with the low price of storage these days, I wouldn't be doing BFS either.
