iSCSI direct connection to secondary VMKernel port

[edmandsj]

I am attempting to run a line directly from an ESXi host to the iSCSI datastore ----meaning no switches, routers, etc. Imagine as if I have two different networks running side by side and I want to connect the esxi host to the iscsi target on the other subnet. Instead of routing it, I am attempting to directly connect the esxi host to the iscsi target with manual routes set in the esxcfg-route.

ESXi Host:

NIC0

192.168.25.100/24

vmkernel gateway: 192.168.25.1

NIC1

172.16.50.10

255.255.255.0

(forced to use 192.168.25.1)

iSCSI target:

port 5

172.16.50.11/24

no gateway (because I shouldn't need one)

Session set to allow all IPs

OK so this is all connected and I can bind iSCSI to the NIC as compliant,etc.

I can ping, from the cmd line on esxi host, to the iscsi target.

I can ping, from the iscsi target interface, to the ESXi host

Yet upon scanning the hosts vmhba, nothing appears. Any ideas? Logs to go through?

[vmroyale]

How are your vSwitches configured on the ESXi host?

[edmandsj]

VSwitch0 is vmkernel for management and vmkernel for vm traffic. NIC0 is connected to switch and handles all regular vm requests

vswitch1 is vmkernel for iscsi. NIC 1 is set to port binding and is connected directly to the hosts target port.

[laddo]

You may need to add a static route for the iSCSI network, similar to

esxxcli network ip route ipv4 add --gateway 172.16.50.1 --network 172.16.50.0/24

See here VMware KB: Configuring static routes for vmkernel ports on an ESXi host

Also have you checked MTU size between vmkernel port and iSCSI target. Is your iSCSI network using jumbo frames?