iSCSI Load Balancing Configuration ESX

[dbarber]

I am setting up a new ESX 3 Infrastructure...I have previous experience with ESX 2.5, so I am getting used to new concepts. I currently have an iSCSI SAN on the back-end that I am connecting to, which I have been successful at. But I am having some trouble with Load Balancing.

This seems to be because VMkernel only allows a single Virtual Switch to be configured for iSCSI, is this correct? Or can you have multiple VMkernels for iSCSI, but do they have to be on separate VLANs?

A little bit about my environment.

• 3 ESX Hosts, each with 5 NICs

• 1 for Service Console

• 2 for iSCSI

• 2 for VMs (teamed, of course)

• iSCSI SAN

• 3 Target Ports

• Separate VLAN

So, what I want to achieve is having each of the ESX hosts preferred to 1 port on the SAN, with a failover path to another port on the SAN. So do I create a team for this, and if so, how can I setup the preferred paths? Each of the iSCSI connectors has a different IP address, of course. The problem is that even though I am adding multiple iSCSI targets, I do not get multiple paths; instead I get one VMFS to one path, another to second path, etc. There does not seem to be a way to "add a path" to the system, even though there are multiple HBAs setup.

thanks!

[krc1517]

From what I was told by our TAM, there is no load balancing with swISCSI. Failover, yes.

I believe it is in the docs too. Trying to find it now.....

Check this out too...

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/51177

Message was edited by: krc1517

[troberts]

The following configurations are supported for iSCSI storage with the software initiator over a supported NIC:

iSCSI Base Connectivity - The ability of an ESX Server host to recognize the target and interoperate with it.

SP failover - In this configuration the ESX Server host is attached to multiple ports and is robust to storage port failover

NIC failover for software initiator - If the Ethernet adapters are teamed and one fails, the other one takes over. Both adapters must be connected to the same physical switch and be on the same subnet (both NICs and iSCSI storage ports).

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The following configurations are supported for iSCSI storage with hardware initiators

iSCSI Base Connectivity - The ability of an ESX Server host to recognize the target over an iSCSI HBA and interoperate with it.

SP failover - In this configuration, ESX Server host is attached to multiple ports over an iSCSI HBA and is robust to storage port failover.

Boot from iSCSI - In this configuration, ESX Server hosts boot from the target iSCSI array rather than from a local disk.

iSCSI hardware initiator failover - The ESX server host is equipped with multiple hardware initiators and is robust to hardware initiator failover.