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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

Cannot add iSCSI connection to ESXI

I installed ESXI last night and plan to use it for creating a test environment. I have spent about 6 hours now trying to get the iSCSI connection setup. The target is on an HP AIO 600. The array is inside of an HP MSA 70 connected to the HP AIO 600 via a P800 controller card.

I have set the target up with no authentication. I am able to connect to the target from another Windows server. The Server running ESXI only has 1 network card. From within Infrastucture Client, it never sees any targets.

I checked the event logs on the Target machine and I see where the initiator logged in at one point, but I never see any targets.

Any advice?

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kjb007
Immortal
Immortal

Does your DNS point to one IP vs the other? Can you make sure the IP that ESX is choosing is not resolving to the name being used by the host. Just another thing to look at.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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yllw98stng
Contributor
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I did a reinstall of ESXi and am experiencing the same thing. DNS only shows 10.104.7.15 for the SAN. How can I ping the hostname of the SAN from within ESX to be 100% sure it is not resolving to the other IP address?

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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

At the console screen ALT F1. Type "unsupported" and enter. You will be prompted for the root password.

Typing unsupprted will not show any response untill you press enter.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

Are you sure the ESXi management interface and the storage are on the same subnet?

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, the management interface and the storage are on the same subnet. Previously, I was running VMware Server on the same ESXi hardware using the same IP address and connecting to the same SAN.

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kjb007
Immortal
Immortal

Were you able to login to the support shell, and verify connectivity and resolution?

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

I just confirmed that I was able to ping 10.104.7.15 from Tech Support Mode on the ESXi box.

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kjb007
Immortal
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How about a vmkping 10.104.7.15?

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

When I log into Support Mode and ping by name, it resovles to the proper IP address, 10.104.7.15.

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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

vmkping 10.104.7.15 replied succesfully.

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kjb007
Immortal
Immortal

And, what do the below output:

esxcfg-swiscsi -q

esxcfg-swiscsi -s

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

esxcfg-swiscsi -q:

Sofware iSCSI is enabled

esxcfg-swiscsi -s:

Scanning vmhba33...

vmkadapter: vmhba33

Doing iSCSI discover. This can take a few seconds ...

Rescanning vmhba33 ...

Done.

I went back and looked at interface....still no iSCSI connection.

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kjb007
Immortal
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And your logfile after the scan? What does it contain?

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

The logs look to be the same as before. Is there an easy way to export the logs so I can post them here?

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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

From my SAN, when I ping it's own hostname, it returns 10.106.1.11. I'm thinking this may be the problem.

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kjb007
Immortal
Immortal

Ah, so there does appear to be a resolution issue. It appears when you create the connection from ESX, the SAN may respond back with a hostname and different IP, which ESX then latches on to. One thing you can do is try an entry in the ESX hosts file and see if it helps any.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

I had added the entry in the SAN's host and then pinged the SAN by name and it then resolved to 10.104.7.15 but nothing changed from within ESX. It still tried to connect to 10.106.1.11. How do I add an entry into the ESX hosts file?

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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

Use the IP of the SAN rather than the name in your ISCSI configuration.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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kjb007
Immortal
Immortal

Well, I think you will need to try and disable/enable the iSCSI portion again. Click disable in the gui. Then use 'esxcfg-swiscsi -d, then esxcfg-swiscsi -k. This should kill the stack. Then reboot, and when it comes back up, run esxcfg-swiscsi -q to make sure it's not enabled. Then, go back and enable again. This time, make sure you cross your fingers. Smiley Happy

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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yllw98stng
Contributor
Contributor

Smiley Sad Logs still show that it is attempting to connect to 10.106.1.11.

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