Problem with iSCSI targets 0

[tbokman]

I have 3 ESXi hosts and I want to setup an iSCSI SAN so I can use vmotion.

When I enabled iSCSI on the hosts, a unique iqn was generated by each host:

Host1 (192.168.100.29) iqn.2008-06.net.emergetechgroup.etgesx02:afb3999

Host2 (192.168.100.30) iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:etgesxi03-30a67d4e

Host3 (192.168.100.32) iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:etgesxi04-5fa185ab

Then I go to the SAN (Windows 2003 server with Microsoft iSCSI) (IP 192.168.100.31) and create a target for each ESXi host. I used the host IP address for the target name and then added the iscsi initiator by browsing for the IQN sent by the host. Then I assign a virtual disk. The same virtual disk is used for all 3 targets. So the 3 targets on the SAN are:

Host1 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.29-target

Host2 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.30-target

host3 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.32-target

The SAN shows all 3 targets as logged on. But only host 3 shows the target information from the SAN.

SCSI Target 4

iSCSI Name: iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.32-target

Target LUNs: 1

Path vmhba33:4:0 Type disk Capacity 1.91TB LUN ID 0

The other 2 hosts just have targets: 0

On host3 in var/lib/iscsi the vmkbindings file has:

0 4 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.32-target 0

0 5 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.32-target 0

On host1 in var/lib/iscsi the vmkbindings file has:

0 0 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.29-target 2

0 1 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.29-target 2

On host2 in var/lib/iscsi the vmkbindings file has:

0 0 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.30-target 0

0 1 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.30-target 0

The only difference I found was host 3 (that works) has the following in /proc/scsi/vmkiscsi/3

Bus Tgt LUN

0 4 0 192.168.100.31 3260 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.32-target

0 5 ? 10.10.60.31 3260 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.32-target

Note the second line has "0 5 ?"

And the other 2 (that don't work) have:

Bus Tgt LUN

0 0 0 192.168.100.31 3260 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.29-target

0 1 0 10.10.60.31 3260 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.29-target

0 0 0 192.168.100.31 3260 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.30-target

0 1 0 10.10.60.31 3260 iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:etgstorage01-192.168.100.30-target

I have tried disabling/reboot host/enable iscsi software adapter rescan but still targets 0 on hosts 1 & 2. How can I fix this problem? Thanks in advance.

[nick_couchman]

Okay, just a couple of things to think about before getting too far down the path of trying to get this to work:

1) In order to use vMotion, you must purchase vCenter Server and the vMotion extension. These are pretty expensive. Maybe you're already aware of this, but I thought I'd make sure - many people using ESXi are using it because it's free.

2) You said you creaed three different targets - why? In order for vMotion to work properly, you need to have the same disk available on all three of the ESXi hosts at the same time. I've never used Microsoft's iSCSI Target server, but I would you think you'd want to create 1 target and then make sure each of the three servers has access to that target.

[tbokman]

Thanks for the reply.

1. VMware is offering a limited version of vCenter server for $995. It can be used to connect up to 3 ESX or ESXi hosts so that would work well for me. Of course I cannot justify buying it if I cannot connect all 3 hosts to my SAN.

2. I have 3 targets created on the SAN to connect the 3 ESXi hosts. The targets are all assign to the same virtual disk on the SAN. That way all 3 hosts can access the same vitrual disk where the VM files will be located. I had this working in the past but have not found a way to determine what is causing this problem. Like I said the SAN shows all 3 ESXi hosts are logged in but only the one host shows the target information sent from the SAN. The vmkbindings file on each host show they are all connecting to the SAN but for some reason 2 of the hosts don't show the target information sent from the SAN.

[tbokman]

Well I just install latest firmware (158869) and still cannot see any targets. Looks like I won't be getting vCenter any time soon. NOT HAPPY with VMware!!!!!!