VMware Cloud Community
mikelane
Expert
Expert

ESX: Problem connecting to iSCSI storage

I am having problems getting ESX to detect my iSCSI storage (using software iSCSI).

I have set enabled the software iSCSI initiator and then set CHAP and Dynamic Discovery (closing the window each time before changing another setting). When I Rescan my iSCSI target does not come up.

vmnic1 has VMKernal and a service console and vmnic0 has a service console and VM Network.

I also enabled Software iSCSI and NFS in Security.

My iSCSI target is Openfiler which is set up with 2 bonded NICs and software RAID 5 iSCSI storage.

This is set up on a 192.168.10.x network segment with internet access (192.168.0.x).

Have i missed something in my setup - i have got this working in VMWare Workstation before and had issues getting this working but now on physical hardware it just isn't working yet.

I have rebooted ESX many times and openfiler has been rebooted a couple of times too ...

Reply
0 Kudos
22 Replies
virtualdud3
Expert
Expert

For starters, I would "disable"/remove the CHAP authentication. Once you get things working properly without it, you can then re-enable it.

Second thing to do is to run the following command:

#netstat -an | grep 3260

If the ESX server is connecting to the the iSCSI target on port 3260 and you are still unable to "find" the LUN, we can start looking at the Openfiler.

###############

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

############### Under no circumstances are you to award me any points. Thanks!!!
Reply
0 Kudos
mikelane
Expert
Expert

Well i did find one mistake that I had made but it hasn't fixed the problem - when i first set up openfiler i added 192.168.10.x to the allowed list for iSCSI, but when i set up ESX this time i had 2 NIC and so the VMKernal & 2nd2 Service Console ports are on 192.168.10.y and 192.168.10.z - so i added these to openfiler and removed 192.168.10.x from the list.

I then removed CHAP and tried again.

When i run the netstat command it basically says that i have one wait connection and one established connection to openfiler on port 3260. Esx is using two IP addresses on the following ports 32780 and 32781 so do i need to open these ports in ESX maybe?

Is it correct that I have a service console assigned to each NIC in ESX or should there only be one service console?

Reply
0 Kudos
Santhosh_vmware

Mike,

The service console need not be assigned to each NIC ,except for Vmkernel configured for iscsi ,make sure openfiler inbound 3260 port is open.

regards

santhosh

Reply
0 Kudos
trippd
Contributor
Contributor

assuming you have gotten it to work before in this setup (not just with Workstation)...

I've had this issue on several of my ESX hosts on an EqualLogic box since the update to 3.0.2. They always would come up without seeing the LUNs, and sometimes even rescanning the iSCSI HBA wouldn't work. Here's what's has resolved it permanently:

1) put the ESX host into maintenance mode

2) at a prompt:

esxcfg-swiscsi -d

esxcfg-swiscsi -k

esxcfg-swiscsi -e

3) then reboot.

it has worked every time so far -- once i've done this on a host, I no longer have issues with it after a reboot.

Reply
0 Kudos
mikelane
Expert
Expert

Just to make sure i do this properly - should vmkernal and service console have the same ip address on vmnic 1?

Reply
0 Kudos
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

You'll need to use 2 different IP addresses.

Reply
0 Kudos
virtualdud3
Expert
Expert

You'll need to use two separate IP addresses for the VMkernel and service console.

The software initiator works with the vmkiscsid daemon that runs in the service console; this is what initiates the session and performs the login and authentication. The VMkernel IP address is used for the actual I/O. So, two IP addresses are required.

###############

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

############### Under no circumstances are you to award me any points. Thanks!!!
Reply
0 Kudos
admin
Immortal
Immortal

Some things that you need configured to get your Openfiler to connect are...

- 2 IP addresses assigned to 'allow' access to the iSCSI LUN on the Openfiler

- Enable the iSCSI service on the Openfiler

- Under the properties of the iSCSI software adaptor setup your dynamic discovery

- Disable CHAP authentication

Under the Storage Adaptors on your ESX server is the iSCSI target showing up but not the LUN's or is nothing appearing under iSCSI?

Reply
0 Kudos
rabih_00
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You may also want to look onp your storage side see if your initator address is well configured and allowed to see the LUN. I usually create an initiator group and add the address to that group, and then map that group to the LUNs I want to see in my ESX hosts.

Reply
0 Kudos
mikelane
Expert
Expert

Well this could be the source of my issues ...

Having re-installed openfiler and esx I see the above running on openfiler. There is a thread about it here: - I am not sure exactly what the impact of having one of my RAID drives set aside as a "spare" and i am going to wait for this process of rebuilding the array to finish before i take any further action. I guess it could have been this running all along for some reason that caused the issue of me not being able to connect to openfiler.

I will keep my eyes peeled on the thread and let you know how I get on once things have progressed a bit further ...

Reply
0 Kudos
mikelane
Expert
Expert

Well I have completely reinstalled openfiler and esx a few times trying to get to the bottom of this and I still cant get esx to connect to openfiler.

I thought that screenshots would let you see my settings better that trying to dscribe everything, so I have attached all of the pertinent screens (hopefully i have not missed any). So my question is can you guys see something that I have not done that I need to do to get this working? I am happy to post further screens if this helps ...

CHAP not enabled in ESX

Dynamic Discovery pointing to openfiler

iSCSI & NFS enabled in the firewall

VMKernal and Service Console set up.

CHAP off in openfiler

iSCSI stoarge in openfiler

esx IP addresses allowed in openfiler

All drives showing as members of the array in openfiler ...

Openfiler iSCSI target enabled

-


I really don't know what else to try ... the wierd thing is that this was never this much trouble when i had it all set up in Workstation ... any way if you guys can help me get this going I would really appreciate it.

Basically when i rescan my storage adapters in esx nothing comes up ....

Reply
0 Kudos
virtualdud3
Expert
Expert

Do you only have the single RAID-5 array in your Openfiler server?

I seem to recall that Openfiler requires at least two drive arrays - one for the "Openfiler OS", and one to use as the storage target.

My limited experience with Openfiler was trying to set it up in my home test lab on an old laptop I have lying around, and I believe the issue came down to only having the single drive/array.

(This could be wrong, and I'm sure someone will soon correct me if it is)

###############

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

############### Under no circumstances are you to award me any points. Thanks!!!
Reply
0 Kudos
mikelane
Expert
Expert

Thanks for the quick reply ...

I actually have openfiler installed on a Compact Flash card using an CF to IDE converter (and I believe that this is not un-common with openfiler).

My array is 3 x 500 Gb SATA drives using the software Raid in openfiler.

At this point I am seriously thinking about switching to server 2003 with some windows based iSCSI software such as this: http://www.nimbusdata.com/products/mysan/details.htm

Reply
0 Kudos
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

If you're looking for another Windows alternative see the below thread.

I was able to get a NFR copy of Starwind to use. See the post by Anton

Kolomyeytsev.

http://communities.vmware.com/message/585467

Reply
0 Kudos
virtualdud3
Expert
Expert

I wish I had enough experience with Openfiler to be able to help you; I really don't know much about the configuration you describe.

Man, I feel like kind of a buzzkill here - I tried using the Nimbus MySAN when it was in Beta (heck, it was close to a year ago) and at that time it would not work as an iSCSI target for an ESX host, due to the fact that the beta version did not support SCSI reserve/release commands. If I installed the Microsoft iSCSI initiator within a running VM, it worked great. I don't know if the production/non-beta Nimbus MySAN will work as an iSCSI target for an ESX host.

###############

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

############### Under no circumstances are you to award me any points. Thanks!!!
Reply
0 Kudos
mikelane
Expert
Expert

Thanks very much for the replies guys.

I am wondering if openfiler might work if i ditch the RAID and replicate my virtual environment (a single drive for VMFS) - now I am leaning more to a windows solution i think.

I have emailed Rocket Division to ask for an NFR license and I see that they also have a free personal edition which might suit my needs? I see that the free version supports two drives so does a RAID array count as one drive in the end I wonder? (I would still like to keep my RAID 5 in the equation if i can).

I have also emailed MySAN to see if I can get clarification as to whether RC1 works with ESX or not? I will let you know if I get a reply.

Reply
0 Kudos
mikelane
Expert
Expert

I received an email from MySAN this morning which read as follows:

"VMware ESX server is not supported at this time, but we do plan a MySAN release that will support it (though no release date has been set)."

I'll let you know how I get on with Starwind for which i should hopefully get a license today.

Reply
0 Kudos
mikelane
Expert
Expert

I think that I may have found the root of my problem and will need some time to test. My virtual setup had ESX 3.02 installed on a virtual scsi drive while my physical setup has ESX installed on an IDE drive. The problem is specifically mentioned in this thread:

I will post back to let you know how i get on.

Reply
0 Kudos
mikelane
Expert
Expert

I have finally got to the bottom of this. I returned to ESX 3.01 and then found an error with my Openfiler configuration.

My iSCSI host access configuration was not correct (see previous page of this thread for screenshot). Rather than putting in the ip addresses for my ESX NICs i should have instead used the IP address for my network - in my case 192.168.0.0 with a 255.255.255.0 subnet mask.

I am importing a VM into ESX using Openfiler as my iSCSI target as I type!

Well perserverence pays off as they say and I am sure glad to be able to start importing VMs!!

Thanks for all your help and assistance guys - it is very very much appreciated!

Reply
0 Kudos