MPIO with ISCSI in ESX 4

weller — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 07:23:32 GMT

Configuring ISCSI MPIO in ESX 4 as documented in TR 3749. I have 2 VMkernels on a virtual switch and have selected only one active adapter on each VMkernel (other unused). Have also bound ISCSI to each vmkernel.

I'm actually seeing three paths (and three corresponding ISCSI sessions in Data ONTAP) and am trying to figure out what the 3rd path is. It shows up with the same remote endpoint just with a different port...

Paths as defined in ESX are:

mhba33:C0:T0:L0

mhba33:C2:T0:L0

mhba33:C3:T0:L0

Sessions from ONTAP show the following (names/IPs changed to protect the innocent).

Session 791
Initiator Information
Initiator Name: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:vmware-7b671060
ISID: 00:02:3d:00:00:03

Connection Information
Connection 0
    Remote Endpoint: 192.168.5.250:60953
    Local Endpoint: 192.168.5.56:3260
    Local Interface: e0c
    TCP recv window size: 131400

Session 792
Initiator Information
Initiator Name: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:vmware-7b671060
ISID: 00:02:3d:00:00:04

Connection Information
Connection 0
    Remote Endpoint: 192.168.5.25:58415
    Local Endpoint: 192.168.5.56:3260
    Local Interface: e0c
    TCP recv window size: 131400

Session 793
Initiator Information
Initiator Name: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:vmware-7b671060
ISID: 00:02:3d:00:00:01

Connection Information
Connection 0
    Remote Endpoint: 192.168.5.250:59964
    Local Endpoint: 192.168.5.56:3260
    Local Interface: e0c
    TCP recv window size: 131400

Re: MPIO with ISCSI in ESX 4

amiller_1 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:44:45 GMT

I might be totally off base here...but do you have iSCSI access lists setup on the NetApp side to keep invalid/unreachable interfaces from getting advertised to the ESX host?

topic Re: MPIO with ISCSI in ESX 4 in VMware Solutions Discussions

MPIO with ISCSI in ESX 4

Re: MPIO with ISCSI in ESX 4