Map a LUN to multiple ESXi hosts in same Cluster

[Sasnet]

Hello Team,

There are:

1) AFF-A250 Storage System;

2) VMware vCenter Cluster with many ESXi hosts.

Need to map 1 LUN to multiple ESXi hosts in same Cluster, protocol NVMe/TCP. I have find Knowledge Article: https://kb.netapp.com/on-prem/ontap/da/SAN/SAN-KBs/Can_we_map_a_lun_to_multiple_ESXi_host_in_different_cluster_managed_by_same_vCenter . It is possible, but for more information kindly reach out to VMware vendor. 

With mapping on 1 ESXi host - there are no problem, link: https://community.netapp.com/t5/Tech-ONTAP-Blogs/How-to-Configure-NVMe-TCP-with-vSphere-8-0-Update-1-and-ONTAP-9-13-1-for-VMFS/ba-p/445429 .

But, how to map 1 LUN to multiple ESXi hosts?

Thank you!

[Sasnet · Accepted solution]

I think, I have solved request. Solution: SAN Initiator Groups.

Instruction:

Go to the HOSTS tab – SAN Initiator Groups. Click Add:

Add Initiators, example!:
1) iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx1:619845978:65
2) iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx2.demo.netapp.com:619845978:65

When creating a LUN, specify the created INITIATOR GROUP:

Alternatively, you can edit an existing LUN to specify the desired group:

In the test environment it worked:

Lab on Demand lab "Provisioning Desktops with NetApp and VMware Horizon v1.0".

[Sasnet]

For NVMe/TCP steps are similar, I have added some nqn to NVMe Subsystem:

Be sure to create a Storage VM with the NVMe/TCP protocol:

We write down the IP address, for example, 192.168.0.13. We remember it. Best practices to use 2 IP adresses.

Create a new space in the Storage - NVMe namespaces tab:

In vCenter, we add a controller to each ESXi host for the NVMe TCP Adapter, specify the IP address 192.168.0.13 and port 8009:

On first WSXi:

On second ESXi:

On Cluster we do Rescan Storage:

We add a new Datastore, select our space, and format it:

This space is on both ESXi hosts.

Everything works.

[jaikumar]

Unlike LUN one cannot map NVMe to multiple Subsystem but instead we need to add multiple nqns to the same NVMe Subsystem and map the NVMe Namespace to the Subsystem.

--
Given that NetApp NVMe doesnt support Persistent Reservation , what is the Use case for NVMe Namespace to be shared between two ESXi Hosts in Cluster.