topic Re: ESXi 4.1 Hardware iSCSI using DL380 G7 onboard NC382i Multifunction NICS... in Operating System - VMware

ESXi 4.1 Hardware iSCSI using DL380 G7 onboard NC382i Multifunction NICS...

MC1903 — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:09:25 GMT

Hi,

I have installed ESXi 4.1 onto a DL380 G7 and noticed that the onboard NC382i NICs are now shown in the Storage Adapters...

I have tried to bind the VMware iSCSI VMkernel to the vmhba, but it fails...

I have followed the advice on pages 37-41 of the VMware document: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_iscsi_san_cfg.pdf

The CLI command (via the vMA) I am using is:

esxcli --server esx1.mydomain.local swiscsi nic add -n iSCSI1 -d vmhba34

Where 'iSCSI'1 is my VMkernel port and 'vmhba34' is the multifunction NIC

The error I get back is "Failed to add nic."

Do I need a software license from HP to enable the iSCSI TOE/Offload/Acceleration feature in the hardware - if so what is the part number..?

Any other help or advise is welcomed... I am stumped..!

Cheers

Martin

Re: ESXi 4.1 Hardware iSCSI using DL380 G7 onboard NC382i Multifunction NICS...

Jan Soska — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:00:08 GMT

hello,
do you need just to add drives for your device? It looks it is simply not detected...

Jan

Re: ESXi 4.1 Hardware iSCSI using DL380 G7 onboard NC382i Multifunction NICS...

Uwe Zessin — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 10:32:28 GMT

The "-n" option of the "esxcli swiscsi" command requires the VMkernel port name (e.g. vmk0, vmk1), not the port group name (e.g. iSCSI1).
Use "esxcfg-vmknic -l" to find out the port name(s).

And make sure that the port group (iSCSI1) has only one active adapter (=physical NIC) and no standby adapters - all remaining adapters that are connected to the vSwitch must be set to "unused" on that portgroup.

With the above setup, however, you are using the software iSCSI initiator treating the NC382i just as a NIC, not the HW iSCSI function of the NC382i.
I haven't seen it myself in real life, but a HW iSCSI initiator should show up as a 'normal' storage adapter and be named like "vmhba1", "vmhba2".

Re: ESXi 4.1 Hardware iSCSI using DL380 G7 onboard NC382i Multifunction NICS...

Raymond_61 — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:31:01 GMT

Hi Martin, did you manage to come right? We're in the same boat I think. We're trying to connect our DL380 G7 to an MSA 2324i iSCSI SAN using the onboard NC382i's as hardware initiators. I am able to bind to the NIC's to the vmkernel port as per Uwe's post above, but I can't seem to discover any iSCSI targets after specifying the target names.

I've since read this article which seems to suggest that the Software Initiator + jumbo frames may be a better option... am a bit undecided:-

http://www.vmadmin.co.uk/vmware/35-esxserver/252-esxihwswiscsijumbo

cheers,
Ray