Yes this is a very specific subject but hell it is useful if you got a good storage and you want to suck all the throughput from its Interfaces.
In this case I used an EqualLogic PS6000XV Storage Array to set up a VMware vSphere Cluster.
It should be very similar for other storage arrays with multiple interfaces where MultiPathing is needed. This storage has 4 Gigabit Interfaces and the VMware cluster was comprised by 3 nodes each with 6 Gbit interfaces. 4 of the Gigabit Interfaces where used for the storage
Step 1 Setup a switch For Each Node
We are creating a vSwitch on every node and enabling Jambo frames.
esxcfg-vswitch -a vSwitch2 esxcfg-vswitch -m 9000 vSwitch2
Step2 Add iSCSI VMkernel Ports
For Node1
esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI1 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.101 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI1 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI2 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.102 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI2 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI3 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.103 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI3 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI4 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.104 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI4 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI5 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.105 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI5 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI6 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.106 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI6 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI7 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.107 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI7 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI8 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.108 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI8
For Node2
esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI1 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.151 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI1 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI2 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.152 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI2 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI3 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.153 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI3 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI4 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.154 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI4 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI5 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.155 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI5 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI6 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.156 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI6 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI7 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.157 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI7 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI8 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.158 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI8
For Node3
esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI1 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.201 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI1 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI2 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.202 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI2 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI3 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.203 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI3 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI4 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.204 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI4 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI5 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.205 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI5 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI6 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.206 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI6 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI7 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.207 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI7 esxcfg-vswitch -A iSCSI8 vSwitch2 esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.255.208 -n 255.255.255.0 -m 9000 iSCSI8
To Verify what we have done we list the current config on every node
esxcfg-vmknic -l
Step3 We associate the NICs
For Each Node we associate its 4 Gbit network cards dedicated for the storage to the vSwitch we created before
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic0 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic1 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic2 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic3 vSwitch2
Step4 Associate VMkernel Ports to Physical Adapters
The next step is used to create the individual path bindings for each VMkernel to a NIC. This is
required in order to take advantage of the new advanced features such as Round Robin MPIO or
3rd party MPIO plug-ins
For Each Node we will do the following
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI1 -N vmnic1 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI1 -N vmnic2 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI1 -N vmnic3 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI2 -N vmnic0 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI2 -N vmnic2 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI2 -N vmnic3 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI3 -N vmnic0 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI3 -N vmnic1 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI3 -N vmnic3 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI4 -N vmnic0 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI4 -N vmnic1 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI4 -N vmnic2 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI5 -N vmnic1 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI5 -N vmnic2 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI5 -N vmnic3 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI6 -N vmnic0 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI6 -N vmnic2 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI6 -N vmnic3 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI7 -N vmnic0 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI7 -N vmnic1 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI7 -N vmnic3 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI8 -N vmnic0 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI8 -N vmnic1 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -p iSCSI8 -N vmnic2 vSwitch2
Step 5 Enable VMware iSCSI Software Initiator
The next step is to enable the iSCSI initiator to prepare the ESX host to connect to the PS Series SAN. This can be done either through a CLI command or through the vCenter GUI.
To enable the iSCSI initiator through the CLI type the following command For Each Node:
esxcfg-swiscsi –e
This will enable the software iSCSI initiator. To verify that it is enabled type the following
command:
esxcfg-swiscsi –q
Step6 Bind VMkernel Ports to iSCSI Software Initiator
This next step will bind the VMkernel ports, that were configured in Step 4 earlier, to the iSCSI
Software Initiator. If this step is skipped there will only ever be a single connection to the PS
Series SAN. This step must be done via CLI.
The first thing to do is to note the vmhba# of the iSCSI Software Initiator. This can be seen in the
vCenter GUI on the ESX host under Configuration -> Storage Adapters.
This can also be found by running the following CLI command to discover all SCSI devices
including the iSCSI software adapter:
esxcfg-scsidevs –a
The output will look something like the following:
vmhba0 mptsas link-n/a sas.5001ec90e0ba7c00
(1:0.0) LSI Logic / Symbios Logic LSI1068E
vmhba1 ata_piix link-n/a ide.vmhba1
(0:31.1) Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB IDE Controller
vmhba32 ata_piix link-n/a ide.vmhba32
(0:31.1) Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB IDE Controller
vmhba33 iscsi_vmk link-n/a iscsi.vmhba33
() Software iSCSI
Our iSCSI Software Initiator is vmhba33 so we do the associations For Each Node like this:
esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk0 -d vmhba33
esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk1 -d vmhba33
esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk2 -d vmhba33
esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk3 -d vmhba33
esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk4 -d vmhba33
esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk5 -d vmhba33
esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk6 -d vmhba33
esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk7 -d vmhba33
View Results
esxcli swiscsi nic list -d vmhba33
Now we go off and create our volumes and configure further our storage.
Ref
Configuring VMware vSphere Software iSCSI with Dell EqualLogic PS Series Storage.
