Setup VMWare ESXi 5.0 with Equallogic SAN

This article explains how to setup an VMWare vSphere ESXi 5.0 host with an Equallogic array. This is all performed via the GUI.

Note that the setup for this includes a vmkernal heartbeat instance as recommended by vmware (here) and equallogic (here).

Add iSCSI initiator

 

Setup iSCSI vSwitch

In the networking section click on “add networking”

Select the network adaptors you have connected to the iSCSI switch

Give the switch a name (e.g. VMkernal heartbeat)

Assign an IP address

Click finish.

Configure first iSCSI VMkernel instance

Go to the properties of the switch you just created.

Click on add

Select VMkernel. Click next

Give the instance a name – e.g. “iSCSI 1”

Specify an IP address.

Click finish.

We must now edit the NIC binding policy for this iSCSI instance. Go to the properties of the vSwitch.

Click on edit.

Set the failover order so 1 NIC is active and 1 in unused.

Click ok.

You should now have a setup like this.

Now run through the above process again to create a 2^nd iSCSI VMkernal instance. Use a different IP address and when creating the failover properties of the second instance make sure that the other NIC is active.

You should now have a setup like this.

Click close. The networking setup should now look like this.

Bind VMKernal Adaptors

We bind each of the iSCSI instances created above with the iSCSI iniator.

Go to the properties of the iSCSI initiator (created in the first step).

Go to “network configuration”, click “add”. Then select each of the iSCSI instances.

You should end up with a setup like this.

Click close.

Jumbo Frames

I recommend you enable jumbo frames. However you can only enable jumbo frames if they are enabled on every device on your iSCSI network (e.g. the physical iSCSI switches). To enable jumbo frameson the vSwitch change the MTU value as shown below.

You also need to enable jumbo frames on each iSCSI instance

 

Enter Equallogic Details

Go to the properties of the iSCSI initiator.

Go to the dynamic discovery tab and enter the Group IP address of the Equallogic.

If your equallogic array uses chap to control access you will need to specify the details as shown below.

Click ok, then close. You should be prompted to scan the adaptor. Please do so, it may take a few minutes.

Finally – You should now be able to view LUNs