I was trying to configure my central storage (StarWind iSCSI SAN) in my homelab, but couldn’t find the software iSCSI Adapter.. huh.. it’s removed?

Storage Adapter:

Nope.. by default it’s not installed, you must manual add the adapter by clicking Configuration > Storage Adapter > Add Storage Adapter

- Select: Add Software iSCSI Adapter

A new software iSCSI adapter will be added to the Storage Adapters list. After it has been added, select the software iSCSI adapter in the list and click on Properties to complete the configuration

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I need to find out witch firmware version is running on my HBA without rebooting the ESX host.. I thought this was possible by GUI but couldn’t find it, so I decided to check this by console. Give the following commands:

Navigate to:

- cd proc/scsi/qla or lpfc820
- ls –lia

To view the HBA information:

- cat 6
- cat 7

Result:

It wasn’t so difficult!

To determine if VAAI is enabled service console in ESX or the RCLI in ESXi, run the commands and ensure that the value is 1:

# esxcfg-advcfg -g /DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedMove
# esxcfg-advcfg -g /DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedInit
# esxcfg-advcfg -g /VMFS3/HardwareAcceleratedLocking

Can I check the VAAI status from the command line?

esxcfg-scsidevs -l | egrep "Display Name:|VAAI Status:"

More interesting information: yellow-bricks.com

Source: VMware KB

Last weekend I downloaded the OpenFiler v.2.3 iso to configure the Central Storage solution in my homelab. After installing the software in a new VM I figured out how to configure iSCSI targets and present them to my ESX servers…

I’m running both VMware ESX 4.0 and ESXi 4.0 in my lab and both provide iSCSI functionality by default to connect through to an iSCSI target.

After I installed OpenFiler in a VM I connected to https://ip:446, you can manage your service account with the created root account and you can manage the OpenFiler with the following credentials Username: Openfiler Password: password

My configuration staps…

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Configure OpenFiler:

Create a new volume group:

1. Physical Volume – Assigning space on a physical disk for use in a Volume Group.

2. Volume Group – Contains Physical Volumes from which a Logical Volume will be created.

3. Logical Volume (LUN) – This is what is presented through to a server

- Select volume and give a volume group name (in my case VMpros)

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