3.1. Accessing iSCSI Targets from VMware ESXiΒΆ

Before using Acronis Software-Defined Infrastructure volumes with VMware ESXi, you need to configure it to properly work with ALUA Active/Passive storage arrays. The default path selection policy (PSP) for ALUA devices is VMW_PSP_MRU that never falls back to standby paths. To use ALUA Active/Passive storage arrays, you need to set the default PSP to VMW_PSP_FIXED. For example, on VMware ESXi 6.5:

  • to set the default PSP for all devices, run

    # esxcli storage nmp satp rule add --satp VMW_SATP_ALUA --vendor VSTORAGE \
    --model VSTOR-DISK --psp VMW_PSP_FIXED -c tpgs_on
    
  • to set the PSP for a specific device, run

    # esxcli storage core claimrule load
    

Now you can proceed to create datastores from Acronis Software-Defined Infrastructure volumes exported via iSCSI. Log in to the VMware ESXi web panel and do the following:

  1. In the Navigator, go to the Storage > Adapters tab and click Configure iSCSI.

    ../_images/stor_image90.png
  2. In the Configure iSCSI window, click Add static target in the Static targets section, fill out target IQNs, IP addresses, and ports. Click Save configuration.

    ../_images/stor_image91.png
  3. Proceed to the Devices tab and click Refresh. The newly added disk will appear in the list of devices.

    ../_images/stor_image92.png
  4. Select the disk and click New datastore. In the wizard that appears, enter a name for the datastore and select partitioning options. Click Finish to actually partition the disk.

    Warning

    Partitioning the disk will erase all data from it.

The ready-to-use disk will appear in the list of datastores. You can now view its contents it with the datastore browser and provision it to VMs.

../_images/stor_image93.png

Note

If your ESXi host loses connectivity to VMFS3 or VMFS5 datastores, follow the instructions in KB article #2113956.