About the Software iSCSI Adapter

With the software-based iSCSI implementation, you can use standard NICs to connect your host to a remote iSCSI target on the IP network. The software iSCSI adapter that is built into ESXi facilitates this connection by communicating with the physical NICs through the network stack.

Before you can use the software iSCSI adapter, you must set up networking, activate the adapter, and configure parameters such as discovery addresses and CHAP.

When you use the software iSCSI adapters, keep in mind the following considerations:

• Designate a separate network adapter for iSCSI. Do not use iSCSI on 100 Mbps or slower adapters.
• Avoid hard coding the name of the software adapter, vmhbaXX, in the scripts. It is possible for the name to change from one ESXi release to another. The change might cause failures of your existing scripts if they use the hardcoded old name. The name change does not affect the behavior of the iSCSI software adapter.