Change Network Policy for iSCSI

If you use a single vSphere Standard switch to connect multiple VMkernel adapters to multiple network adapters, set up the network policy for this configuration. Only one physical network adapter must be active for each VMkernel adapter.

By default, for each VMkernel adapter on the vSphere Standard switch, all network adapters appear as active. You must override this setup, so that each VMkernel adapter maps to only one corresponding active physical. For example, vmk1 maps to vmnic1, vmk2 maps to vmnic2, and so on.

Prerequisites

Create a vSphere Standard switch that connects VMkernel with physical network adapters designated for iSCSI traffic. The number of VMkernel adapters must correspond to the number of physical adapters on the vSphere Standard switch.

Procedure

1. Browse to the host in the vSphere Web Client navigator.
2. Click the Configure tab.
3. Under Networking, click Virtual switches, and select the vSphere switch that you want to modify from the list.
4. On the vSwitch diagram, select the VMkernel adapter and click the Edit Settings icon.
5. On the Edit Settings wizard, click Teaming and Failover and select Override under Failover Order.
6. Designate only one physical adapter as active and move all remaining adapters to the Unused Adapters category.
7. Repeat Step 4 through Step 6 for each iSCSI VMkernel interface on the vSphere Standard switch.

Example: iSCSI Network Policy

The following table illustrates the proper iSCSI mapping where only one physical network adapter is active for each VMkernel adapter.

VMkernel Adapter (vmk#)	Physical Network Adapter (vmnic#)
vmk1	Active Adapters vmnic1 Unused Adapters vmnic2
vmk2	Active Adapters vmnic2 Unused Adapters vmnic1

What to do next

After you perform this task, bind the virtual VMkernel adapters to the software iSCSI or dependent hardware iSCSI adapters.