Configuring iSCSI Adapters and Storage

Before ESXi can work with a SAN, you must set up your iSCSI adapters and storage.

The following table lists the iSCSI adapters (vmhbas) that ESXi supports and indicates whether VMkernel networking configuration is required.

Table 1. Supported iSCSI Adapters

iSCSI Adapter (vmhba)	Description	VMkernel Networking
Software	Uses standard NICs to connect your host to a remote iSCSI target on the IP network.	Required
Independent Hardware	Third-party adapter that offloads the iSCSI and network processing and management from your host.	Not required
Dependent Hardware	Third-party adapter that depends on VMware networking and iSCSI configuration and management interfaces.	Required

After you set up the iSCSI adapters, you can create a datastore on iSCSI storage. For details on how to create and manage datastores, see Creating Datastores.