With port binding, you create a separate VMkernel port for each physical NIC using 1:1 mapping.

You can add all network adapter and VMkernel port pairs to a single vSwitch. The vSphere Storage documentation explains in detail how to specify port binding.

You cannot set up ports for multipathing by using vicfg-iscsi.

In the examples below, specify one of the options listed in Connection Options for vCLI Host Management Commands in place of <conn_options>.

Important: The ESXi 4.x ESXCLI commands for setting up iSCSI are no longer supported.

Prerequisites

Verify that you are familiar with iSCSI session removal. See Removing iSCSI Sessions.

Procedure

  1. Find out which uplinks are available for use with iSCSI adapters. 
    esxcli <conn_options> iscsi physicalnetworkportal list --adapter=<adapter_name>
  2. Connect the software iSCSI or dependent hardware iSCSI initiator to the iSCSI VMkernel ports by running the following command for each port. 
    esxcli <conn_options> iscsi networkportal nic add --adapter=<adapter_name> --nic=<bound_nic>
  3. Verify that the ports were added to the iSCSI initiator by running the following command. 
    esxcli <conn_options> iscsi networkportal list --adapter=<adapter_name>
  4. (Optional) If there are active iSCSI sessions between your host and targets, discontinue them. See Removing iSCSI Sessions.
  5. Rescan the iSCSI initiator. 
    esxcli <conn_options> storage core adapter rescan --adapter <iscsi adapter>
  6. To disconnect the iSCSI initiator from the ports, run the following command. 
    esxcli <conn_options> iscsi networkportal remove --adapter=<adapter_name> --nic=<bound_nic>