The esxcli storage core claimrule add command adds a claim rule to the set of claim rules on the system.

You can use this command to add new claim rules or to mask a path using the MASK_PATH claim rule. You must load the rules after you add them.

Options Description

--adapter <adapter>

-A <adapter>

Adapter of the paths to use. Valid only if --type is location.

--autoassign

-u

Adds a claim rule based on its characteristics. The rule number is not required.

--channel <channel>

-C <channel>

Channel of the paths to use. Valid only if --type is location.

--claimrule-class <cl>

-c <cl>

Claim rule class to use in this operation. You can specify MP (default), Filter, or VAAI.

To configure hardware acceleration for a new array, add two claim rules, one for the VAAI filter and another for the VAAI plug-in. See vSphere Storage for detailed instructions.

--driver <driver>

-D <driver>

Driver for the HBA of the paths to use. Valid only if --type is driver.

--force

-f

Force claim rules to ignore validity checks and install the rule.

--lun <lun_number>

-L <lun_number>

LUN of the paths to use. Valid only if --type is location.

--model <model>

-M <model>

Model of the paths to use. Valid only if --type is vendor.

Valid values are values of the Model string from the SCSI inquiry string.

--plugin

-P

PSA plug-in to use. Currently, the values are NMP or MASK_PATH, but third parties can ship their own PSA plug-ins in the future.

MASK_PATH refers to the plug-in MASK_PATH_PLUGIN. The command adds claim rules for this plug-in if the user wants to mask the path.

You can add a claim rule that causes the MASK_PATH_PLUGIN to claim the path to mask a path or LUN from the host. See the vSphere Storage documentation for details.

--rule <rule_ID>

-r <rule_ID>

Rule ID to use. Run esxcli storage core claimrule list to see the rule ID. The rule ID indicates the order in which the claim rule is to be evaluated. User-defined claim rules are evaluated in numeric order starting with 101.

--target <target>

-T <target>

Target of the paths to use. Valid only if --type is location.

--transport <transport>

-R <transport>

Transport of the paths to use. Valid only if --type is transport. The following values are supported.

  • block – block storage
  • fc – FibreChannel
  • iscsivendor — iSCSI
  • iscsi – not currently used
  • ide — IDE storage
  • sas — SAS storage
  • sata — SATA storage
  • usb – USB storage
  • parallel – parallel
  • unknown

--type <type>

-t <type>

Type of matching to use for the operation. Valid values are vendor, location, driver, and transport.

--vendor

-V

Vendor of the paths to use. Valid only if --type is vendor.

Valid values are values of the vendor string from the SCSI inquiry string.

--wwnn World-Wide Node Number for the target to use in this operation.
--wwpn World-Wide Port Number for the target to use in this operation.

--xcopy-max-transfer-size

-m

Maximum data transfer size when using XCOPY. Valid only if --xcopy-use-array-values is specified.

--xcopy-use-array-values

-a

Use the array reported values to construct the XCOPY command to be sent to the storage array. This applies to VAAI claim rules only.

--xcopy-use-multi-segs

-s

Use multiple segments when issuing an XCOPY request. Valid only if --xcopy-use-array-values is specified.

Claim rules are numbered as follows.

  • Rules 0–100 are reserved for internal use by VMware.
  • Rules 101–65435 are available for general use. Any third-party multipathing plug-ins installed on your system use claim rules in this range. By default, the PSA claim rule 101 masks Dell array pseudo devices. Do not remove this rule, unless you want to unmask these devices.
  • Rules 65436–65535 are reserved for internal use by VMware.

When claiming a path, the PSA runs through the rules starting from the lowest number and determines is a path matches the claim rule specification. If the PSA finds a match, it gives the path to the corresponding plug-in. This is worth noticing because a given path might match several claim rules.

The following examples illustrate adding claim rules. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options for ESXCLI Host Management Commands in place of <conn_options>.

  • Add rule 321, which claims the path on adapter vmhba0, channel 0, target 0, LUN 0 for the NMP. 
    esxcli <conn_options> storage core claimrule add -r 321 -t location -A vmhba0 -C 0 -T 0 -L 0 -P NMP
  • Add rule 429, which claims all paths provided by an adapter with the mptscsi driver for the MASK_PATH plug-in. 
    esxcli <conn_options> storage core claimrule add -r 429 -t driver -D mptscsi -P MASK_PATH
  • Add rule 914, which claims all paths with vendor string VMWARE and model string Virtual for the NMP. 
    esxcli <conn_options> storage core claimrule add -r 914 -t vendor -V VMWARE -M Virtual -P NMP
  • Add rule 1015, which claims all paths provided by FC adapters for the NMP. 
    esxcli <conn_options> storage core claimrule add -r 1015 -t transport -R fc -P NMP