Configure Port Binding for iSCSI or iSER on ESXi

The port binding creates connections for the traffic between certain types of iSCSI and iSER adapters and the physical network adapters on your ESXi system.

The following types of adapters require the port binding:

• Software iSCSI adapter
• Dependent hardware iSCSI adapter
• VMware iSCSI over RDMA (iSER) adapter

The following tasks discuss the network configuration with a vSphere Standard switch and a single physical network adapter. If you have multiple network adapters, see Multiple Network Adapters in iSCSI or iSER Configuration.

Note: iSER does not support NIC teaming. When configuring port binding for iSER, use only one RDMA-enabled physical adapter (vmnic#) and one VMkernel adapter (vmk#) per vSwitch.

You can also use the VMware vSphere^® Distributed Switch™ and VMware NSX^® Virtual Switch™ in the port binding configuration. For information about NSX virtual switches, see the VMware NSX Data Center for vSphere documentation.

If you use a vSphere distributed switch with multiple uplink ports, for port binding, create a separate distributed port group per each physical NIC. Then set the team policy so that each distributed port group has only one active uplink port. For detailed information on distributed switches, see the vSphere Networking documentation.

Create a Single VMkernel Adapter for iSCSI or iSER

Connect the VMkernel, which runs services for iSCSI storage, to a physical network adapter on your ESXi host. You then use the created VMkernel adapter in the port binding configuration with the iSCSI or iSER adapters.

Prerequisites

• If you are creating a VMkernel adapter for dependent hardware iSCSI, you must use the physical network adapter (vmnic#) that corresponds to the iSCSI component. See Determine Association Between iSCSI and Network Adapters.
• With the iSER adapter, make sure to use an appropriate RDMA-capable vmnic#. See Install and View an RDMA Capable Network Adapter.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to the ESXi host.
2. Select Add Networking from the right-click menu.
3. Select VMkernel Network Adapter, and click Next.
4. Select New standard switch to create a vSphere Standard switch.
5. Click the Add adapters icon, and select an appropriate network adapter (vmnic#) to use for iSCSI.
   Make sure to assign the adapter to Active Adapters.
6. Enter a network label.
   A network label is a friendly name that identifies the VMkernel adapter that you are creating, for example, iSCSI or iSER.
7. Specify the IP settings.
8. Review the information and click Finish.
   You created the virtual VMkernel adapter (vmk#) for a physical network adapter (vmnic#) on your host.
9. Verify your configuration.
   1. Under Networking, select VMkernel Adapters, and select the VMkernel adapter (vmk#) from the list.
   2. Click the Policies tab, and verify that the corresponding physical network adapter (vmnic#) appears as an active adapter under Teaming and failover.
      

What to do next

If your host has one physical network adapter for iSCSI traffic, bind the VMkernel adapter that you created to the iSCSI or iSER vmhba adapter.

If you have multiple network adapters, you can create additional VMkernel adapters and then perform iSCSI binding. The number of virtual adapters must correspond to the number of physical adapters on the host. For information, see Multiple Network Adapters in iSCSI or iSER Configuration.

Bind iSCSI or iSER Adapters to VMkernel Adapters

On the ESXi host, bind an iSCSI or iSER adapter with a VMkernel adapter.

Prerequisites

Create a virtual VMkernel adapter for each physical network adapter on your host. If you use multiple VMkernel adapters, set up the correct network policy.

Required privilege: Host.Configuration.Storage Partition Configuration

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to the ESXi host.
2. Click the Configure tab.
3. Under Storage, click Storage Adapters, and select the appropriate iSCSI or iSER adapter (vmhba# ) from the list.
4. Click the Network Port Binding tab and click the Add icon.
5. Select a VMkernel adapter to bind with the iSCSI or iSER adapter.
   Note: Make sure that the network policy for the VMkernel adapter is compliant with the binding requirements.
   You can bind the software iSCSI adapter to one or more VMkernel adapters. For a dependent hardware iSCSI adapter or the iSER adapter, only one VMkernel adapter associated with the correct physical NIC is available.
6. Click OK.
   The network connection appears on the list of network port bindings for the iSCSI or iSER adapter.

   

Review Port Binding Details on the ESXi Host

Review networking details of the VMkernel adapter that is bound to the iSCSI or iSER vmhba adapter.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to the ESXi host.
2. Click the Configure tab.
3. Under Storage, click Storage Adapters, and select the appropriate iSCSI or iSER adapter from the list.
4. Click the Network Port Binding tab and select the VMkernel adapter from the list.
5. Click the View Details icon.
6. Review the VMkernel adapter and physical adapter information by switching between available tabs.

What to do next

For other configuration steps you can perform for the iSCSI or iSER storage adapters, see the following topics:

• Configure Dependent Hardware iSCSI Adapters with ESXi
• Configure the Software iSCSI Adapter with ESXi
• Configure iSER with ESXi