Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
Go to the configuration tab and select Storage Adapters. Select the iSCSI Software Adapter and click Rescan. The newly created iSCSI target and LUN should be visible from the ESX server.
Step1: Configure vSwitch & Enable Jumbo Frames
This step will create a new vSwitch and enable Jumbo Frame support for this switch. This step is used for both examples no matter the number of VMkernels or physical NICs. Currently there is no option to enable Jumbo Frames on a vSwitch from VMware vCenter GUI so these commands must be run via CLI. Be sure to check the environment to make sure that Jumbo Frames are supported at the networking layer before enabling it on the ESX host.
The following command will create a new vSwitch called vSwitch2:
Next, enable Jumbo Frames on the vSwitch:
To verify that the switch was configured properly run the following command:
Your output will look similar to this:
Switch Name | Num Ports | Used Ports | Configured Ports | MTU Uplinks |
vSwitch2 | 64 | 1 | 64 | 9000 |
You can note the new vSwitch2 with the MTU of 9000 to verify that the switch was created correctly. You can also see it displayed in the GUI of vCenter. Throughout these procedures some of the verification can be done via command line or seen in the vCenter GUI. The polling rate of vCenter is not instant so changes will not show up immediately after it is typed.
Step2: Add iSCSI VMkernel Ports
This next step will assign VMkernel Ports to the new vSwitch2. It will also configure Jumbo Frame support as well as assign the IP Addresses. Administrators familiar with iSCSI connectivity in ESX3.5 will find that it is no longer required to configure a Service Console port for the iSCSI connection. Another thing to notice is that because the Service Console is not needed, the iSCSI switch environment can be on a different subnet than the public environment or existing service console. Each VMkernel Port will need its own IP Address and they must all be on the same subnet and be on the same subnet as the PowerVault IP Address.
Page 13
