User`s guide

Chapter 9 VMware ESX Servers 189
Automatic Rescans in ESX
In ESX, discovery of new vHBA devices and changes to the FC fabric often require a
rescan. Rescanning propagates fibre-channel information to the various components
including storage driver, operating system, and management software. The OVN
driver package includes a thin daemon called xsigo-hotplug which attempts to
periodically propagate this information automatically.
You can enable, disable, or tune xsigo-hotplug by changing configuration settings
in the following file in XgOS:
/etc/sysconfig/infiniband/mgmt-xsigo.ini
The default settings are to enable the daemon by default and to poll all the Xsigo
vHBA device instances every 10 seconds.
The daemon first checks whether there are any storage configuration changes
according to the schedule set in the file. Then, if there are changes, it issues a rescan
request to ESX. You can also issue an immediate rescan of the adapters by issuing a
rescan from within Virtual Infrastructure/VirtualCenter client through one of the
Storage Adapters or Storage Configuration tabs.
Note – Rescans can take approximately one second per volume (disk or LUN). In
large systems, this can delay other operations. Before changing the polling interval,
consult Oracle technical support.
Potential Issues With Automatic Rescans
Storage vendors behavior varies, making automatic discovery of new disks and
LUNs difficult. Some storage does not immediately issue an RSCN or like event. In
order to discover new disks, you might need to initiate a rescan of the Xsigo vHBA
from the Oracle Fabric Interconnect chassis by issuing the following command at a
command prompt:
You can then press the “Rescan” button in the “Storage Adapters” configuration tab
of the Virtual Infrastructure/VirtualCenter client.
set vhba myvhba.esxserver rescan F1-15> set vhba * rescan