6.0.1

The 16-hexadecimal digits are text representations of a 64-bit number of an IEEE EUI (extended unique
identier) format. The top 24 bits are a company ID that IEEE registers with a particular company. The lower
40 bits are assigned by the entity holding that company ID and must be unique.
iSCSI Initiators
To access iSCSI targets, your host uses iSCSI initiators. The initiators transport SCSI requests and responses,
encapsulated into the iSCSI protocol, between the host and the iSCSI target.
Your host supports dierent types of initiators.
For information on conguring and using iSCSI adapters, see Chapter 10, “Conguring iSCSI Adapters and
Storage,” on page 69.
Software iSCSI Adapter
A software iSCSI adapter is a VMware code built into the VMkernel. It allows your host to connect to the
iSCSI storage device through standard network adapters. The software iSCSI adapter handles iSCSI
processing while communicating with the network adapter. With the software iSCSI adapter, you can use
iSCSI technology without purchasing specialized hardware.
Hardware iSCSI Adapter
A hardware iSCSI adapter is a third-party adapter that ooads iSCSI and network processing from your
host. Hardware iSCSI adapters are divided into categories.
Dependent Hardware
iSCSI Adapter
Depends on VMware networking, and iSCSI conguration and management
interfaces provided by VMware.
This type of adapter can be a card that presents a standard network adapter
and iSCSI ooad functionality for the same port. The iSCSI ooad
functionality depends on the host's network conguration to obtain the IP,
MAC, and other parameters used for iSCSI sessions. An example of a
dependent adapter is the iSCSI licensed Broadcom 5709 NIC.
Independent Hardware
iSCSI Adapter
Implements its own networking and iSCSI conguration and management
interfaces.
An example of an independent hardware iSCSI adapter is a card that either
presents only iSCSI ooad functionality or iSCSI ooad functionality and
standard NIC functionality. The iSCSI ooad functionality has independent
conguration management that assigns the IP, MAC, and other parameters
used for the iSCSI sessions. An example of a independent adapter is the
QLogic QLA4052 adapter.
Hardware iSCSI adapters might need to be licensed. Otherwise, they will not appear in the client or vSphere
CLI. Contact your vendor for licensing information.
Establishing iSCSI Connections
In the ESXi context, the term target identies a single storage unit that your host can access. The terms
storage device and LUN describe a logical volume that represents storage space on a target. Typically, the
terms device and LUN, in the ESXi context, mean a SCSI volume presented to your host from a storage
target and available for formaing.
Dierent iSCSI storage vendors present storage to servers in dierent ways. Some vendors present multiple
LUNs on a single target, while others present multiple targets with one LUN each. While the way the
storage is used by ESXi is similar, the way the information is presented through administrative tools is
dierent.
Chapter 9 Using ESXi with iSCSI SAN
VMware, Inc. 65