6.5
Table Of Contents
- vSphere Command-Line Interface Concepts and Examples
- Contents
- About This Book
- vSphere CLI Command Overviews
- Introduction
- List of Available Host Management Commands
- Targets and Protocols for vCLI Host Management Commands
- Supported Platforms for vCLI Commands
- Commands with an esxcfg Prefix
- ESXCLI Commands Available on Different ESXi Hosts
- Trust Relationship Requirement for ESXCLI Commands
- Using ESXCLI Output
- Connection Options for vCLI Host Management Commands
- Connection Options for DCLI Commands
- vCLI Host Management Commands and Lockdown Mode
- Managing Hosts
- Managing Files
- Managing Storage
- Introduction to Storage
- Examining LUNs
- Detach a Device and Remove a LUN
- Reattach a Device
- Working with Permanent Device Loss
- Managing Paths
- Managing Path Policies
- Scheduling Queues for Virtual Machine I/O
- Managing NFS/NAS Datastores
- Monitor and Manage FibreChannel SAN Storage
- Monitoring and Managing Virtual SAN Storage
- Monitoring vSphere Flash Read Cache
- Monitoring and Managing Virtual Volumes
- Migrating Virtual Machines with svmotion
- Configuring FCoE Adapters
- Scanning Storage Adapters
- Retrieving SMART Information
- Managing iSCSI Storage
- iSCSI Storage Overview
- Protecting an iSCSI SAN
- Command Syntax for esxcli iscsi and vicfg-iscsi
- iSCSI Storage Setup with ESXCLI
- iSCSI Storage Setup with vicfg-iscsi
- Listing and Setting iSCSI Options
- Listing and Setting iSCSI Parameters
- Enabling iSCSI Authentication
- Set Up Ports for iSCSI Multipathing
- Managing iSCSI Sessions
- Managing Third-Party Storage Arrays
- Managing Users
- Managing Virtual Machines
- Managing vSphere Networking
- Introduction to vSphere Networking
- Retrieving Basic Networking Information
- Troubleshoot a Networking Setup
- Setting Up vSphere Networking with vSphere Standard Switches
- Setting Up Virtual Switches and Associating a Switch with a Network Interface
- Retrieving Information About Virtual Switches
- Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches
- Checking, Adding, and Removing Port Groups
- Managing Uplinks and Port Groups
- Setting the Port Group VLAN ID
- Managing Uplink Adapters
- Adding and Modifying VMkernel Network Interfaces
- Managing VMkernel Network Interfaces with ESXCLI
- Add and Configure an IPv4 VMkernel Network Interface with ESXCLI
- Add and Configure an IPv6 VMkernel Network Interface with ESXCLI
- Managing VMkernel Network Interfaces with vicfg-vmknic
- Add and Configure an IPv4 VMkernel Network Interface with vicfg-vmknic
- Add and Configure an IPv6 VMkernel Network Interface with vicfg-vmknic
- Setting Up vSphere Networking with vSphere Distributed Switch
- Managing Standard Networking Services in the vSphere Environment
- Setting the DNS Configuration
- Manage an NTP Server
- Manage the IP Gateway
- Setting Up IPsec
- Manage the ESXi Firewall
- Monitor VXLAN
- Monitoring ESXi Hosts
- Index
2 Remove any users of the device.
You cannot bring a device back without removing active users. The ESXi host cannot know whether the
device that was added back has changed. ESXi must be able to treat the device similarly to a new device
being discovered.
3 Perform a rescan to get the device back in working order.
Managing Paths
To maintain a constant connection between an ESXi host and its storage, ESXi supports multipathing. With
multipathing you can use more than one physical path for transferring data between the ESXi host and the
external storage device.
In case of failure of an element in the SAN network, such as an HBA, switch, or cable, the ESXi host can fail
over to another physical path. On some devices, multipathing also oers load balancing, which redistributes
I/O loads between multiple paths to reduce or eliminate potential bolenecks.
The storage architecture in vSphere 4.0 and later supports a special VMkernel layer, Pluggable Storage
Architecture (PSA). The PSA is an open modular framework that coordinates the simultaneous operation of
multiple multipathing plug-ins (MPPs). You can manage PSA using ESXCLI commands. See Chapter 6,
“Managing Third-Party Storage Arrays,” on page 101. This section assumes you are using only PSA plug-ins
included in vSphere by default.
Multipathing with Local Storage and FC SANs
Multipathing is a technique that lets you use more than one physical path that transfers data between the
host and an external storage device.
In a simple multipathing local storage topology, you can use one ESXi host with two HBAs. The ESXi host
connects to a dual-port local storage system through two cables. This conguration ensures fault tolerance if
one of the connection elements between the ESXi host and the local storage system fails.
To support path switching with FC SAN, the ESXi host typically has two HBAs available from which the
storage array can be reached through one or more switches. Alternatively, the setup can include one HBA
and two storage processors so that the HBA can use a dierent path to reach the disk array.
In FC Multipathing, multiple paths connect each host with the storage device. For example, if HBA1 or the
link between HBA1 and the switch fails, HBA2 takes over and provides the connection between the server
and the switch. The process of one HBA taking over for another is called HBA failover.
vSphere Command-Line Interface Concepts and Examples
50 VMware, Inc.