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Table Of Contents
2 Click the VM Options tab and expand Advanced.
3 Click Edit Configuration.
4 (Optional) To add a parameter, click Add Row and type a name and value for the parameter.
5 (Optional) To change a parameter, type a new value in the Value text box for that parameter.
6 Click OK.
Configure Fibre Channel NPIV Settings
N-port ID virtualization (NPIV) provides the ability to share a single physical Fibre Channel HBA port
among multiple virtual ports, each with unique identifiers. This capability lets you control virtual machine
access to LUNs on a per-virtual machine basis.
Each virtual port is identified by a pair of world wide names (WWNs) that vCenter Server assigns. The
pair consists of a world wide port name (WWPN) and a world wide node name (WWNN).
For detailed information on how to configure NPIV for a virtual machine, see the vSphere Storage
documentation.
NPIV support is subject to the following limitations:
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NPIV must be enabled on the SAN switch. Contact the switch vendor for information about enabling
NPIV on their devices.
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NPIV is supported only for virtual machines with RDM disks. Virtual machines with regular virtual
disks continue to use the WWNs of the host’s physical HBAs.
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The physical HBAs on the ESXi host must have access to a LUN though their WWNs in order for the
virtual machines on that host to have access to that LUN using their NPIV WWNs. Ensure that access
is provided to both the host and the virtual machines.
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The physical HBAs on the ESXi host must support NPIV. If the physical HBAs do not support NPIV,
the virtual machines on that host start using the WWNs of the physical HBAs for LUN access.
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Each virtual machine can have up to 4 virtual ports. NPIV-enabled virtual machines are assigned
exactly 4 NPIV-related WWNs, which are used to communicate with physical HBAs through virtual
ports. Therefore, virtual machines can use up to 4 physical HBAs for NPIV purposes.
Prerequisites
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To edit the virtual machine’s WWNs, power off the virtual machine.
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Verify that the virtual machine has a datastore containing a LUN that is available to the host.
Procedure
1 Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
2 Click the VM Options tab and expand Fibre Channel NPIV.
3 (Optional) Select the Temporarily Disable NPIV for this virtual machine check box.
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
VMware, Inc. 185