6.5.1

Table Of Contents
Configuring iSCSI Adapters and
Storage 11
Before ESXi can work with a SAN, you must set up your iSCSI adapters and storage.
The following table lists the iSCSI adapters (vmhbas) that ESXi supports and indicates whether VMkernel
networking configuration is required.
Table 111. Supported iSCSI Adapters
iSCSI Adapter (vmhba) Description VMkernel Networking
Software Uses standard NICs to connect your host
to a remote iSCSI target on the IP
network.
Required
Independent Hardware Third-party adapter that offloads the
iSCSI and network processing and
management from your host.
Not required
Dependent Hardware Third-party adapter that depends on
VMware networking and iSCSI
configuration and management
interfaces.
Required
After you set up the iSCSI adapters, you can create a datastore on iSCSI storage. For details on how to
create and manage datastores, see Creating Datastores.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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ESXi iSCSI SAN Requirements
n
ESXi iSCSI SAN Restrictions
n
Setting LUN Allocations for iSCSI
n
Network Configuration and Authentication
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Set Up Independent Hardware iSCSI Adapters
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About Dependent Hardware iSCSI Adapters
n
About the Software iSCSI Adapter
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Modify General Properties for iSCSI Adapters
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Setting Up iSCSI Network
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Using Jumbo Frames with iSCSI
VMware, Inc.
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