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Do you need help configuring VMWare ESXi servers to use an iSCSI storage as a shared datastore? Join me as I walk you through the steps to accomplish this task.
In an earlier article, I covered the steps to configure a Windows Server 2019 as an iSCSI target server. This article demonstrates how to connect VMWare ESXi Servers to the Windows Server iSCSI target.
In this article, I am using two ESXi servers that are not managed by a vCenter server. If you manage your ESXi hosts with a vCenter server, the steps to configure shared data stores will be different. Before you proceed with the steps below, ensure that you’ve assigned an iSCSI LUM to the ESXi hosts.
Step 1: Configure the First ESXi Server
The first step to setting up multiple ESXi servers to share an iSCSI storage is to connect the first server. Follow these steps:
- Sign in to the ESXi host via a browser or vSphere client. I am using a browser sign-in for my lab demo.
- On the left menu of the ESXi host, click the Storage node.
- After that, click the Adapter tab, then choose Software iSCSI.
- Once the Configure iSCSI pop-up opens, click Enabled (iSCSI is disabled by default on VMWare ESXi hosts). After selecting Enabled, it will take some seconds to load the iSCSI configuration.
- On the Dynamic Targets section, click “Add dynamic target.”
- After that, add the IP address of the iSCSI target under Address and click Save configuration.
- Before you configure the first VMware ESXi Server to share the iSCSI storage, click Refresh to display the software iSCSI adapter you just added.
- To see the iSCSI storage, click the Devices tab. If the iSCSI device is not displayed, click Refresh. The next step is to create a datastore with the new iSCSI storage.
- To create a new datastore, click New datastore.
- Then, on the first page of the New datastore wizard, give the datastore a name and click Next.
- The ESXi host will automatically detect the unclaimed iSCSI storage device. Click Next to proceed.
- Then, on the disk partitioning page, accept the defaults and click Next to continue.
- Finally, to finish configuring the shared iSCSI storage on the first VMWare ESXi Servers, review your selections and click Finish. After that, click Yes on the data loss warning.
Before you set up the second VMWare ESXi Server to share the iSCSI storage, click the Datastore tab and confirm that the datastore is listed.
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Step 2: Set up the Second ESXi Server
- Sign in to the second ESXi host and repeat steps 1 to 7 from the previous section.
- On the Devices tab, click the iSCSI target. When it opens, you can confirm that it is the same iSCSI device by its capacity and is formated with the VMFS partition style.
- After adding the software iSCSI using the same iSCSI target storage, after a while, the datastore you created in the first host should be displayed in the second host.
Conclusion
Configuring VMWare ESXi Servers to share an iSCSI target storage may seem complicated. However, as shown in this article, it is pretty straightforward.
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The trick is to add the iSCSI target on the first host and create a datastore. After that, on the second ESXi host, after adding the same iSCSI LUM, the datastore should be detected automatically.
We hope you were able to add and share an iSCSI target to your ESXi hosts using the steps in this article. The “Leave a Reply” form at the bottom of this page is available for you to leave your comments.
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