Networking with VMware, physical adapters and iSCSI

New VMware user here, setting up my first environment. I have an ESXi host that has four physical NiCs (NiC0, NiC1, NiC2, NiC3).

I have installed ESXi, the VCVA appliance, and several VMs successfully. They are connected to the local storage currently, but I want to connect to our iSCSI SAN.

Physically NiC0 and NiC1 are connected to our regular network switch. NiC2 and NiC3 are connected to our iSCSI network, which is a separate network. So what I have done is set NiC0 and NiC1 as active for the management network on the ESXi host. I left NiC2 and NiC3 unchecked.

When I use the vSphere client to create the iSCSI connection, it can't see NiC2 or NiC3. Do I need to enable all four NiCs to be able to use them in vSphere?

If I enable NiC2 and NiC3, they say they are disconnected, because they are connected to our iSCSI network and have no regular network connection.

Am I way off track here?

Solution 1:

You need to create another vSwitch to contain your iSCSI ports. This is separate from the vSwitch you created that holds your management and virtual machine traffic:

Something like:

Once you get past this point, the process is straightforward.

Solution 2:

It sounds like you didn'tsetup the vSwitches for iSCSI using NIC2 and NIC3.

If not...

See here for information on the basics to get you started:

Configuring software iCSI setup

and their Youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FzXYUzYTJVE

The information is for v4 but will get you in the right direction.

EDIT: better walkthrough video for v5 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu-HyD3E3cw