Cannot reach iSCSI target after enabling iSCSI port binding on ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x & ESXi 6.x

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After enabling iSCSI port binding on ESX/ESXi 4.x and ESXi 5.x,6.x, you can no longer reach your iSCSI target from your software iSCSI initiator.
  
  
• The vmkernel log file contains entries similar to:
  
  vmkernel: 0:00:03:20.859 cpu5:7932)Tcpip_Vmk: 165: cannot honor socket binding with vmk1 (src_subnet=xxxx, dst_subnet=xxxx)
  iscsid: cannot make connection to xx.xx.xx.xx:3260 (101)
  vmkernel: 0:00:03:20.859 cpu5:7932)Tcpip_Vmk: 165: cannot honor socket binding with vmk2 (src_subnet=xxxx, dst_subnet=xxxx)
  iscsid: connection to discovery address xx.xx.xx.xx failed
  iscsid: connection login retries (reopen_max) 5 exceeded iscsid: cannot make connection to xx.xx.xx.xx:3260 (101)
  iscsid: connection to discovery address xx.xx.xx.xx failed iscsid: connection login retries (reopen_max) 5 exceeded
   
• In the vCenter Server Events, you see this message when you restart the host or rescan the HBA adapter:
  
  Login to iSCSI target iqn.1992-04.com.emc:cx.apm00114400059.a6 on vmhba37 @ vmk2 failed. The iSCSI initiator could not establish a network connection to the target.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 4.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x

Resolution

iSCSI port binding in ESX/ESXi 4.x and ESXi 5.x does not support routing.

To resolve this issue and still use iSCSI port binding, you must place the iSCSI initiator and the iSCSI target on the same subnet.

Alternatively, this can be resolved by disabling iSCSI port binding.

Disabling iSCSI port binding in ESX/ESXi 4.x

To disable iSCSI port binding in ESX/ESXi 4.x, run this command:

esxcli swiscsi nic remove -n vmk_interface -d vmhbaX

Where X is the vmhba device number.

For example:

esxcli swiscsi nic remove -n vmk2 -d vmhba33
 

Disabling iSCSI port binding in ESXi 5.x

To disable iSCSI port binding in ESXi 5.x, you can either use the vSphere Client or the ESXi shell.

 

To disable iSCSI port binding using vSphere Client:

1. Click Configuration > Storage Adapters > iSCSI Software Initiator > Properties.
2. Select the Network Configuration tab.
3. Select the vmk that is iSCSI compliant and then click Remove.
4. Click Close.

To disable iSCSI port binding using the vSphere Web Client 5.1 or 5.5

1. Log in to vSphere Web Client.
2. Click to select the host from the Hosts and Clusters inventory.
3. Click the Manage tab, then click Storage.
4. Click Storage Adapters and click the software iSCSI adapter in the list
5. Under Adapter Details, click the Network Port Binding tab.
6. Click a VMkernel adapter to remove with the iSCSI adapter and click OK.

To disable iSCSI port binding using the using the ESXi Shell, run this command:

esxcli iscsi networkportal remove -n vmk_interface -A vmhba_device

Where:

vmk_interface is the vmk interface to be removed.
vmhba_device is the VMHBA device name.

For example:

esxcli iscsi networkportal remove -n vmk2 -A vmhba33

For related information, see Considerations for using software iSCSI port binding in ESX/ESXi