iSCSI iqn name changes post upgrade

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms

• Unable to see/access the datastore after upgrading the ESXi.

• Confirmed there was a change in IQN name post upgrade of ESXi from 8.0U2 to 8.0U3.

• Confirm that the host profile is set to the right IQN name or that this ESXI server has no host profile configured.

• The upgrade may roll back post reboot of ESX host.

Verification :

• Verify the IQN name set as per the RFC32720 on the Cisco UCS manager.

• Cross verify the IQN name between Cisco UCS and on ESXi server.  [note: this is case sensitive]

• Run command on the ESXi host to check the IQN name : esxcli iscsi adapter get -A vmhba##

Before upgrading the ESXi server:

example: esxcli iscsi adapter get -A vmhba64
vmhba64
   Name: iqn.1998-08.com.example:esxi:19
   Alias: iscsi_vmk
   Vendor: VMware
   Model: iSCSI Software Adapter
   Description: iSCSI Software Adapter

Post upgrade the ESXi server:

example: esxcli iscsi adapter get -A vmhba64
vmhba64
   Name: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esxi_FQDN.com:##########:##
   Alias: iscsi_vmk
   Vendor: VMware
   Model: iSCSI Software Adapter
   Description: iSCSI Software Adapter

• Verify the iSCSI initiator name configured on the Storage array.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

• This issue occurs when a non-standard IQN is configured on the Cisco UCS, and the same IQN is pushed to the ESXi host. During the upgrade, ESXi automatically changes the non-standard IQN to a standard format, which causes the storage to become disconnected.

Resolution

• Manually set the IQN name on the ESXi so that the ESXi will not change the IQN name post ESXi upgrade.

To fetch the IQN name before the upgrade / also confiim the same from storage array.

esxcli iscsi adapter get -A vmhba##

To set IQN name manually, run the following command on the ESXi host:

esxcli iscsi adapter set -A vmhba## -n <iqn_name>

Example :  esxcli iscsi adapter set -A vmhba67 -n iqn.1998-08.com.example:esxi:19