Storage paths are not visible on ESXi host with newly configured iSCSI storage

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptom:

• No target/devices or paths are visible from the iSCSI adapter.
  
  
  
• Dynamic discovery option has been added with storage target IPs, but static discovery is not automatically taking the IPs.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

• ESXi host to target storage communication is not happening through port 3260. This could be due to the iSCSI service being stopped, misconfigured firewall rules, or the target not being properly configured to accept connections from the ESXi host.
  
  [root@esxi01:~] nc -zv 10.#.#.# 3260
nc: connect to 10.#.#.# port 3260 (tcp) failed: Connection refused

Refer - vSphere - VMware Ports and Protocols 
  
  
  
  In "var/run/log/vobd.log", we found below log entries -
  
  2025-10-24T06:20:32.963Z In(14) vobd[2097765]:  [iscsiCorrelator] 685457950791us: [vob.iscsi.discovery.connect.error] discovery failure on vmhba64 to 10.#.#.# because of a network connection failure.
2025-10-24T06:20:32.963Z In(14) vobd[2097765]:  [iscsiCorrelator] 685456328151us: [esx.problem.storage.iscsi.discovery.connect.error] iSCSI discovery to 10.#.#.# on vmhba64 failed. The iSCSI Initiator could not establish a network connection to the discovery address.
  

Resolution

• Engage your internal networking team to fix the connectivity issue between ESXi host to storage through port 3260.

Additional Information

Troubleshooting ESXi connectivity to iSCSI arrays using software initiators