ESXi 8.0U3 installer fails to detect iSCSI boot LUN due to DHCP failures

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms: 

• During the installation of ESXi 8.0U3, the installer fails to list the iSCSI boot LUN presented from an external array (e.g., NetApp ASA / Pure etc.), despite the LUN being visible during BIOS POST.
  
  

• Verify IP Configuration - Log in to the ESXi console (Alt+F1) and check the VMkernel interface status:

  esxcfg-vmknic -l
   

  Switch Name      Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  MTU     Uplinks
  iScsiBootvSwitch  2970        4           128               1500    vmnic#

  PortGroup Name                            VLAN ID  Used Ports  Uplinks
  iScsiBootPG                               0        1           vmnic#

Confirm if vmk# assigned to iScsiBootvSwitch in iScsiBootPG and IP address is assigned to it. 

  Interface  Port Group/DVPort/Opaque Network        IP Family IP Address                              Netmask         Broadcast        MAC Address       
  vmk#       iScsiBootPG                             IPv4      N/A                                     N/A             N/A             00:##:##:##:##:34 

• /var/log/syslog.log shows Login Failed due to Connection timed out. 

Wa(28) iscsid[524984]: Login Failed: iqn.2010-06.com.###########:##########.2da##########94 if=default addr=5#:#:#::#5:3260 (TPGT:65536 ISID:0x1) Reason: 00080000 Initiator Error: (0x0008 Connection timed out.) 

• Multiple retries to login to the target but all failed 

Wa(28) iscsid[524984]: Login Failed: iqn.2010-06.com.###########:##########.2da##########94 if=default addr=5#:#:#::#5:3260 (TPGT:65536 ISID:0x1) Reason: 00080000 Initiator Error: (0x0008 Connection timed out.)
Wa(28) iscsid[524984]: Notice: Reclaimed Channel (H64 T0 C0 oid=1)
Wa(28) iscsid[524984]: Notice: Reclaimed Target (H64 T0 oid=1)
Db(31) iscsid[524984]: DISCOVERY: transport_name=iscsi_vmk Pending=0 Failed=1
Db(31) iscsid[524984]: DISCOVERY: transport_name=iscsi_vmk Pending=0 Failed=1
Wa(12) Jumper2[524645]: StorageInfoImpl: Discovery failed (Retrying)
Wa(12) Jumper2[524645]: Discovery failed (Retrying)
Wa(12) Jumper2[524645]: Discovery failed (Retrying)
Wa(12) Jumper2[524645]: Discovery failed (Retrying)
Wa(12) Jumper2[524645]: Discovery failed (Retrying)
Wa(12) Jumper2[524645]: Discovery failed
Wa(12) Jumper2[524645]: Not all luns may be visible 

• Packet capture shows Solicit requests but there are no response from the DHCP server in terms of Advertise. 

Environment

 

VMware ESXi 8.x
VMware ESX 9.x 

 

Cause

• The ESXi host is unable to acquire an IP address via DHCP for the iSCSI vmk. Without a valid IP address, the Software iSCSI initiator cannot route traffic to the storage target, leading to a connection timeout and failure to mount the boot LUN. 

 

 

Resolution

• To resolve this issue, the underlying DHCP infrastructure must be corrected to ensure the host receives a valid IP address.

Additional Information

As per the Basic DHCP process This is how Packet flow should be in good condition. 

Steps	DHCPv4 (IPv4)	DHCPv6 (IPv6)
Step 1	Discover	Solicit
Step 2	Offer	Advertise
Step 3	Request	Request
Step 4	Acknowledge (ACK)	Reply
Destination	Broadcast (255.###.###.255)	Multicast (ff02::#:2)
Client ID	MAC Address	DUID (DHCP Unique Identifier)