Unable to rename the iSCSI initiator on the ESXi host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When you try to rename the iSCSI software adapter initiator name (WWN) from the vSphere Client on ESXi host, it does not change.
• You get an error message similar to:
  
  Call "HostStorageSystem.UpdateInternetScsiName" for object "storageSystem-3981" on vCenter Server failed.
  Operation failed, diagnostics report: iScsiLibException: status(c0000000): Invalid parameter; Message= IMA_VMW_SetNodeName

Environment

VMware ESXi 6.X
VMware ESXi 7.x 
VMware ESXi 8.x 

Resolution

To resolve the issue, change the iSCSI initiator name (WWN) from the command line:

esxcli iscsi adapter set -n <insertNewIQNname> -A vmhbaxx

Where vmhbaxx is the name of the adapter for which you want to change the name.

For Example:

esxcli iscsi adapter set -n iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esxi02-468fd415 -A vmhba64

Additional Information

To list adapters (and find which one is software iSCSI) on the host, run this command:

esxcli storage core adapter list