How to configure RPN SAN on ESXi 5/6

How to mount an RPN SAN volume in VMware ESXi

Reviewed on 31 July 2023 • Published on 10 November 2021

Requirements:

You have an account and are logged into the Dedibox console
You have a Dedibox dedicated server
You have an RPN SAN

Important:

This documentation covers VMware ESXi version ESXi 5.0/5.1/5.5 and 6.0 and later. Follow this link to see the Documentation for ESXi 7 and later.

How to configure VMware ESXi to use RPN

Enable SSH on your ESXi

Start the vSphere client or log in using the web interface.
Click the Configuration tab (1), then click Security Profile (2) in the software panel.
Click Properties in the Services section.
Select SSH (1) then click options (2). Select Start and stop manually (3) and launch the service manually (4).

Configure ESXi to access the RPN

Configuration in the ESXi interface

Go to Configuration > Networking (1). Then, click Add Networking (2).
Create a new VMKernel named RPN, attached to the RPN network card.

For the next step, validate the windows by choosing Automatic recovery for the IP addressing.

Important:

The network will go down, because the virtual MAC is not the same as the physical one (for security reasons).

Configuration of the MTU 9000

Go to Configuration > Networking > Properties… (of vSwitch1).
Select the vSwitch (1) and edit it (2).
Set the MTU to 9000, then confirm and quit.

ESXi configuration

Edit the configuration file of ESXi.
```
nano /etc/vmware/esx.conf
```
Locate the number of the child in the RPN portgroup (in this example: 0001).
```
/net/vmkernelnic/child[0001]/portgroup = "RPN"
```
Locate the MAC of the network card connected to the RPN (in this example: XX:YY:ZZ:AA:BB:CC).
```
/net/pnic/child[0001]/mac = "XX:YY:ZZ:AA:BB:CC”
```
Replace the MAC of the VMKernel RPN (see the number of the child) with the MAC of the network card connected to the RPN.
```
/net/vmkernelnic/child[0001]/mac = "XX:YY:ZZ:AA:BB:CC”
```
Reboot the ESXi to take the changes into effect.4. Replace the MAC of the VMKernel RPN (see the number of the child) with the MAC of the network card connected to the RPN.
```
/net/vmkernelnic/child[0001]/mac = "XX:YY:ZZ:AA:BB:CC”
```
Reboot the ESXi to take the changes into effect. ```
Important:
You need to add the route to /etc/rc.localto keep it after a reboot. For the version ESXi 5.1 the file is located at/etc/rc.local.d/local.sh`.

Ping the RPN SAN to check your configuration.

# ping san-1.rpn.online.net
PING 10.90.254.2 (10.90.254.2): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 10.90.254.2: icmp_seq=0 ttl=61 time=0.241 ms
64 bytes from 10.90.254.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=61 time=0.241 ms

Important:

It is important that the ping command works. If not, check your configuration.

Configuration from the ESXi interface

Go back to Configuration, then click Storage Adapter (1) followed by Add.. (2).
Select Add Software iSCSI Adapter, then, click OK.

A new device created vmhba32 should appear in the adapter list.
Click the device (1), then, go to Properties (2).
Go to the Dynamic Discovery tab (1), then click on Add.. (2).
Enter the RPN server address in the iSCSI Server box (the address is available in your Dedibox console).
Click OK > Close. Then accept the rescan that is proposed.
- The IET disk is displayed in the device list in the bottom panel.
Go to Configuration > Storage (1) > Add storage… (2).
Select Disk/LUN.
Select the Target, then click Next.

Finish the configuration with the default settings.

Tip:

If you have problems with VMFS5, choose to configure your target with VMFS3.