We started setting up our VMWare ESXi environment today using an HP DL580 G5 server, along with an HP DL380 G5 Windows Storage Server (with iSCSI target). We installed and updated the iSCSI target today and set up a target immediately. Then we installed the Virtual Infrastructure client and attempted to configure the iSCSI datastores. Unfortunately, the ESXi server would not detect the iSCSI targets.
We were able to successfully connect to the targets using Windows Vista, Server 2003, and Server 2008, so it seemed to be a problem with the ESX setup. It was most frustrating because we opted for no local storage, which meant we’re basically stuck using the client – no service consoles or anything are avaiable.
After several hours, we broke down and decided to call VMWare for support, since they advertised free 30 day installation support. However, since we purchased ESXi from HP, they told us we would need to contact them.
We then contacted HP. After 44 minutes and 15 seconds, they came to the conclusion (grr!) that it was a software issue and that we’d need to contact VMware or use HP’s paid support.
It was frustrating to say the least. At this point I am installing the remote CLI tools but I am getting nifty perl errors saying it cannot find the DLL when attempting to run some of the prepackaged scripts. Wonderful.
Ultimately, I was able to solve the issue by making a disk available that was under 2tb. Apparently 2tb isn’t just the VMFS limit, but it doesn’t detect targets that have drives that large. Very unfortunate that we spent so much time on that!