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Home Lab – Adding freeNAS 8.3 iSCSI LUNS to ESXi 5.1

Posted on April 10, 2013 Updated on April 10, 2013

About a half a year ago I setup my freeNAS iSCSI SAN, created 2 x 500GB iSCSI LUNS and attached them to ESXi 5.1. These were ample for quite a while. However I have the need to add additional LUNS…. My first thought was – “Okay, Okay, where are my notes on adding LUNS…” They are non-existent… Eureka! Its time for a new blog post… So here are my new notes around adding iSCSI LUNS with freeNAS to my ESXi 5.1 Home lab – As always read and use at your own risk
J

1. Start in the FreeNAS admin webpage for your device. Choose Storage > Expand Volumes > Expand the volume you want to work with > Choose Create ZFS volume and fill out the Create Volume Pop up.

When done click on Add and ensure is show up under the Storage Tab

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1. On the left-hand pane click on Services > iSCSI > Device Extents > View Device Extents. Type in your Extent Name, Choose the Disk Device that you just created in Step 1 and choose OK

   

    

2. Click on Associated Targets > Add Extent to Target, Choose your Target and select the new Extent

   

    

3. To add to ESXi do the following… Log into the Web Client for vCenter Server, Navigate to a host > Manage > Storage > Storage Devices > Rescan Host

   If done correctly your new LUN should show up below. TIP – ID the LUN by its location number, in this case its 4
   

   

4. Ensure your on the Host in the left Pane > Related Objects > Datastores > Add Datastore

   

    

5. Type in the Name > VMFS Type > Choose the Right LUN (4) > VMFS Version (5) > Partition Lay out (All or Partial), Review > Finish

    

6. Setup Multi-Pathing – Select a Host > Manage > Storage > Storage Devices > Select LUN > Slide down the Devices Details Property Box and Choose Edit Multipathing

    

   

    

7. Choose Round Robin and Click On Okay

   

    

8. Validate all Datastores still have Round Robin enabled. 2 Ways to do this.
   1. Click on the LUN > Paths. Status should read Active I/O for both paths
   2. Click on LUN > Properties > Edit Multipathing – Path section Policy should state – Round Robin (See PIC in Step 8)

   

    

    

   Summary – These steps worked like a charm for me, then again my environment is already setup, and hopefully these steps might be helpful to you.