Dell recommends creating the highly available vmkernel port as described in the Dell EqualLogic technical report TR1075
Configuring iSCSI Connectivity with VMware vSphere 5 and Dell EqualLogic PS Series Storage.
If you are using the Dell EqualLogic multipathing extension module, see Dell EqualLogic technical report TR1074
Configuring and Installing the EqualLogic Multipathing Extension Module for VMware vSphere 5.0 and PS Series SANs.
For more information on the above articles, refer to storage vendor Dell.
With ESXi 5.0 the iSCSI login timeout is currently set 5 seconds, this means that after 5 seconds the ESXi host kills the iSCSI session if there is no response, and tries to login again immediately after. This places additional load on the Storage Array, and can result in a ‘login storm’.
With ESXi5.0 patch 2 (build 515841 - ESXi500-201112001) there is the ability to change this setting from the vSphere client. To help alleviate this problem extend the login timeout to 15 seconds, or 30 seconds if necessary.
To change the login timeout from the vSphere client:
To adjust the iSCSI login timeout in ESXi 5.0, run this command from the command line:
Notes: