You can view and configure the iSCSI initiator, local interfaces for MPIO, portals, and targets under Configure > Storage Array: ISCSI Initiator / MPIO. The iSCSI initiator settings configure how the Core communicates with one or more storage arrays (targets) through the specified portal configuration. After configuring the iSCSI portal, you can open the portal configuration to configure targets.

Under iSCSI Initiator Configuration, these options are available:

Specifies the name of the initiator to be configured.

Includes the header digest data from the iSCSI PDU.

Includes the data digest data from the iSCSI PDU.

Enables bidirectional Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) authentication. This option adds yet another level of security where the target and the initiator authenticate each other. A separate secret is set for each target and each initiator in the storage array. CHAP provides protection against playback attack by the peer through the use of an incrementally changing identifier and a variable challenge value.

Enables the Multi-Path I/O (MPIO) feature. MPIO enables you to connect the appliance to the network and to the storage system through multiple I/O interfaces, so the data connection can continue in the event of a failure.

Enables the connection to be established through standard routing if the iSCSI portal isn’t in the same subnet as the MPIO interfaces.

Under Local Interfaces for MPIO (Multi-Path I/O), add interfaces.

When an MPIO interface is removed from the Edge, the existing initiator connections over that interface are not disconnected. You still see active data paths for a LUN over the old interfaces. This prevents you from accidentally losing access to the target if the new interfaces are not working or there are path issues. When the Edge target MPIO interfaces change, ESXi will continue showing old portals and old MPIO paths. Therefore, you will need to remove old portals manually and doing this will disconnect the old MPIO paths for the LUNs.