Attach iSCSI volumes to Google Cloud VMware Engine as VMFS datastores

This page describes how to attach iSCSI volumes from the NetApp Volumes Flex Unified storage pool to VMware Engine as virtual machine file system (VMFS) datastores.

To configure a NetApp Volumes iSCSI volume as a VMFS datastore on VMware Engine private cloud ESXi hosts, set up the iSCSI software adapter directly on each ESXi host.

Configure a service subnet for iSCSI

Use the following instructions to configure a service subnet for iSCSI:

1. Go to the VMware Engine page in the Google Cloud console.

   Go to VMware Engine

2. Click Subnets.

3. Locate the free service subnet, and then click the Edit icon (edit) in the Actions column.

4. In the Edit subnet panel, enter an IPv4 CIDR in the IP address range field.

5. Click Save.

6. Copy the following information from the service subnet:

   • IP address range

   • Gateway IP

   • VLAN ID

Configure a distributed port group for iSCSI

This section describes how to configure a distributed port group for iSCSI.

Before you begin

To create and manage a distributed port group for your private cloud, you must connect to your private cloud.

1. Go to the Private clouds page in the Google Cloud console.

   Go to Private clouds

2. Click Select a project and then select the organization, folder, or project where the vCenter client is located.

3. Click the private cloud you want to access.

4. In the Management appliances section, click the URL for the vCenter server.

5. To open the vSphere client, click Launch for the vSphere client type.

6. When prompted, enter your solution user sign-in credentials. For more information about how to obtain solution user credentials, see Elevate VMware Engine privileges.

Create a distributed port group

Use the following instructions to create a distributed port group:

1. Connect to the VMware vCenter interface for the private cloud.

2. Go to the Network configuration section of the vCenter interface.

3. Right-click the Datacenter-dvs, and select Distributed port group > New distributed port group.

4. In the New distributed port group window, complete the following steps:

   1. In the Name and location section, enter the name for distributed port group as iscsi-pg in the Name field, and then click Next.

   2. In the Configure settings section, complete the following steps:

      1. Enter the number of ports as 128 in the Number of ports field.

      2. Select VLAN in the VLAN type drop-down list.

      3. Enter the VLAN ID that you previously copied from the corresponding service subnet in the VLAN ID field.

      4. Select the Customize default policies configuration checkbox, and then click Next.

   3. Keep the Security settings at their default values, and then click Next.

   4. Keep the Traffic shaping settings at their default values, and then click Next.

   5. In the Teaming and failover section, complete the following steps:

      1. In the Failover order section, keep only one uplink and move any other uplinks listed in the Active uplinks section to the Unused uplinks section.

      2. Click Next.

   6. Keep the Monitoring settings at their default values, and then click Next.

   7. Keep the Miscellaneous settings at their default values, and then click Next.

   8. Click Finish.

Configure a VMkernel adapter for iSCSI

Use the following instructions to configure a VMkernel adapter for iSCSI:

1. Right-click the iscsi-pg port group.

2. Click Add VMkernel adapters.

3. In the Add VMkernel adapters window, complete the following steps:

   1. In the Select hosts section, click Select all to select all ESXi hosts in the private cloud, and then click Next.

   2. In the Configure VMkernel adapter section, complete the following steps:

      1. Set the MTU to Custom and enter 1500.

      2. Keep other options at their default settings, and then click Next.

   3. In the IPv4 Settings section, select Use Static IPv4 settings option and complete the following steps:

      1. In the Network Settings section, enter the IP address and subnet mask for each ESXi host in the private cloud using the values from the previously defined service subnet.

      2. In the Gateway section, select Configure on VMkernel adapters as the Configuration type.

      3. Enter the gateway IP address for the service subnet in the Gateway field.

      4. Click Next.

   4. Review the details and click Finish.

Configure the ESXi iSCSI software adapter

Complete the following steps to configure the iSCSI software adapter on each ESXi host in the private cloud using vCenter:

1. Select the ESXi host in the private cloud.

2. Go to Configure > Storage > Storage Adapters.

3. If an iSCSI software adapter isn't present, complete the following steps:

   1. Click Add software adapter.

   2. Select Add iSCSI adapter.

4. Select the iSCSI adapter typically named vmhba64.

5. Click the Network port binding tab.

6. Click Add.

7. Select the VMkernel adapter corresponding to the iscsi-pg port group, and then click OK.

8. Repeat the previous steps for each ESXi host in the private cloud.

Create a host group

A host group is a regional collection of iSCSI initiator IQNs that you can authorize to access specific volumes.

Before you begin

Before you create a host group, you need to obtain the iSCSI qualified name (IQN) for each client that you intend to include in the host group.

To obtain the IQN, complete the following steps:

1. In vCenter, select the ESXi host.

2. Go to Configure > Storage > Storage Adapters.

3. Select the iSCSI software adapter.

4. Copy the iSCSI name.

Create a host group

Create a host group and select ESXi for VMware Engine datastores as the OS type.

Create an iSCSI volume

Create an iSCSI volume to use as a VMFS datastore. For instructions, see Create a volume. When you create the iSCSI volume, enable the Block volume from deletion when clients are connected restriction to prevent accidental deletion of the volume. You can enable this setting in the Google Cloud console.

NetApp Volumes lets you use two target portal paths per iSCSI volume. To improve resilience, use ESXi multipath on all VMware Engine ESXi hosts.

Copy the two IP addresses for the iSCSI volume.

Discover iSCSI LUN on the VMware Engine private cloud ESXi hosts

Complete the following steps on each ESXi host in the private cloud using vCenter:

1. Select the ESXi host in the private cloud.

2. Go to Configure > Storage > Storage Adapters.

3. Select the iSCSI software adapter.

4. Click Dynamic discovery.

5. Click Add.

6. In the Add send target server dialog, enter the IP address of the iSCSI NetApp Volume in the iSCSI server field, and then click OK.

7. Repeat the previous two steps for the second IP address of the iSCSI NetApp Volume.

8. Click Rescan adapter to rescan the storage.

9. Verify that the iSCSI volume is visible in the Devices section for the iSCSI adapter.

Create an iSCSI VMFS datastore

Complete the following steps to create an iSCSI VMFS datastore:

1. Connect to the VMware vCenter interface for the private cloud.

2. Go to the Host and clusters section of the vCenter interface.

3. Right-click the private cloud cluster name and select Storage > New datastore.

4. In the New datastore window, complete the following steps:

   1. In the Type section, select the datastore type as VMFS, and then click Next.

   2. In the Name and device selection section, complete the following steps:

      1. Enter the name of the datastore in the Name field.

      2. Select an ESXi host in the Select a host drop-down list.

      3. Select the NetApp iSCSI disk detected, and then click Next.

   3. In the VMFS version section, select the VMFS version as VMFS 6 or VMFS 5 as required, and then click Next.

   4. Keep the Partition configuration settings at their default values, and then click Next.

   5. Click Finish.

After VMware Engine mounts the datastore, use vCenter to provision VMs on the external datastore.

What's next

• Attach NFS volumes to Google Cloud VMware Engine as NFS datastores.