Infrastructure Solutions

Hi Team,

how can I add new LUNs to the new VSP 5600 ports for VMware ESXi without rebooting the server? The ESXi needs reboot to see a new Hitachi array ports?

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Michael Anderle
IT Support Manager;Online Customer Support;Service Representative;Data Service Manager;Systems Engineer
Thein Digital s.r.o.
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Hello Michael

The problem isn't a storage issue but an SCSI initiator problem(Host problem). I'm guessing you're talking about an Fibre Channel connection and not an iSCSI connection. 

I find the easiest is to enable SSH and Shell access to the ESXi host and issue a reset on the HBA usually forces the HBA to do a scsi login and you can then see storage from a new array. Once the Shell is enabled and you're logged in you can then typically do:

esxcli storage san fc reset -A vmhbaX 

Which will typically allow you to see the new LUN's. 

Here is a link to VMware on how to do this on ESXi:

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2058675

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William Jansen Van Nieuwenhuizen
Hitachi Vantara
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The ESXi box expects to see a LUN when it logs into the storage .  If you manually define the host group and present a LUN , THEN zone the server to the storage it should see the LUN OK without a reboot

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Gary Matthews
Technical Architect
CGI IT UK Limited
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Good point @Gary Matthews! I think it's also worth checking if you enabled LUN Security on the Storage Array ports. Sometimes customers create host groups and assign volumes but forget to enable LUN Security on the ports. It would also then not show up on the host. 

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William Jansen Van Nieuwenhuizen
Hitachi Vantara
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-01-2024 08:39
From: Gary Matthews
Subject: add new LUNs to the new ports for VMware ESXi without rebooting

The ESXi box expects to see a LUN when it logs into the storage .  If you manually define the host group and present a LUN , THEN zone the server to the storage it should see the LUN OK without a reboot

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Gary Matthews
Technical Architect
CGI IT UK Limited
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Hitachi arrays do not respond to all fabric RSCN's by default. This is by design to avoid unnecessary fabric traffic. See link below for a description of RSCNs

About RSCNs

If you want to change this default behavior perform the below procedure :-

Perform the following procedures to enable the RSCN option:
a) Set System Option Mode 847 to ON
b) Set Host Mode Option 59 to ON on all the ESXi host groups
c) Set System Option Mode 847 to OFF.

Note that HMO 59 is hidden by default. SOM 847 reveals all hidden HMOs. So do not leave SOM 847 enabled for safety reasons

For reference see the bottom of the HV knowledge base article linked below
LDEVs not visible by host

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Vinod Subramaniam
Technical Expert: Center of Excellence
Hitachi Vantara
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Michael - Assuming the ESXi host and VSP are connected to a FC switch, you can remove the FC zones containing the ESXi host and new VSP ports and then add them to the active configuration. This will simulate a reboot without actually having to reboot the host.

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Dang Luong
Hardware Test Engineer - Expert
Hitachi Vantara
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