How to Assign an iSCSI Datastore to ESXi Hosts in vCenter

If you have added ESXi hosts to vCenter and want the hosts to share a single iSCSI datastore, read this guide.

Step 1: Add an iSCSI Adapter to the First Host

1. Navigate to the host in vCenter and left-click it. Then, on the details pane, click Configure and select Storage Adapters.

2. Then, on the Storage Adapters details pane, click ADD SOFTWARE ADAPTER, and “Add iSCSI adapter.” Confirm the action by clicking OK.

3. Once the iSCSI software adapter is added, select it, then, click its Dynamic Discovery tab and select ADD.

4. On the “Add Send Target Server” pop-up, enter the IP address or the FQDN of the iSCSI target, and the port, and click OK.

I’m using a Windows Server iSCSI target, thus the reason for adding a software iSCSI adapter. The port for a Windows iSCSI target is 3260.

5. Finally, select the Devices tab and click RESCAN ADAPTER. Once the iSCSI adapter is rescanned, the LUMs will show up in the Devices tab.

You can also see the discovered iSCSI disk by clicking Storage Devices menu and clicking REFRESH.

Step 2: Create a Datastore with the iSCSI Storage

1. Right-click the ESXi host you that you added the iSCSI storage to, point to Storage and select New Datastore.

2. Then, on the Type page, select VMFS, and click Next.

3. On the next page, give the new datastore a name, select the iSCSI storage and click Next.

4. Specify the VMFS version for the datastore. I’m using version 6 for my datastore. Then, on the next page, configure the size of the datastore – I’m using all available space in mine.

5. Finally, review your selections and click FINISH to create the datastore.

To confirm that the datastore has been created, click the Datastores tab of the host.

Step 3: Add the iSCSI Adapter to other Hosts

Repeat the steps in Step 1 to add the iSCSI adapter to all ESXi hosts you want to access the datastore. Once you add the iSCSI adapter to the host, after while, the datastore will become available to the host.

Also, the device shows the datastore you created in Step 2.

To confirm that the new host has access to the datastore, click the host’s Datastores tab.

Conclusion

Allowing multiple ESXi hosts to share the same iSCSI Datastore in vCenter is a 3-step process. Firstly, add the iSCSI lum to the first host.

After that, create a datastore on the host with the iSCSI storage device. Finally, assign the iSCSI LUM to any other ESXi host you want to access the datastore.

So, I have shown in this guide, the process is as esy as 1,2,3 and I hope the guide was easy for you to follow. Let me know your thoughts by responding to the “Was this page helpful?” feedback request below.