Checking and Modifying the iSCSI Initiator Timeout Duration of an ESXi Host

Upgrade Requirement

For an ESXi host, it is strongly recommended that you set the iSCSI initiator timeout duration to 12 seconds before performing an online upgrade.

NOTICE:

1. This operation may require restarting hosts or stopping services. Exercise caution before performing this operation.
2. If any exception occurs in command execution during the check or modification process, contact Huawei technical support engineers.

Procedure

1. Run the esxcfg-scsidevs -a command to check the iSCSI vmhba adapter name. As shown in ,Figure 1 the iSCSI vmhba adapter name is vmhba35.
   Figure 1 Checking the iSCSI vmhba adapter name

   

   NOTE:

   If multiple online iSCSIvmhba adapters exist, check and modify their settings one by one.

2. Run the esxcli iscsi adapter param get -A vmhba35 command (where vmhba35 is the iSCSI vmhba adapter name queried in Step 1) and check the current parameter settings of the adapter, as shown in Figure 2.
   Figure 2 Checking the current parameter settings of the iSCSI vmhba adapter
   

3. For NoopOutInterval, NoopOutTimeout, and RecoveryTimeout parameters, if the sum of their values is greater than 15, services may be temporarily interrupted during the upgrade process (the interruption lasts for approximately the time specified by the total value). If the temporary interruption is unacceptable for host services, a long-term service interruption may occur.

Recommended Actions

1. Run the following commands to modify the parameter settings of the iSCSI vmhba adapter (the values specified in the following commands are the optimal values obtained from tests):

   esxcli iscsi adapter param set -A vmhba35 -k NoopOutInterval -v 1

   esxcli iscsi adapter param set -A vmhba35 -k NoopOutTimeout -v 10

   esxcli iscsi adapter param set -A vmhba35 -k RecoveryTimeout -v 1

   NOTICE:

   After the upgrade, restore the timeout parameters to their original values.

2. Restart the host with the customer's approval.
3. Check whether the modification takes effect (by referring to 2 in Procedure).