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NVMe/TCP Initiator for VMware ESX

Prerequisites

• A VMware ESXi host running VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 7.0U3 version or later.
• Deployed Ceph NVMe-oF gateway.
• Ceph cluster with NVMe-oF configuration.
• Subsystem defined in the gateway.

Configuration

The following instructions will use the default vSphere web client and esxcli.

1. Enable NVMe/TCP on a NIC:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   esxcli nvme fabric enable --protocol TCP --device vmnicN

   Replace N with the number of the NIC.

2. Tag a VMKernel NIC to permit NVMe/TCP traffic:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   esxcli network uip interface tag add --interface-nme vmkN --tagname NVMeTCP

   Replace N with the ID of the VMkernel.

3. Configure the VMware ESXi host for NVMe/TCP:

   #. List the NVMe-oF adapter:

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   .. prompt:: bash #
    
      esxcli nvme adapter list
   

   #. Optional: Discover NVMe-oF subsystems:

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   .. prompt:: bash #
    
      esxcli nvme fabric discover -a NVME_TCP_ADAPTER -i GATEWAY_IP -p 4420
   

   #. Connect to NVME-oF gateway subsystem:

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   .. prompt:: bash #
      
      esxcli nvme fabrics discover -a NVME_TCP_ADAPTER -i GATEWAY_IP -p 8009 -c
   
     - This command discovers the NVMe-oF gateways in the gateway group and then connects to the gateways providing multipath access 
   

   #. List the NVMe/TCP controllers:

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   .. prompt:: bash #
    
      esxcli nvme controller list
   

   #. List the NVMe-oF namespaces in the subsystem:

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   .. prompt:: bash #
    
      esxcli nvme namespace list
   

4. Verify that the initiator has been set up correctly:

   #. From the vSphere client go to the ESXi host. #. On the Storage page go to the Devices tab. #. Verify that the NVME/TCP disks are listed in the table.