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VMware ESXi uses modified QLogic and Emulex drivers that support multiple targets on every initiator. This functionality can be used to provide greater resiliency in a VMware ESXi environment by reducing the impact of storage port failures. Furthermore, presenting a device on multiple paths allows for better load balancing and reduced sensitivity to storage port queuing. This method is important in environments that share Dell PowerMax storage array ports between VMware ESXi hosts and other operating systems.
Figure 53 shows how to implement multiple-target zoning in a VMware ESXi environment. The VMware ESXi has two HBAs:
However, the device can be accessed from four different paths with the following runtime names:
This flexibility is achieved by zoning each HBA in the VMware ESXi to two Dell PowerMax storage array ports.
The VMkernel assigns a unique SCSI target number to each storage array port. In Figure 53, the VMkernel has assigned SCSI target numbers 2 and 5 to each Dell PowerMax storage array port into which vmhba1 logs in. It has also assigned target numbers 2 and 5 to each Dell PowerMax storage array port into which vmhba5 logs in.
Note: Dell Technologies does not require that each ESXi host have the same SCSI target number for each device. As previously noted, however, there are some business cases where Consistent LUN is required. In those environments, a device from PowerMax can be presented with the consistent LUN attribute.
Note: This section does not discuss how multiple target zoning can be implemented in the fabric. Dell Technologies always recommends one initiator and one target in each zone. Multiple target zoning as discussed in this section can be implemented as a collection of zones in which each zone contains the same initiator but different targets.