Release Notes

As the total number of iSCSI sessions approaches the adapter limit, the EqualLogic Host Connection Manager (EHCM) will
reduce the number of sessions it creates to each iSCSI target to distribute the available sessions equitably. The EHCM will
reserve a limited number of iSCSI sessions for discovering and logging in to new iSCSI targets. If the number of new iSCSI
targets presented to the ESX server exceeds the number of reserved sessions, an extra rescan will need to be performed for
the iSCSI initiator to discover and connect to all the new targets.
NOTE: iSCSI HBAs are not supported when importing EqualLogic storage to PowerStore arrays.
Known Issues
The following restrictions and known issues apply to version 1.7 of the Dell EqualLogic MEM.
Console Error Message
The following console error message can be safely ignored. This message might be displayed during the installation or upgrade of
the MEM.
<date/timestamp> cpu<#>:
Jumpstart dependency error; Initialization barrier "vmkeventd" is not provided
by any plugin but the following plugins require it: "psp-eql"
Long Recovery Time After a Network Port Failure
If a network port fails, it can take up to 6 minutes for the status to be reflected in the MEM iSCSI connection status.
See the Dell EqualLogic PS Series Release Notes for descriptions of any additional array recovery issues.
bnx2i broadcom iSCSI HBA drivers occasionally report an incorrect transfer length
Certain versions of the bnx2i broadcom iSCSI HBA driver report an incorrect transfer length on iSCSI commands issued by the
MEM. This error prevents the MEM from successfully reading the volume layout information. This limitation does not cause any
data consistency errors, but impacts performance.
If you experience this problem, you see the following error messages in the vmkernel.log file (lines are wrapped here):
2013-03-26T11:12:29.839Z cpu2:10071)WARNING: dell_psp_eql_routed:
PspEqlReadRoutingTable:1138:Unable to read page table
2013-03-26T11:12:29.855Z cpu7:10071)WARNING: dell_psp_eql_routed:
PspEqlReadRoutingTable:1100:Invalid size in page table packet (length 4096,expected 484)
This issue is not seen in the driver shipped with ESXi 5.1, but has been observed in driver updates as recent as Version
2.76.56.v50.2, Build: 472560. At the time of this release, no fix is available from Broadcom.
vSphere Client Warns About Loss of Redundant Paths
When the MEM closes iSCSI sessions, either as the result of a configuration change or to rebalance sessions across host and
array network ports, the vSphere client logs a warning referring to loss of redundant paths. This behavior is expected and these
warnings can be safely ignored in this case. These VMware KB articles provide more detail:
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1009554
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1009555
iSCSI HBA Limitations
At the time of this release, the Broadcom iSCSI adapter has two limitations:
● Jumbo frames are supported for both dependent and independent hardware iSCSI adapters.
● The maximum number of iSCSI sessions that can be created from a single adapter port is 64.
For the latest capabilities, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at the VMware documentation site.
Verifying the vSphere CLI installation
The setup.pl script relies on a valid installation of the vSphere CLI. If you encounter difficulty with the script, confirm that
your vSphere CLI installation is valid by running this command:
esxcli --server=hostname system version get
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