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On a VMware ESXi 5.0 host, how can I check if fiber storage adapters are properly connected to the fiber switch/SAN, i.e. if the fiber link is up?

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  • and you can't trace the fiber to the switch port?
    – tony roth
    Feb 1, 2012 at 12:53
  • Unfortunately, no. Cabling and storage are managed by different people here.
    – Massimo
    Feb 1, 2012 at 13:08

2 Answers 2

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This information is shown nowhere in the vSphere Client, and there is no command-line tool to check it, either.

The only way to verify if a fiber link is up is to access the ESXi shell and go to /proc/scsi/your_hba_driver (in my case, /proc/scsi/qla2xxx); there is a (virtual) file there for each fiber port, and the contents of these files include one of the following:

For an active link:

Host adapter:Loop State = <READY>, flags = 0xaa68  
Link speed = <8 Gbps>

For an inactive link:

Host adapter:Loop State = <DEAD>, flags = 0x1a268
Link speed = <Unknown>
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Select the host, look at the Configuration tab, chose Storage Adapters, select each HBA, refresh, check that both HBAs have the same number of targets/LUNs then if needed select each LUN and look at their paths.

Alternative look under Configuration, Storage, select a datastore then look at Properties and Manage Paths.

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  • No target is showing up at all. But I don't know if this is due to cabling, zoning or the SAN itself (I don't manage any of those). So, first thing first, I'd like to check cabling.
    – Massimo
    Feb 1, 2012 at 11:53
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    Downvoting because I want to check the actual fiber link, not targets/LUNs; I want something like the link status for network adapters.
    – Massimo
    Feb 1, 2012 at 12:13
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    There's nothing in the GUI to show you pure link state and there's certainly nothing to show if the HBA is in a zone but if you do go to the ESXi console and look in /proc/scsi/whateverdriver you can 'cat' the files and see their link state - that's quite complex for most users but it's the only way of doing it AFAIK
    – Chopper3
    Feb 1, 2012 at 12:49
  • kinda strange that you have to drop to the host level to see this it should be exposed within the vcenter.
    – tony roth
    Feb 1, 2012 at 12:59
  • Agree, they show link level for NICs but not for FC - ah well, easy to do once you know how but you're right.
    – Chopper3
    Feb 1, 2012 at 13:02

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