FreeNAS Change IP Address on iSCSI target VMware ESXi 6

FreeNAS is one of the easiest and coolest virtual SAN appliances out there for use with VMware and other Hypervisor labs.  If you have FreeNAS already setup and running with a VMware lab, you may at some point due to various reasons need to change the IP address on the FreeNAS appliance.  Let’s take a look at the steps involved to FreeNAS change IP Address on iSCSI target.  The steps are fairly simple, however, take place in a couple of different places on the box.

Process

The first thing we need to do is change the IP address on the FreeNAS appliance.  I have mine running inside of VMware Workstation software, so I am connecting to the console and changing the IP address from the builtin menu there in FreeNAS.

• The first thing you need to do is connect to the console.  You will see the 1-14 menu of FreeNas where we will choose the option 1 which is Configure Network Interfaces option

• Let’s go through the steps here on the screen once we choose the configure network interfaces.
  • First we select the interface which for me is only once option em0
  • Next say no to delete the interface
  • This is a little bit confusing and not really a very well worded question, but you want to select n or no for resetting the network configuration
  • Then we are asked whether or not we want DHCP, we say no here
  • Then on the configure IPv4?  We say yes
  • The IP Address format can be input as CIDR which to me is the quickest and easiest, so enter your IP address information here

After you have confirmed your IP address, the next thing we need to do is reconfigure our iSCSI parameters for the new IP Address and the section we need to adjust is the Portal section of the iSCSI configuration screen.  This takes place in the Web GUI of the FreeNAS appliance.  Simply login there and navigate to the iSCSI configuration screen.

• After getting to the configuration screen, click on the Portals tab of the iSCSI configuration properties.  You should already have a Portal ID setup as you are already connected to the iSCSI target.
• Double click the existing Portal Group ID and it should bring up the configuration for the Portal Group where you can change the IP address.

Below is the IP Address configuration screen.

After you save your Portal Group ID configuration, you need to cycle the iSCSI service on the appliance.  This will restart the service and make sure the new IP address is working with the configuration.

VMware configuration

In ESXi 6 we need to make sure that the iSCSI target is pointing to the correct IP address for communication to the iSCSI LUN.

• Go to your Storage Adapters and then click the properties of your iSCSI Initiator adapter >> go to Dynamic Discovery tab and remove the old ip address entry and then add the correct IP address for the iSCSI target now that you have changed the ip address.

After you correct the ip address for the iSCSI LUN, you should be able to run a rescan on the storage devices and you should now be connected back to your iSCSI LUN that was previously configured.

Final Thoughts

The scope of this article doesn’t take into consideration whether or not your new IP address is outside the configured subnet of the vmware interface you are working with for iSCSI traffic.  Your vSwitch may need to be reconfigured with an interface with a different address or configuration.  This article mainly applies to changing the iSCSI address within the same subnet so no additional changes needed to be made on the VMware side.