NPIV implementation requirements

To enable NPIV, ensure that the following hardware and software requirements are met.

• Host Bus Adapters: HBAs must support NPIV. The following HBA vendors and models are supported:
  • Brocade: Any 4 Gbit/sec or 8 Gbit/sec HBA.
  • Emulex: 4 Gbit/sec HBA running firmware level 2.70a5 or later. All 8 Gbit/sec HBAs running firmware 1.00a9 or later.
  • QLogic: Any 4 Gbit/sec or 8 Gbit/sec HB.
• Switches: NPIV must be supported on the switch that is connected to the HBA.
• Storage: Because NPIV is not apparent to storage arrays, no specific support is required.
• NPIV can be used only with pRDM disks. VMFS disks do not support NPIV. To implement NPIV, the physical HBAs port WWN on a VMware ESX(i) Server host must have access to all LUNs that are to be accessed by virtual machines.

  Note: NPIV is not necessary for pRDM configuration.

• If you deploy a VM from a template or a clone, the new VM does not retain the WWN.