NetApp - Simulator and ESX Networking

This is a known problem with running the Data ONTAP simulator on ESX 3.5 and above.

Symptoms

After installing the Data ONTAP simulator within a guest VM and starting up the simulator, you cannot access (ssh/telnet/http) the Simulator's IP address.

Problems running the Data ONTAP Simulator on VMware ESX

Solution

Modify the 'Promiscuous Mode' setting to 'Accept' on the vswitch to which the guest VM (hosting the Data ONTAP simulator) is connected to. From within the VI Client, perform the following: Select 'Configuration' Tab. Select 'Networking'. Select 'Properties' for the vswitch. Under 'vswitch', select 'Edit'. Select 'Security' Tab. Change the dropdown for 'Promiscuous Mode' to 'Accept'. Click OK.

VMware ESXi - How to enable SSH

VMMWare ESXi is installed and started with SSH disabled. To enable it is an unsupported option, as it allows a user access to the console, operating system and associated file system.

So to get read/write access to vmfs, one needs to activate SSH on VMWare:

• At the console of ESXi host, press Alt-F1 to access bypass the simple management window and gain access to the console window.
• There is no prompt and no text echo, but type unsupported and hit the enter key.
• Enter the password you’ve assigned for root.
• A prompt of ~ # will become visible.
• Use vi to edit /etc/inetd.conf.
• Find the line that begins with #ssh and remove the #, and save the file.
• Use ps | grep inetd to find the existing inetd process id.
• Restart the process with kill -HUP id.
• You will now have access via SSH.

After logging in, the default datastore can be found at /vmfs/volumes/DataStore1.