Unable to mount iSCSI datastore to ESXi hosts

Applies to

• ONTAP 9
• iSCSI
• VMware ESXi

Issue

• iSCSI LUN is created successfully in ONTAP but is not showing up within vCenter under the hosts' > Configure > Storage Devices
• Initiator status show (not logged in) on output of igroup show -instance

cluster1::> igroup show -instance
          Vserver Name: svm0
           Igroup Name: iscsi_vmware_xxx_igroup
              Protocol: iSCSI
               OS Type: vmware
Portset Binding Igroup: -
           Igroup UUID: a84216dc-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-005056a4fd7d
                  ALUA: true
            Initiators: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:xxxx:87015xxxx:65 (not logged in)

• From ESXi hostd.log, we can also see failed login attempts

2025-03-12T18:23:11.175Z Wa(164) Hostd[2099297]: [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=13d407a7-40-b9b6 sid=52635d7a user=vpxuser:VSPHERE.LOCAL\Administrator] IP Capability discovery failure on iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:xxxx:87015xxxx:65: Check vmkernel tcp/ip settings for network properties for software and dependent hardware iscsi adapters. It's not supported from this API.
2025-03-12T18:23:12.088Z Wa(164) Hostd[2099293]: [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=17ae76b2-db-b9ca sid=52635d7a user=vpxuser:VSPHERE.LOCAL\Administrator] IP Capability discovery failure on iSCSI HBA: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:xxxx:87015xxxx:65: Check vmkernel tcp/ip settings for network properties for software and dependent hardware iscsi adapters. It's not supported from this API.