When configuring iSCSI connections to Nutanix Volume Groups (VGs), Nutanix recommends using theData Services IP (DSIP)as the discovery IP in the iSCSI Initiator configuration. Here’s why:

TheDSIP (172.20.100.50)in this environment is designed to be highly available andfloats across CVMswithin the Nutanix cluster.

The DSIP automatically handles failover between CVMs during maintenance, software upgrades, or node failures.

Configuring the iSCSI initiator withindividual CVM IPs (like 172.20.100.104)is not recommended because:

If the CVM goes down (maintenance, upgrade, etc.), the initiator willlose connectionto the volume group, causing the exact issue seen here.

The NUSA and NCP-US course materials specifically emphasize:

“The Data Services IP should be used as the discovery target for iSCSI Volume Groups to ensure automatic failover and eliminate connection disruptions during maintenance windows.”

VIPis used formanagement traffic(Prism Central/Prism Element) and is not used for iSCSI.

Enable multi-pathis important for performance but does not resolve this misconfigured discovery IP issue.

Adding all CVMsindividually also doesn’t provide automated failover and isn’t a best practice.

Thus, the fix is toremove the CVM IP (172.20.100.104) and configure the Windows iSCSI initiator with the DSIP (172.20.100.50)as the discovery target.