Type in the User Credentials with Administrator rights to install the HIT Kit. Click on add hosts and this will start the installation; Click on close once done. At this stage a restart of the hosts will be required.

I’ve written a few other blogs about and on Windows Servers, but this one focuses on installing the EqualLogic Host Integration Tool (HIT) Kit on Windows Server 2008 R2 Core (no GUI). If you are using an EqualLogic SAN, I recommend installing the HIT kit before doing any of the iSCSI or Multipath I/O configuration.

It will make your life a lot easier. It’s also not a problem to install the HIT kit after you’ve done some or all of the configuration, just keep in mind there will be a few dialog boxes in this blog that you won’t see such as the HIT kit wanting to install the Multipath I/O feature. Login to your or request a support account from the login page if you don’t already have one. Download the latest version of the “Host Integration Toolkit for Microsoft” from the EqualLogic support site.

Run setup64.exe: Click “Next” on the first screen. You’re probably wondering if this is being installed on server core (it is). Accept the License on the next screen and then select custom on the screen after that one: I took the defaults for the installation location. If you have not done any iSCSI configuration already, you will receive this message. Click “Yes”: Choose the appropriate option for your environment. I chose “Yes”: I took the defaults on the “Select Components” screen. Click install.

You will receive the following message if Multipath I/O is not already installed. Click “Yes”: Click “Finish”. Leaving the “Launch Remote Setup Wizard” check-mark checked will launch it after you reboot and log back in. Click “OK” to restart. Once the server restarts, log back in, select “Configure MPIO settings for this computer”, and click “Next”: Move your LAN subnet(s) to the “Subnets excluded from MPIO” side and click “Finish”: Launch the iSCSI control panel applet by running iscsicpl.exe: You’ll notice that you now have an additional tab named “Dell EqualLogic MPIO”: Enter the group IP address of your SAN in the discovery portal section on the discovery tab and connect to a target on the targets tab as shown in my “” blog.

That’s assuming that you’ve already configured a volume on your SAN for this server to access. If you have not, you can find those instructions on my “” blog and if you haven’t done any configuration at all on your SAN, see my “” blog. Zabranjena ljubav serija. One last thing while we’re on the subject of other blog articles: Have you updated the firmware on your SAN?

You can find that blog here: ““. Select the “Enable multi-path” option when connecting to the target: After a few seconds, you’ll see a single connection to the target: Two connections may show up from the same network interface with one of them showing “No” in the Managed column. This problem will resolve itself within about five minutes.