ESXi 5.1 U1 does not recognize array off Adaptec 6805E (supported RAID Controller) - why?

[Clarkington]

Hello all,

I've built a new system with an Adaptec 6805E RAID controller with 6 3TB drives. My system also has a SATA (AHCI mode) CD Rom and HD. When I go to install ESXI 5.1 U1, the SATA HD shows up as a Storage Device however my array off the 6805E does not. If I then install 5.1 U1 on the HD, when I use the vSphere client and rescan for drives, the array off the 6805E does not show up.

The 6805E is listed as compatible with 5.1 U1 in the guide here: VMware Compatibility Guide: I/O Device Search

I've tried building the array to the size of 1.5 TB, 3TB, 4TB and 8.7TB.

Does anyone have suggestions? I can look at the various logs on the server if that would be helpful - I don't know what I should be looking at.

Thank you all so much in advance!

[zXi_Gamer]

Just to confirm, can you change the mode to Native or IDE instead of SATA (AHCI mode)

[OzerS · Accepted solution]

Did u get this working?

If not as you found, card is supported but driver is async, that means you need to install the driver separately, its not in ISO.

[zXi_Gamer]

Thanks OzerS for pointing out.. @Clarkington

As OzerS mentioned and the link which you posted does say you need to have async driver for the RAID card to be detected..

[Clarkington]

You guys were correct - I didn't understand the significance of "async" in the compatibility guide.

To be safe, I first downloaded and installed the latest version of the firmware on the 6805E.

I downloaded the driver from here: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?productId=285&downloadGroup=DT-ESXI51-PMC-SIERRA-AACRAID-...

I then loaded that driver post-installation and confirmed it could see my raid.

Next, I went to http://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer.html to create a customized install ISO with that driver. I used the .vib image from the drive zip I downloaded. When I used the new customized ISO, my array showed up perfectly.

Thanks again for all your help!