Core 2 Duo

[burnswilcox]

Has anyone had any luck installing ESX 3.0 on a Core 2 duo system? If so, can you share

MB

Ram..

[skarkar]

I really admire your fighting spirit. I took the easy

way and bought what's on the list.

Search the forum for threads about introducing device

drivers into the COS.

There is one thread about a Intel NIC driver.

Thanks for the pointer. Will search around for how to build a driver disk. I've done so for RHEL back in 1999-2000 days, so it should be possible in this case also.

[wila]

I wish you lot's of luck too, but i doubt it'll help.

While you might have been able to get this to work in ESX 2.5, i sincerely doubt it will work in ESX 3.

The COS is "just" a VM, not part of the kernel at all. So loading the appropriate drivers into the COS will introduce possible instability with no gain.

ESX 3.0 uses a proprietary kernel, which - as has been told in these forums - is not based on linux. So you cannot really load RHEL drivers into the kernel anymore as was possible before.

[skarkar]

I wish you lot's of luck too, but i doubt it'll

help.

While you might have been able to get this to work in

ESX 2.5, i sincerely doubt it will work in ESX 3.

The COS is "just" a VM, not part of the kernel at

all. So loading the appropriate drivers into the COS

will introduce possible instability with no gain.

ESX 3.0 uses a proprietary kernel, which - as has

been told in these forums - is not based on linux. So

you cannot really load RHEL drivers into the kernel

anymore as was possible before.

In that case, I guess vmware server is always there Also xen could be another alternative, as I just need Linux guests, and Xen supports windows also now AFAIK. Only that performance under vmware server could be slow, but I think I'll take it, as a 8X320GB SATA RAID with > 400MBps isn't going to slow down even vmware server

[idrifter]

Is this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131154) the same p5m2/sas you guys were referring to?

Any other success stories that used a different MB? I'm looking to get a MB / CPU / RAM to use with some existing sata drives + 2610sa raid controller. I'd prefer to save a bit on the MB if there are cheaper options that work.

[frankdenneman]

Yes, That's the one.

Maybe other boards are cheaper.

But this board also features two nics who both function in ESX.

And to top it off, you can install a cool 8 GB of memory

it's amazing mike

/end sales pitch

[Anders]

Thanks for the pointer. Will search around for how to

build a driver disk. I've done so for RHEL back in

1999-2000 days, so it should be possible in this case

also.

Don't waste your time, the drivers are modified for ESX server.

Just do a simple search on the forum, I dont want to repeat myself for the n'th time:

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=553176&#553176

The Areca card is probaly the fastest SATA/SAS controller out there now,

your best bet would be to convince Areca to lobby for support for ESX

server.

\- Anders

[amjman]

I have a GigaByte P965-DQ6 w/Q6600 Quad Core Processor, not overclocked

8gb Kingston 4-4-4-12 (4x2GB chips) at 800Mhz

LSI MegaRAID-320-2e running RAID0 on 3x 146GB 10k RPM Ultra320 drives in ICYDock Enclosures

MSI GeForce7900GT video card OClocked

2x 2Port Broadcom PCI 10/100/1000 Cards

This thing runs awesome......although I had the above troubles loading drivers, instantly solved loading everything from USB DVD drive! I removed the DVD drive altogether from the system....and used the two PCI slots for the broadcom controllers, as the one on board is useless.

Seems VI 3.01 is not compatible with the 965 chipset, and as a result, although you can boot to it or connect CD/DVD drives to the motherboard, VMWare will not let you use these devices once booted in.

I have 24 WinXP Pro machines SP2 on this baby, and it is still usually under 25% utilization! I will try some overclocking this upcoming weekend to see what happens, and I may test RAID 5 versus the RAID0 just to determine how much of a loss of speed I will see by distributing parity.

I am no MVP/Expert, here, but have been using VMWare since back at my days working for NSA-so I have over six years practical experience with it.

Questions, feel free to ask! I am thrilled with this new machine-and then some! As for technical support/help-I NEVER NEED IT!

amj

[BiggerJim]

I have a DQ6 here, exactly which parts of it need to be disabled or upgraded to use ESX? You're saying its a great motherboard, except the onboard ether doesn't work? Nor its JMicron SATA/IDE controller? What about its Intel ICH8R, which controls the SATA, is that usable? Would value any help.

[BiggerJim]

Are there any other boards than the $320 ASUS P5M2/SAS Socket T? Cheaper boards that support the Conroe. I wouldn't mind changing my motherboard (it might be cheaper than buying 2 NICs and a RAID controller), but I already have a Conroe CPU etc.

[amjman]

In fact, I disabled nothing. Just ensure that USB-CDROM is on the boot-menu in the BIOS. Floppy worked fine....but I did not test it after ESX 3.01 was installed. I have to say that the LSI 320-2E is the fastest RIAD 5 I have ever worked with. Beats many Adaptec, and IBM/Adaptec co-branded offerings. I tested many.

so, essentially, get the LSI SATA adapter, or the LSI SCSI, you should be all set. all of the on board will not work until they release an upgrade which works with the 965 chipset. should not be long...I heard!

BTW-I have yet to have a more stable motherboard, overclocked....or not.

[xAyiDe]

Is the problems with 965 solved yet?

I am running a demoversion of ESX 3.0.0 on this hardware:

Asus Barebone Pundit P3-PH5 S-775 G965 VGA Audio GbLAN SATA-II

Apacer Memory Retail Dual-KIT 4096MB (4x1024MB) PC-667 DDR2 PC5300

Intel CPU Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz S-775 1066MHz 2MB "Conroe" Boxed

LSI Logic 21320 SCSI HBA + Maxtor Atlas 15k2 for VMFS

NAS-storage: 2 x 300 Gbyte SATA II

It runs very cool, quiet and performes very well to. But I havent yet tried demoversion 3.0.1. Maybe I should wait a while if there is no fix.

Tbh I must say that Virtual Iron performes better if the VMs are loaded with IO both disks and network-wise. So why I am trying out Vmware ESX on it is just that Vmware is plain bis-standard.