Sun fire X2200 and ESX

[nullbit]

Hi, I am trying to setup ESX 3.5 on a Sun Fire X2200 with sata and 2*1000 HDD.

Following the installation wizard am i able to setup ESX up and it seems to be working except - there is no datastore!

When I try to create one using the VI client provided from the server itself using the disk/lun method is the list of available resources empty and I can therefore no create a new one.

As you might guess am I new to esx and it's probably a driver issue or perhaps mounting - but I am not sure.

Any suggestions?

Regards

René

[rpartmann]

Hi,

when you go on the CLI/shell of you ESX box and type

mount

-

---

example output -

---

/dev/sda2 on / type ext3 (rw)

none on /proc type proc (rw)

none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)

usbdevfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbdevfs (rw)

/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext3 (rw)

none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)

/dev/sda3 on /var type ext3 (rw)

-

---

example output -

---

what output do you get e.g 1 line

/dev/sdaX or /dev/hdaY?

If you get hdaY you controller is detected as IDE device -> no VMFS!

Which controller is used in your server?

hth,

Reinhard.

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

[nullbit]

Hi - if try with mount does it say (entire content);

/dev/hdc2 on type ext3 (rw)

none on /proc type proc (rw)

none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=620)

usbdevfs on /proc/bus/usb type usvdevfs (rw)

/dev/hdc1 on /boot type ext3 (rw)

none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)

/dev/hdc5 on /var/log type ext3 (rw)

[rpartmann · Accepted solution]

Hi,

ok here we go /dev/hdc2 .... the disk drive are recognices as IDE drives -> NO VMFS.

Do on yor commandline:

lspci -vnn | less

and the search for 10de:037f if you hit that, i have probably a solution.

cd /etc/vmware/pciid

vi sata_nv.xml

changed the last entry from 037e to 037f (this might be a different value

depends on your system..

use lspci and lspci

-vnn, to resolve)

:wq! == write and exit

esxcfg-pciid

esxcfg-boot -r

esxcfg-boot -b

reboot

esx is up and running (hopefully) and you can create VMFS

futher info to SATA controllers

VMTN: SATA support clear as mud http://communities.vmware.com/message/1032394

and http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm

hope that helps,

Reinhard.

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

[MrChuck]

I'm trying to load esxi from the iso and getting precisely nowhere with an X2200M2 and 2 x 250 SATA. The error I'm getting is that there is no supported device to write to--installation doesn't start, and there's nothing to do but reboot.

I am confused by talk of an SAS option for this server, according the Sun web site, there isn't one. So, is there any way to get this machinewhich is on the HCLworking with the ISO, or is there some intermediate step needed? I see this problem has been around since 2006, and while some people seem to have resolved it with a script, this isn't possible when booting from CD.

Or have I missed something fundamental here?

MrChuck

[paulrlyons]

Chuck:

The X2200 is supported by VMware only with SAS controller and disks. Here are the part numbers you would need to have a fully supported hardware configuration:

SG-XPCIE4SAS3-Z

4-Port SAS PCI-E Host Bus Adapter

X5295A-Z

SAS Disk Drive Cable Kit Includes Two Cables (750mm; 400mm for Sun Fire X2200 M2 servers

XRB-SS1CE-300G15K

300 GB 15000 rpm SAS Disk Drive with Bracket, RoHS-6 Compliant

Hope this helps.

Paul

[mgoheen]

Don't try to use a section of the boot HD for VMFS after this conversion (at least on a Sun Fire X2200 M2). Although I don't really know what the problem is, I believe that if you try this the Linux kernel will be accessing the drive using the hd (IDE) driver and ESX will try to access the partition using the SCSI driver. They seem to use slightly different addressing and doing this will corrupt the disk. It's possible that using the "don't use LBA" option to the kernel might fix this, but I didn't try it. I just stuck a second drive in and that appears to work fine.

It's all for testing purposes at this point anyway...eventually the VMFS storage will be on our SAN via a soon to be acquired Fibre Channel card.