ESXi 4.0 on HP ProLiant ML350 G5--no hard disk

[Barnman]

New server with three logical drives (RAID 0,1). Installed ESXi 4. I have two questions:

1. When I went to install x64 Windows Server 2008, CD said CPU was 32-bit. Then when I went to install x86 Windows 2k8, it can't find the hard disk (is asking for drivers). Should I just use the HP driver, or do I need a driver from VMWare?

2. How do I install the ESXi OPTIONAL BINARY with HP ISight Manager? The CD is not bootable....

Thanks in advance.

[DSTAVERT]

You need to enable Hardware Virtualization in the ML350 BIOS. That should allow you to install 64Bit OSs. You will probably need to poweroff and restart the ML350 for it to work. http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003945

It is much easier to install the HP version of ESXi HP ESXi Download . If you want to use the HP binaries you will need to install the rcli tools (Link from http://yourserver) or the vMA virtual applience.

[DSTAVERT · Accepted solution]

What controller did you choose when installing Windows? You shouldn't need drivers.

[Barnman]

Hello again and thank you so much for the helpful suggestions.

The HP Download of ESXi was very helpful and changing the BIOS setting to enable "Intel Virtualization" allows me to run the install for Windows Srvr 2008 R2 x64, but after the install runs it bombs because it doesn't see any hard disks.

The HD controller from the ESXi Storage Controller Page (screen-shot attached) reads:

vmhba1

Model: Smart Array E200i

Targets: 3 Devices: 3 Paths: 3

Which is what I would expect. Any ideas?

[Barnman]

Hello,

I have used the suggestions above, but am still stuck at not being able to install Windows 2008, either 32 or 64 bit on guest VMs.

The install boots cleanly but hangs with "setup was unable to detect any hard disk."

I included a screen-shot previously of the drive controller info from the VIClient. The firmware for the EC200i controller is 1.82 and below is the vmdk file:

1. Disk DescriptorFile

version=1

encoding="UTF-8"

CID=1a005f1e

parentCID=ffffffff

createType="vmfs"

1. Extent description

RW 167772160 VMFS "W2k8R2x64_1-flat.vmdk"

1. The Disk Data Base

#DDB

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"

ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"

ddb.geometry.heads = "255"

ddb.geometry.cylinders = "10443"

ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 9f 5e 70 ee 8f-b2 53 4b c1 75 e9 c0 99"

ddb.longContentID = "d798f9077c638b80367305401a005f1e"

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "7"

Any ideas?

[DSTAVERT]

Try using version 4 hardware. You will need to do a Custom Install with the wizard and choose Version 4 hardware. You can upgrade after the fact.

[Barnman]

DSTA,

Thanks for all your help. It turns out my current issue was documented in the http://communities.vmware.com/message/1208267#1208267

KB and I had to add SMBIOS.reflectHost = "true"

to the VMX file.

The 64-bit W2008 is installing as I type this--I'm off to the races.

[DSTAVERT]

glad you are up and running.