Future Intel Server board support???

[RogerAudet]

Does anybody know what kind of criteria VMWare uses to determine which motherboards will and will not be supported with future updates?

Background: Trying to build a whitebox ESX4.0i server for home use. My vendor sent me a new S3420GP board (brand new model) with an Intel 3420 chipset. Nice board. It supports up to 32 GB of expensive RAM or 16 GB cheap RAM, but it doesn't work. Just hangs at "Initializing scheduler".

My options are, I can sent the motherboard back and buy a "certified" board like the S3200 or S3210 board (but these can only handle up to 8 GB RAM) or "hope" that a ESX4.02 or future build will handle this (and try out Xenserver until then :smileywink:

[DSTAVERT]

Have a search through the forums on "Initializing scheduler". Search across at least 3.5 and 4. There may be other things at work here. BIOS settings, embedded components, etc. Motherboards aren't usually big problems. The embedded components, NICs and disk controllers often are.

[Necromancer]

Hi

I had an experience I would like to share with you concerning "Server hangs at Initializing scheduler".

I installed latest ESX4i at my office on an IBM server.

Tested all functions before packing it down in the original box. It all seemed ok.

Then I drove a couple of miles to the customer. Uppacked the server, racked it and then powered it up.

But the server wouldn't start up. :smileysad:

It hanged at "Initializing scheduler".

After performing basic troubleshooting i thought the server was defect, maby by the transport.

Even downloaded the installation CD and tryed to reinstall the server without any luck.

I packed the server down and drowe back to the office.

Back at the office I Unpacked it and then powered the server up.

Gues what.. It worked !!! :smileyshocked:

After a while i realized that the only difference was the customer environment.

At the office I used an IBM USB-keyboard but at the customer there was a keyboardswitch and another USB-keyboard (Not IBM).

Funny ?

So what's the lesson?

Stick with IBM all the way :smileyhappy:

[mcowger]

They support based on what the vendor does the the testing for. So Intel would have to test and submit results to vmware for acceptance.

--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek

[Mailserver]

I got similiar problems when installing ESXi 4 or 3.5. Under version ESXi 4 i got message that there is a TPM not loaded. TPM means: Trusted Plattform Module.

So i am sending my board and brand new server back to my vendor. They claimed on webpage for this board vmware ready, which i can not confirm.

I did five vmware ESXi installation, successfully so far for intel and amd boards, but this one S3420 Chipset: no chance.

I had the same thinking as the owner of this thread, to take a single socket board with more than 8GB RAM addressing. Bingo...

[Rumple]

never mind....

[RogerAudet]

Thanks everybody. I tried over half a dozen different CPU and SATA controller options in the BIOS until I got it to work when setting the SATA controller to "Intel Matrix Raid". The other options "Enhanced, Compatible, Software Raid" didn't work.

It works like charm now and is fast. So the S3420GP board is not on the list but works with the correct BIOS settings.

[DSTAVERT]

You should post your experience and motherboard specs over at http://vm-help.com . I am sure Dave would appreciate having your MB on the whitebox list as will others who need help.

[DSTAVERT]

I did a little look at the Matrix RAID information. What do you end up with for drives for your datastore. Single drives or ???

[Mailserver]

Hello Roger,

initially after reading your post, i changed my board settings: S3420GP LX, and it worked fine with ESXi 4.0 now.

Thx for your efforts, wow.......

There is a minor problem left, that only 1 nic of 2 onboard nics is working. I heard from my vendor, that this will be fixed

in a few week by a patch update, which can be done via the client host utility.

Can you confirm, that only 1 of 2 nic's is working?

Best regards

Tom from cyenc.com

[RogerAudet]

Hi Tom,

I can confirm the second nic is not showing under the ESX4.0i configuration - network adaptor area. I never even noticed yet, since I am just using the one network port. Thanks for the information about the upcoming update.

Roger

[littlesaint]

Thanks everybody. I tried over half a dozen different CPU and SATA controller options in the BIOS until I got it to work when setting the SATA controller to "Intel Matrix Raid". The other options "Enhanced, Compatible, Software Raid" didn't work.

It works like charm now and is fast. So the S3420GP board is not on the list but works with the correct BIOS settings.

Can you elaborate on your BIOS settings? I set my SATA controller to Intel Matrix, but it still hangs at "Initializing scheduler..." when launching the ESXi installer. Did you use the default BIOS settings and just change the SATA controller settings? Do you have virtualization enabled in the processor configuration? Thanks.

[daytripper]

I have a S3420GP with an Intel X3450 running ESXi 4.0 update 1.

I've notice my system works fine without Intel Matrix RAID enabled. It would be nice if it did for redundancy, but ESXi 4.0 updt 1 appears to prefer accessing the two 1Tb drives as two separate datastores.

[jgodau]

Hi all,

is there any update on this? Any chance of support (somehow) for the Intel 82578DM Network card?

We have some machines that only have this card in them that we'd love to get ESXi installed on.

Any thoughts or help appreciated.

Jack...

[Solid2489]

I ordered a S3420GPLC and just hat to realize why one of my NICs is missing.

This is typical for VMware; they promote ESXi for free with the intention to get SMBs into it. But the truth is they don't really care about SMBs or simple don't have enough resources for entry level server hardware support. The web is full with people struggling with entry level server hardware realizing their hardware is not fully, unsupported or unbearable slow. And this is also the reason why more and more SMB people are looking into 2008 R2 Hyper-V, just like me!

Remember, when it comes to VMware: supported doesn't mean "fully" supported. I got an 800$ Adaptec raid card which is "supported" according to VMware HCL, but this controller doesn't show up in vSphere health status, because there is no monitoring support! Why would someone have a raid array without knowing its health status?

I'm so tired of this, after almost two years of ESXi hardware trouble, limitations and horrible performance: I'm going to give Hyper-V a shot!

[Solid2489]

Wuha... today I decided to finally give Hyper-V a shot. I was quite mad as I struggled 3 days to restore a VM due to Backup Exec 2010 / VMWare up.

So... not only do I have all three NIC's running in Hyper-V but also full raid support as well as monitoring capabilities for my Adaptec controller. But the most amazing thing is.... I can easily get constant 980MBit/s Network throughput. In almost two years ESXi I never reached anything better then 300 to 400Mbit/s, most of the time it was like 100 to 200MBbit/s. In other words: Disk and Network I/O is WAY WAY WAY better in Hyper-V, AMAZING!

Sorry for OT.

Message was edited by: DSTAVERT to remove language slipup

[Rumple]

Overall with a single server environment Hyper-V is a valid and acceptable solution. Where you suffer is with the memory management and enterprise recoverability features.

The main drawback right now is there is no oversubscribing memory (ie, you have 8gb of memory, that’s exactly 8 VM's with 1GB each, or 4 VM's with 2GB each). You will not be able to load that 5th VM as there is no memory available.

For the most part in small environments that’s really not a problem at all.

I have read about some new memory management stuff they are working on but I don't think its mature yet...still lots of problems with it from what I've read.

Personally I've never have a problem with running ESXi,ESX or Hyper-V on any server I've implemented but I never lowball the gear I implement, and I have years of enterprise experience implementing vmware ESX which helps a lot with avoiding some of the issues seen in smaller environments.

As long as you have something you can support and works for you, then at the end of the day..thats really what is important...the technology is just a means to an end...

[jgodau]

Thanks to "Hardworker" there are now drivers you can use to get the Intel 82578DC 8086:10f0 running, it also works for the Intel 82578DM 8086:10ef and possibly for some other Intel NICs.

See: http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2194 and http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1735

Cheers

Jack...

[RogerAudet]

Hi DStavert,

Initially I just hooked up one 500GB SATA drive directly to one of the boards "82801HR 6 Port SATA AHCI" controller ports. Another port hosts a SATA DVD drive that used to install. ESX 4.0i lives on the 500 GB drive now. After I got it to work I installed an Areca ARC-1222 SAS/SATA Raid Controller I have. This is an 8 port controller on which 3 x 1 TB WD drives are hooked up in a RAID5 configuration. It was a little tricky getting the Areca drivers installed on ESX 4.0i but it worked according to their instructions. I now have Windows 2008 Server installed in a VM on the ESX server now and initial performance tests look really good. I was able to upload a large MPEG file from my Windows 7 client to the RAID 5 array that hosts Windows 2008 at about 60 MB/sec. Downloading even peaked at 100 MB/sec (according to Windows 7), but believe me, it was fast.

This is so great! Sure hopes it runs stable for long.

[felici]

Have the SR1630gp platform (1U server) with S3420GP mtb, X3440 CPU, 8GB, not using onboard disks, but using LSI MegaRAID 8703EM2, 2x WD RE3 drives in RAID1. This is a great little box, would like to use it to replace my rack of aging 775 Intel boxes.

A BIOS update of motherboard and LSI controller was needed before I could do installation - Installed 17129 without any errors.

Only one of two ethernet controllers is recognized.

Apparently the controllers are Intel 82574L and82578DM, ESX recognizes only the 82574L.

Have since updated ESX running build 208167, same problem remains (only one ethernet).

This is a great platform, and I know that RHEL 5 has no problems with both ethernet chipsets, have talked to Intel support, and of course they say since its not yet an officially supported platform, they can't even send off a request on support to inquire.

Any suggestions on that second ethernet ?

[DSTAVERT]

When you have a question you should always create your own post.

[metomw]

My SR1630GP should arrive till this Friday, and I'll try to make custom oem.tgz to resolve issue of double NIC's. The drivers are there (e1000e), but the PCI_ID isnt recognised, so it should be just one modification. I'll post my custom oem.tgz here ASAP.

[felici]

# lspci -v

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device d130 (rev 11)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 0000

Flags: fast devsel

Capabilities: #00

00:05.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device d13a (rev 11) (prog-if 00 )

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0

I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff

Memory behind bridge: b1a00000-b1afffff

Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000b8000000-00000000b8000000

Capabilities: #0d

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/1 Enable-

Capabilities: Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0

Capabilities: Power Management version 3

00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Unknown device d155 (rev 11)

Subsystem: Unknown device 0086:00ec

Flags: fast devsel

Capabilities: Express Unknown type IRQ 0

00:08.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Unknown device d156 (rev 11)

Subsystem: Unknown device 0086:00ec

Flags: fast devsel

Capabilities: Express Unknown type IRQ 0

00:08.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Unknown device d157 (rev 11)

Subsystem: Unknown device 0086:00ec

Flags: fast devsel

Capabilities: Express Unknown type IRQ 0

00:08.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Unknown device d158 (rev 11)

Subsystem: Unknown device 0086:00ec

Flags: fast devsel

00:10.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Unknown device d150 (rev 11)

Subsystem: Unknown device 0086:00ec

Flags: fast devsel

00:10.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Unknown device d151 (rev 11)

Subsystem: Unknown device 0086:00ec

Flags: fast devsel

00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Unknown device 10ef (rev 05)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 34ec

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17

Memory at b1b00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

Memory at b1b24000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

I/O ports at 3020

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-

Capabilities: #13

00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation Unknown device 3b3c (rev 05) (prog-if 20 )

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 34ec

Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18

Memory at b1b21000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

Capabilities: Debug port

Capabilities: #13

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 3b42 (rev 05) (prog-if 00 )

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0

Capabilities: Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-

Capabilities: #0d

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 3b4a (rev 05) (prog-if 00 )

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0

I/O behind bridge: 00001000-00001fff

Memory behind bridge: b1900000-b19fffff

Capabilities: Express Root Port (Slot-) IRQ 0

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-

Capabilities: #0d

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 3b4e (rev 05) (prog-if 00 )

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0

Memory behind bridge: b1000000-b18fffff

Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000b0000000-00000000b0f00000

Capabilities: Express Root Port (Slot-) IRQ 0

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-

Capabilities: #0d

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 3b50 (rev 05) (prog-if 00 )

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=05, sec-latency=0

Capabilities: Express Root Port (Slot-) IRQ 0

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-

Capabilities: #0d

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation Unknown device 3b34 (rev 05) (prog-if 20 )

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 34ec

Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23

Memory at b1b20000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

Capabilities: Debug port

Capabilities: #13

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801BA/CA/DB/EB PCI Bridge (rev a5) (prog-if 01 )

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

Bus: primary=00, secondary=06, subordinate=06, sec-latency=32

Capabilities: #0d

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 3b14 (rev 05)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 34ec

Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

Capabilities: Vendor Specific Information

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation Ibex Peak 4 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05) (prog-if 8f )

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 34ec

Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 24

I/O ports at 3098

I/O ports at 30ac

I/O ports at 3090

I/O ports at 30a8

I/O ports at 3070

I/O ports at 3060

Capabilities: Power Management version 3

Capabilities: #13

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Unknown device 3b30 (rev 05)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 34ec

Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 24

Memory at b1b22000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable)

I/O ports at 3000

00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation Ibex Peak 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05) (prog-if 85 )

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 34ec

Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 25

I/O ports at 3088

I/O ports at 30a4

I/O ports at 3080

I/O ports at 30a0

I/O ports at 3050

I/O ports at 3040

Capabilities: Power Management version 3

Capabilities: #13

01:00.0 RAID bus controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic LSI MegaRAID SAS 1078 Controller (rev 04)

Subsystem: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic Unknown device 1021

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 26

Memory at b1a00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable)

I/O ports at 2000

Memory at b1a40000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable)

Expansion ROM at b8000000

Capabilities: Express Endpoint IRQ 0

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/2 Enable-

Capabilities: MSI-X: Enable- Mask- TabSize=4

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

Capabilities: Vital Product Data

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 34ec

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 27

Memory at b1900000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

I/O ports at 1000

Memory at b1920000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-

Capabilities: Express Endpoint IRQ 0

Capabilities: MSI-X: Enable+ Mask- TabSize=5

04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. Unknown device 0522 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 )

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 0101

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 28

Memory at b0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable)

Memory at b1800000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

Memory at b1000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

Expansion ROM at b1810000

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

Capabilities: Express Legacy Endpoint IRQ 0

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-

ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2c50 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2c81 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2c90 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2c91 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:03.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2c98 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:03.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2c99 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:03.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2c9a (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:03.4 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2c9c (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:04.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2ca0 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:04.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2ca1 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:04.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2ca2 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:04.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2ca3 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:05.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2ca8 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:05.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2ca9 (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:05.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2caa (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

ff:05.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2cab (rev 04)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 8086

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

[metomw]

00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Unknown device 10ef (rev 05)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 34ec

Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17

Memory at b1b00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) size=128K

Memory at b1b24000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) size=4K

I/O ports at 3020 size=32

Capabilities: c8 Power Management version 2

Capabilities: d0 Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-

Capabilities: e0 #13 0306

That's the second NIC. I'll get the barebone today, and if everything goes well i'll post the solution about 3PM (GMT+1).

[metomw]

I managed to add this network card to system, and lspci shows correct data.

00:00.00 Bridge: Intel Corporation

00:08.00 Generic system peripheral: Intel Corporation

00:08.01 Generic system peripheral: Intel Corporation

00:08.02 Generic system peripheral: Intel Corporation

00:08.03 Generic system peripheral: Intel Corporation

00:16.00 Generic system peripheral: Intel Corporation

00:16.01 Generic system peripheral: Intel Corporation

00:25.00 Network controller: Intel Corporation 82578DM Gigabit Network Connection

00:26.00 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation

00:28.00 Bridge: Intel Corporation

00:28.04 Bridge: Intel Corporation

00:28.06 Bridge: Intel Corporation

00:28.07 Bridge: Intel Corporation

00:29.00 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation

00:30.00 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82801BA/CA/DB/EB PCI Bridge

00:31.00 Bridge: Intel Corporation

00:31.02 Mass storage controller: Intel Corporation Ibex Peak 6 port SATA AHCI Controller

00:31.03 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation

02:00.00 Network controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection

03:00.00 Display controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G200e ServerEngines (SEP1)

255:00.00 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:00.01 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:02.00 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:02.01 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:03.00 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:03.01 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:03.02 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:03.04 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:04.00 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:04.01 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:04.02 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:04.03 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:05.00 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:05.01 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:05.02 Bridge: Intel Corporation

255:05.03 Bridge: Intel Corporation

Howevwr I cant access/add vmnic1 neither from SSH nor vSphere Client... Any thoughts?

I think it's the problem with old version of e1000e driver.

[Srv02]

Hi ... I also have the problem with the second NIC not being displayed. Is there already a working solution for this?

Thank you!

Kind regards,

mAik

[DSTAVERT]

When you have questions you need to create a new post and explain the problem fully with the system you are trying to install to. Check the Hardware Compatibility List to see if you system is supported.

[felici]

That is exactly the problem. There has been no solution to this thread from VMware/Intel. You can find the same analagous thread at the Intel community forums...

Its still the same thread.. same problem... no solution.

example:

http://communities.intel.com/message/79498#79498

The Intel S3420GP motherboard is in the SR1630GP barebones server, the intel entry/value server that is in distribution. The problem is that Intel/VMware have been touting the 'partnership' on this line of products, specifically announcing the motherboard/servers as being certified.

see the following page:

http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/products/server/436106.htm

e.g.:

Certified in Q4: Intel® Server Board S3420GP, Intel® Server Systems SR1630GP and SR1630HGP

But unfortunately, the 'certified' doen't seem to follow common sense in that all the hardware is supported. It isn't.

Basically, the driver does not recognize the PCI-ID of one of the ethernet chipsets, and even when modified to recognize, the driver doesn't work properly.

Now that's strange, as the RHEL e1000 driver has no problem.

The mainline distribution including Ingram really PUSHED this platform in the reseller arena -

---

without full hardware support!

Its just not reasonable to call something a 'certified' platform with a caveat of 'not really'... we buy a server with 2 ethernet ports, especially a 1U, to meet bid specs, etc., play the safe route and pick one that is 'certified', and then for some reason expect that if you really want to use two ethernets, you need to add a PCIe card... which of course is not possible in 1 1U platform if you plan on doing something 'normal' like add a HCL-compliant RAID card like one from LSI.

Ingram, Intel, and VMware have been pretty well unresponsive on the issue. I have 6 of these servers, sitting around, since I had to buy different ones that did work.

Hopefully, if you are thinking of getting a sr1630gp or s3420 and need 2 ethernet ports, DONT go with this platform. Hopefully that will change.

[Srv02]

Yes, thank you for your detailed reply ... this is exactly what i mean, I bought a certified hardware and I can not use the 2nd nic and the onboard intel matrix raid controller. Okay, I could have read the thing with the RAID controller before assuming that it would work, but I already start thinking about an alternative to esxi.

[Technopc]

Hi

I just would like to if this board Intel S3420GP that you managed to fix the bios by updating it has the feature of Intel VT and if enabled you are able to run 64bit VM