Install on Lenovo TD340 with RAID

[dashsalscale]

I am working to install esxi 5.5 on a new Lenovo TD340 server with an LSI megaSAS RAID controller - I have a raid 1 array setup in BIOS, but when I try to install from the Vmware CD, it shows both drives.  Is this expected or is VmWare ignoring the array?

[schepp]

Hi welcome to the communities,

please double check you created the RAID 1 in the megaSAS controller and and not with the normal onboard controller ( I askes this because you wrote you did the setup in BIOS. For the LSI RAID Configuration Utility you would have to press something like ctrl+m to enter and not BIOS )

Regards

Tim

[dashsalscale]

Sorry for the confusing terminology.  I actually did set it up through the ctrl+m utility.  I assumed that the install should only see the one RAID drive, correct?  Whenever I boot, the utility does show the raid 1 drive is active; I just saw two drives when installing.  I have installed and will check to see how many drives are in the vsphere client.

[dashsalscale]

well, I've had to abandon RAID for the time being.  I found an updated driver for LSI raid, created a custom installer for both 5.5 and 5.1 (which the driver said it supported) and still the install routine showed the two raw drives rather than the virtual drive.  <sigh> this is most frustrating, but I need to get this out to the client this weekend so will hopefully revisit later. 

Follow-up question: is there a way to convert a standard drive to RAID in the future without having to wipe the drive?

[schepp]

Hey,

it's generally possible to build a RAID 1 without loosing the data on the first disk. The question is if your specific raid controller is capable of doing it.

I would take a backup of the disk and read the manual of the controller first.

Regards