IPMI capabilities & driver requirements.

[parthmaniar]

Hello, I am unable to get system sensor details and wanted to know about compatibility and enabling them. I have installed ESXi 7.0 (free) on a Dell Precision Workstation running Intel Xeon W1290 processor. How can I enable monitoring of temperature? Will lack of this monitoring by ESXi affect system life/performance? Or will the UEFI/BIOS increase fan speed as needed? What drivers do I need to install and how to get this to work?

Thank you.

[nachogonzalez]

Hey, hope you are doing fine

First of all i'd suggest checking that your hardware is compatibile in VMware Compatibility Guide - System Search

Also, it is important to use a Dell custom image (since you are using dell's hardware)VMware ESXi 7.0 | Detalles del controlador | Dell Argentina
The image contains all hardware and firmware required.

[parthmaniar]

I am doing good, thank you for asking. I hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy.

I have made a mistake of purchasing a system that doesn't have all the components in the VMWare compatibility guide. I have however downloaded Dell ISO and the system seems to be functioning in the same form as with image from VMWare's website. IPMI is still not functioning and continues to show the same message: " This system has no IPMI capabilities, you may need to install a driver to enable sensor data to be retrieved. "

Is there any advantage running this image as opposed to one from VMWare's website?

Could it be confirmed if there's an impact on systems hardware life due to using incompatible (yet to be vetted) hardware? I'm specifically worried about thermals and want to know if the system fan will automatically regulate or not using BIOS/UEFI as opposed to relying on ESXi

Thank you.

[nachogonzalez]

Hey, hope you are doing fine.
I don't think there is any impact on hardware's life, the issue you should be worried about is you don't have any VMware official support.

The error this sistem has no IPMI capabilites might have to do with no IPMI installed on the systemboard. Can you share systemboard specs?

Running vmware/dell iso ensures you have the latest drivers for your hardware.

Regarding fans relying on esxi, i'm not sure if this is absolutely true.
How are your BIOS Power settings and your esxi power settings?
Can you share your hardware specs?
Please provide as much detail as you possibly can.

[parthmaniar]

Hello, thank you for responding.

I am a self-funded student who purchased this system out of dire necessity as assembling a system in India at the moment is almost impossible and this one was in my budget. Unfortunately I will not be purchasing ESXi unless my university (Oxford, UK) sponsors it. As a first time ESXi user, I've learned the hard way importance of

Here are the specifications:

1. Chipset: Intel W480 (Intel® W480 Chipset Product Specifications)

2. Compute: Intel Xeon W1290 (10 cores / 20 threads: Intel® Xeon® W-1290 Processor (20M Cache, 3.20 GHz) Product Specifications )

3. Memory: 72 GB (32x2 and 8x1) non-ecc

4. Storage: 1x1 TB PCIe SSD (Crucial) TBW of 300 TB and 1x1TB Seagate HDD (7200 RPM, NAS grade.) ESXi is installed on the HDD. VM's will be created on the HDD with SSD as mounted storage.

5 Network: Intel i219-LM (This is not supported or detected by ESXi 7/6.7/6.5/6 using VMWare or Dell images.) I have an add-on Intel Ethernet Server Adapter I210-T1 that is detected and I am using this as a single NIC for ESXi

6. OEM: Dell

7. Model: Dell Precision 3440 SFF (Small Form Factor:  https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/precision-3440-workstation_setup-guide_en-us.pdf )

*BIOS has fan setting set to adaptive.

*ESXi has power setting set to High performance.

If you'd like me to run a command and provide and output, do let me know. I can login via SSH and provide the output.

Purpose of this system is to work on my final year research of collecting data from honeypots across the world and churning them in machine learning algorithm to find patterns :smileyhappy: . I need IOPs of around 500 but I know I have screwed that up. :smileygrin:

Thank you very much for helping me out.

[nachogonzalez]

Hey bud, your project seems awesome.
Just to clarify your server does not have a IPMI/BMC controller
It has something similar though.

Out of Band Systems Management Intel Standard Manageability Intel Standard Manageability (ISM) must be configured in our factory at the time of purchase, as it is NOT field upgradable. ISM offers out-of-band management and DASH compliance https://registry.dmtf.org/registry/results/field_initiative_name%3A%22DASH %201.0%22. ISM offers a limited set of out-of-band features like remote power on/off, Serial-over-LAN redirect, Wake-on-LAN, etc. ISM leverages the same capabilities that were available with Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT) version 5.0. To learn more about Intel ISM, visit Intel’s website at: https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2009/03/27/what-is-standardmanageability

Let me ask you something: do you have basic coding knowledge and access to an arduino?

Arduino Based Digital Temperature Sensor - Arduino Project Hub

This way you might be able to improvise a thermal sensor and get a notification ahead of time.

Hope this works.

If my answers were useful please mark them as correct

[parthmaniar]

My friend you asked the wrong person about Adreno. I present to you my Raspberry Pi tower :smileygrin:

Let me look at the project, improvise and of course what you've mentioned is the correct answer. Thank you for helping me!

Have a safe, healthy and wonderful time ahead.

[nachogonzalez]

Nice to hear, Just FYI ESXI supports ARM (i'm not entirely sure how) maybe that works for youESXi on Arm at the Edge, on the SmartNIC and in the Cloud - VMware vSphere Blog

[parthmaniar]

Thanks for that, more awesome ideas to try.

Quick question: Is it recommended (or permissible from licensing perspective) to install vSphere on top of baremetal ESXi? I am unable to see options to clone a VM or other such basic tasks from the browser interface of ESXi. Does this all require licensing?

[nachogonzalez]

it is recommended indeed, please consider that for some features to work you will need shared storage, multiple hosts and a vCenter

[parthmaniar]

Does vCentre require a license?

[parthmaniar]

Licensing for vCenter Server

Go it.