VMware vSphere

 View Only

  • 1.  Mass Storage Controller

    Posted Nov 15, 2010 03:55 AM

    I have an ASUS p5B motherboard without a raid. When I am performing the 4.1 ESXi install the installer barks about not is

    not finding any storage devices and crashes.

    Does the VM 4.x esxi require a raid controller or just a compatible motherboard.



  • 2.  RE: Mass Storage Controller

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Nov 15, 2010 04:22 AM

    ESX has a very limited supported hardware(compared to others), if the device isnt in the HCL(hardware compatibility List) its not going to work.

    BUT

    look at a site like www.ultimatewhitebox.com or www.vm-help.com/esx40i/esx40_whitebox_HCL.php and it has desktop hardware and what works with it, basically occasionally a Motherboard will have a chip set similar or the same as one from the HCL and so the driver will work. desktop motherboards HDD controllers dont generally work and a raid controller is usually the best bet, get better performance too. but there is a few out there that work

    Cheers



  • 3.  RE: Mass Storage Controller

    Posted Nov 15, 2010 07:28 AM

    Not only does it require a RAID controller (on the VMware HCL) but if you're going to use more than one drive, in an array, you'll need a hardware RAID controller... 99.95% of the onboard RAID controllers inside systems/on motherboards are software RAID controllers. As such, at best you'll get lone drives to show in the installer. At worst, no drives will show up at all.

    Other critical items include a compatible (from the HCL) network controller, processor and chipset... You can't just install ESX/ESXi onto any old system and expect it to fly... Sometimes you can get around some of the storage controller issues by installing ESXi onto an USB flash drive (2GB-8GB in size, quality brand/model though, not just any old flash drive)... Even then, if you're planning to use DAS, in a RAID configuration, you'll need a fully supported controller for the drives. If you're planning on using SATA drives, then you'll need a controller that lists SATA-RAID in the HCL... Most of the controllers will be for SAS drives (or SAS-RAID) but some list SAS/SATA-RAID thus working for both types... Whenever possible, use SAS drives for ESX/ESXi datastores.

    I'd say you need to do more planning for the system that will be running ESX/ESXi than you would any other OS... Especially with the tight hardware requirements (hence the readily available, and frequently updated HCL)...

    I've lost count of how many times I've seen postings (here) from people trying to install ESX/ESXi onto unsupported hardware, thinking that just because it's a 'good' hardware setup it will work... Might work fine for a desktop, or Windows or even Linux operating systems. Doesn't mean it will take ESX/ESXi onto it... Or that it will run with acceptible performance.

    VMware VCP4

    Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.