No hardware sensors for Intel ST1200BTS

[oxblock]

I'm running ESXi 5.1 (free) on an Intel ST1200BTS.

For the most part, everything works great. But I cannot get any information from any of the hardware sensors, so no thermal readings, etc., etc.

In the vSphere client, under Health Status, I only see Processors & Software Components.

I've been googling about but can't seem to find anything about this issue. Am I missing something or are this board's hardware sensors unsupported?

[seetee]

I'm seeing the same thing across a number of Intel Serverboards as well - both Entry Level and SC5520HC etc

It all used to be ok with ESXi 4.1 - so it is more likely to be a VMWare thing than an Intel thing.  There may be a BIOS setting which needs to be enabled.

This also applies to the recent Ivy Bridge Intel Desktop Boards which can be used as ESXi 5.1 Labs due to the Virtualisation support - DQ77MK and DQ77KB

Sometimes you get to see Sensor Readings and then at other times you don't.

I'll be patching a couple of Intel environments this weekend.  What ESXi 5.1 build are you running?

[oxblock]

From Health Status:

• VMware, Inc. VMware ESXi 5.1.0 build-799733 2012-08-01 00:00:00.000
• Intel Corp. System BIOS S1200BT.86B.02.00.0040.092620121113 2012-09-26 00:00:00.000

I've also installed a community driver to allow ESXi to use the 2nd NIC on my board. But sesnor data was unavailable prior to that anyway.

[seetee]

Yes, i don't think that the Community Driver has any impact on this - i get the same results on the DQ77KB and DQ77MK Lab's which have exactly same NICs (Intel 82574L - which is idenfied by VMWare ESXi at install time - and the 82579LM which isn't) as your Intel Beartooth Pass Serverboard.

IMHO (I've said this in other threads) the S1200BTL shouldn't be on the VMWare HCL because VMWare don't provide support for the Intel 82579LM NIC......but the community driver is a good workaround.

The latest ESXi 5.1 build is 914609 which I'll apply to my above labs and see if there is any change to sensor data and will post the results.

btw, I'd update the BIOS to 41 - there is a known issue with packet loss on the 82579LM - which was identified and resolved by intel - some people have reported issues here with ESXi 5 with this Intel NIC independent of the driver......

[JarryG]

I think you can not get sensors-info because according to "technical product specification" ST1200BTS is missing integrated BMC (baseboard management controller). This is present on the "sister-board" ST1200BTL which I'm using so I see full set of information under "Health Status" (processors, memory, storage, voltage, temperature, fan, software components, power, chassis, watchdog).

I can only add my own complaint to "hardware compatibility list". If something is listed there, it should be either fully supported or sufficiently commented every limitation (i.e. not supported 2nd NIC).

[seetee]

Good catch JarryG.  I think what u say is correct.  Interestingly, patching to ESXi 5.1.0 Build 914609 seems to result in no "unknown" statuses in Configuration, Health Status - this applies to the DQ77KB lab and also a Shuttle S77 based Lab.

I'll patch an Intel Hanlon Creek (S5520HC) Server (has integrated BMC) running ESXi 5.1 to the latest and see if this fixes Health Status issues - there are a few people who have complained about this.....and it looks as though the issue may be resolved.

JarryG what ESXi 5.x version and build # are u running?

[JarryG]

ESXi 5.1.0 build 914609.

I'm not sure if I had health status info available right from the beginning of using 5.1, but I remember I also had to flash the latest bios to my motherboard because I needed support of new-gen cpus...

Anyway if my ST1200BTL (very low-end server board) supports hw-monitoring, your much higher placed S5520HC should support it too.

[oxblock]

Ah I see. I should have done my homework before picking the BTS (I'm kinda new to server parts, hence building this for learning).

Thanks for the help & info!

Btw, it's a bit of a long shot, but there isn't some sort of add-on hardware that I could add to access the hardware sensors is there?

Message was edited by: oxblock added follow up question