VMware Communities: Message List - SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Re: SG45H7 running VMware ESX 4.0.0 Build 164009

AlbertChurba — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:35:51 GMT

vSphere CLI 4.0 was obtained from http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli/ then clicking the Downloads link. (It was hard for me to find this link and the host's link points to some non-existent page at VMWare!)

The Windows version was installed on an XP SP3 machine running under Fusions on a MAC. Maintenance mode needs to be enabled on the ESXi host. This was accomplished in the vSphere client <host>/Summary tab Commands section.

Per the directions, the file named INT-intel-lad-ddk-igb-1.3.19.12-offline_bundle-166506.zip was extracted from the ISO image. For simplicity this was extracted to the tools default installation directory C:\Program Files\VMWare\VMWare vSphere CLI\bin.

Now that the host and file are ready, the command was run from DOS in the above bin directory:
-one line start-
vihostupdate.pl --server x.x.x.x --username root --install --bundle INT-intel-lad-ddk-igb-1.3.19.12-offline_bundle-166506.zip
-one line end-
The above command process took just under three minutes to complete. The x.x.x.x value is the IP of your ESXi host installation. The script prompted for the password when run.

I did a clean install (to a USB flash drive) and applied the update. What was noticed is that the pci.ids and simple.map file did not include the updated device descriptions meaning that vSphere listed the card as unknown (but it still loaded the driver). Adding the entries to the files will then yield a normal naming convention at vSphere. The attached file is taken from the sourceforge project listed in my above post but be aware that the update version is newer than the projects posting. It is assumed that the later VMWare version of the file would also include 1.3.19.3 descriptions and card support.

Dave, I want to thank you for your help in this matter. You deserve the Expert rating!

Re: SG45H7 running VMware ESX 4.0.0 Build 164009

Dave.Mishchenko — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:59:42 GMT

Have you tried the driver update - http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/drivercd/esx40-net-igb_400.1.3.19.12-1.0.4.html

Re: SG45H7 running VMware ESX 4.0.0 Build 164009

AlbertChurba — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:41:26 GMT

When issuing:
vmkload_mod /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/igb.o

The messages file contains the entry:
WARNING: Mod: 3117: Module <igb> already loaded, aborting.

The attached excerpt of /var/log/messages (during boot process) is attached for additional review.

Re: SG45H7 running VMware ESX 4.0.0 Build 164009

Dave.Mishchenko — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:05:59 GMT

If you manually load the driver (vmkload_mod /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/<driver> what sort of output do you get in /var/log/messages?

Re: SG45H7 running VMware ESX 4.0.0 Build 164009

AlbertChurba — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:42:57 GMT

Erik,

Would you be kind enough to share how you were able to install the Quad Port 82576 network adapter in ESXi 4 build 164009?

I have tried the pci.ids and simple.map method (oem.tgz) but the network card does not function. I'm actually using the Intel card and not the Supermicro card if that makes a difference.

Product:
http://support.intel.com/products/server/adapters/gb-ET-Quad-Port/gb-ET-Quad-Port-overview.htm

pci.ids entry (numerically inserted within the list):
8086 10e8 82576 Gigabit Network Connection
8086 a02c Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter

simple.map entry (numerically inserted within the list):
8086:10e8 0000:0000 network igb.o

When I issue the lspci or lspci -n or lspci -v everything looks correct yet the card does not show up in vSphere nor function. When viewing the log it states the driver has not claimed any devices. Searching for a more recent driver, the sourceforge project http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=42302&package_id=237808 has an updated driver 1.3.19.3 yet I am not skilled in complying a driver for use in ESXi.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Albert

Re: SG45H7 running VMware ESX 4.0.0 Build 164009

Erik Bussink — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:43:45 GMT

I have successfully installed VMware ESX 4.0.0 Build 164009 on a Shuttle SG45H7.

My Shuttle SG45H7 is configured with a Xeon 3350 (@2.66Ghz), 8GB (4x2GBKingston) and a SuperMicro AOC-SG-i4 4xGigabit PCIexpress card (4xIntel 82576). The SATA is configured as AHCI.

I installed VMware ESX 4.0.0 using the Text installer.

FYI: I have not tried the Shuttle SG45H7 with 4x4GB memory sticks, and some people are reporting issues with 16GB on the US Shuttle forum.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

blackforce — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:27:24 GMT

I have tested vSphere 4 on a ML115 G1 and it works fine. Nice

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

devzero — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:31:29 GMT

sil3114 will not work with esx in raid mode and you cannot have vmfs on sil3114 attached disks

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

lk5246 — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:08:46 GMT

did

Silicon Image 3114 work with raid with two hdd

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Grimfish — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:29:03 GMT

Hi dodgyd,

No Probs, just a quick tip the LSI controller only supports 2 LUNS (I only recently found this out while playing around and is a bit of a limitation). Also on the board are 12 SATA ports, I will assume you are fluent with hardware so I won't go into detail however, there are 2 sets of 4 ports that attach to the LSI controller the other 4 attach to the Intel ICHR7 controller. The ports that attach to the LSI controller are split into two groups (Primary and Secondary). Make sure your disk layout doesn't combine a single LUN ove the 2 LSI controller channels. This will result in a very slow disk performance in ESX.

e.g. SATA ports 0-3 set up as 1 LUN and SATA ports 4-7 set up as the second LUN. (Not sure how many disks you plan to use so this may not be an issue).

Also I am still investigating installing the ASUS web site LINUX drivers into ESX as this may include the support to enable the cache in the controller as this is not a BIOS setable item, I am hoping this will give even better performance in ESX. As far as I can see so far you only get this option when you install the LSI management software in a windows OS. Please feel free to PM me if you want more info.

All in all you will find it to be a very good MB. I have been plying with heaps of different stuf MS OS's, LINUX OS's, Citrix XEN Server and ESX and each time it performs nicely .

Cheers

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Grimfish — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:15:11 GMT

Hi meisterw,

Have you tried the lastest ESXi version as VMware have only just released ICH10 chipset support in release ESXi Update 4. Also have a look at these sites as they offer some really good tips for getting ESXi to run on non HCL hardware. I recently installed ESXi on an AMD board with an nForce chipset that ESXi didn't see the storage on under normal circumstances. PM me if you need extra help on it. Here are the web pages I found very helpful.

http://www.squishnet.com/?p=17 How to install for USB (This saved me burning about 20 odd useless CD's)

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php This is the site that has many details about the whole process (scroll down a bit and have a good read)

http://www.acronymlabs.com/ This is the site to get the customized OEM.TGZ file. The people that wrote these files are pure genius (I am only spreading the word of their excellent work)

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php A useful tip if needed but the above should help most.

In short you boot from a USB drive with the custom OEM.TGZ file, this allows you to see the storage during the install process. When this completes I used a Ubuntu CD to boot and DELETED (yes delete first) then copied over the custom OEM.TGZ file to hypervison1 partion then rebooted again and presto!!! working ESXi

Good luck

Cheers

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

kriewald — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:55:06 GMT

In der Zeit vom 27.04.2009 bis 11.05.2009 bin ich nicht im Hause. Ihre Mail wird nicht automatisch weitergeleitet.

In Angelegenheiten der Verwaltungs-IT wenden sie sich bitte an meine Vorgesetzte Frau Jentzen-Ang.

Die Bearbeitung aller Angelegenheiten des Personalrats erfolgt durch die stellvertretenden Vorsitzenden. Übersicht und Kontaktdaten finden sie hier: http://www.fh-hannover.de/pr/mitglieder/index.html

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Kai-Uwe Kriewald

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

dodgyd — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:46:11 GMT

Grimfish

Many thanks for the info. I have just ordered 2 P5BV/SAS MBs for ESXi.

Cheers

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

YuvarajGopal — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:21:13 GMT

hi Maish

After i hit the Enter(Install) option in vmware ESX3I install CD - I got the following error message.

VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 Installer

Installation operation Failed!

The installation operation has encountered a fatal error:

Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 image to.

The following system information will assist the VMware support team with your problem. Please record this information before proceeding.

System Information:

Manufacturer: IBM

Model: eserver xSeries 335

BIO Rev: http://T2E127AUS-11.08-

(Enter) Reboot

Yuvaraj

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

maishsk — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:18:25 GMT

I was installing ESX3i not the full version of ESX - Can you please post your error?

Maish
Systems Administrator & Virtualization Architect
http://technodrone.blogspot.com

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Stive — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:22:50 GMT

Ich bin bis am 27.04.09 nicht im Hause. Anfragen bitte an Helpdesk Network (helpdesk@pc-ware.ch) weiterleiten!

Besten Dank

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

YuvarajGopal — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:13:07 GMT

hi Maish,

I am having the same hardware like you, but im having difficulties installing vmware esx, Seems like some hard disk issue.

I booted up with vmware esx CD, i just got the yellow screen after that got a message like "Unable to install" - seems like hard disk some RAID issue. I dont have the exact error in handy. But i can try again - if you get any clue.

Yuvaraj

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

devzero — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:37:22 GMT

I assume it's hardware.

oh - all my sata controllers are hardware, btw

just kidding.

to be honest, to check if it`s hardware or software issue is easy - just install linux or windows and check if it runs there without problems.
if not, it`s most likely a hardware issue.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

randy.overton — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:12:03 GMT

I bought the SATA300 TX4 (pci 32bit) you mentioned below and installed it but I get a kernel panic. Any ideas what might be happening. I assume it's hardware.

Thanks

Randy

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

jlemr — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:41:37 GMT

I'm trying to install ESXi 3.5 on a supermicro P8SCI. SATA 80GB HD, no raid

I get the fatal 'no device' error.

If I alt-f1 to the console, and type lspci, it sees the controller, an intel IH6, but fdisk -l shows nothing. How can I get ESXi to see the drive if it sees the controller?

Thanks!

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:28:08 GMT

Hi,

strange it worked when i tested it... long time ago...

Intel SCRS28x / PCI-X 8xSATA Firmware rev. 814D RaidBIOS H431
http://www.intel.com/design/servers/raid/srcs28x/index.htm

/etc/vmware/pciid/megaraid2.xml

<device id="0409:8086:3008">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>megaraid2</driver>
</vmware>
<name>LSI Logic MegaRAID SATA</name>
<table file="pcitable" module="megaraid2">
<desc>LSI Logic|MegaRAID</desc>
</table>
<table file="pcitable.Linux" module="megaraid2">
<desc>LSI Logic SATA|MegaRAID SATA</desc>
</table>
</device>

which version are you using... i tested it win 3.5 no update back then.

Reinhard.

Reinhard Partmann,

A new message was posted in the thread "SATA Support Clear as Mud!?":

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1191792#1191792

Author : itpro_
Profile : http://communities.vmware.com/people/itpro_
Message:

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

itpro_ — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:05:58 GMT

Well I didn't see the file from the diagnostic shell, but with live linux it worked. However, no matter what I enter, ESX doesn't work with Intel SCRS28X.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

itpro_ — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:48:43 GMT

Hi rpartmann,

I don't see megaraid2.xml in /etc/vmware... actually, there is no folder pciid inside /etc/vmware/

or am I doing something wrong?!

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

meisterw — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:23:54 GMT

Hi WieslawDalmer

I have now the Gigavyte EG45M-DS2H too, but the how u can install ESX(i) on it?

My esxi installation hangs, where i can choose "repair""install""ESC"

The Full ESX cant detect the Storage.

regards

meisterw

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Grimfish — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 03:41:47 GMT

Hi Devzero,

I think by looking at the shuttle it will work but with a few exceptions. The Intel ICH10 controller is ESX compatible so SATA disks will work however, the NIC is a Marvell so it will need disabling in bios. Also it is likely that the IDE devices are not connected to the Intel chip either so you will need a SATA DVD drive for the install of ESX, you can leave it in there but it takes up a SATA port for an additional disk.

Lastly the RAID feature of the Intel ICH10 is FAKE raid so it will not work in ESX. It will only show as JBOD.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Grimmy

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

devzero — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:02:11 GMT

anybody successfully running ESX3.5 (not ESXi) on Shuttle SG45H7 barebone (http://global.shuttle.com/product_detail_spec.jsp?PI=1131# ) ?

as asus asus p3-p5g33 isn`t available anymore (wanted that because of http://www.thincomputing.net/articles/my-ultimate-esx-whitebox-small-aesthetically-pleasing-and-under.html) i`m desparately seeking for another neat barebone which supports at least 8gb and quad cpu.

unfortunately, it`s damn hard to find one.

most barebones only have 2 slots for ram and for those with more, i have a hard time finding information if esx will run on that.

SG45H7 looks like a promising replacement, even better: you can have 16gb ram in that box.

maybe somebody has a recommendation for another small ESX box with at least 8gb ram and quad cpu ?

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

WieslawDalmer — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:55:01 GMT

Esx 3.5 on Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H - sata ICH10 works

in bios set Sata as AHCI

add:

<device id="3a22">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>ahci</driver>
</vmware>
<name>82801JI (ICH10 Family) SATA AHCI Controller</name>
</device>

to the file /etc/vmware/pciid/ahci.xml

exectuce command esxcfg-pciid, then restart ESX server.

New disks should be accesible from ESX.

How to find device_id ???, best way is to use linux with updated pci.ids - http://pciids.sourceforge.net/

Regards,

Wieslaw

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Stive — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:08:30 GMT

Ich bin zur Zeit nicht im Hause. Anfragen bitte an Helpdesk Network (helpdesk@pc-ware.ch) weiterleiten!

Besten Dank

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

baljitbasra — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:04:47 GMT

Would ESX 3.5 (Not U1 -U3) work?

Also come across this site -

http://www.the-tekky.com/wordpress/?p=136

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

bbobb7 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:27:24 GMT

So we have 2 problems

ML115G with ESXi - SATA recognised for VMFS but poor performance

ML115G with ESX - SATA recognised after hack and great performance, but causes SCSI errors and eventually hangs ...

If we could fix either problem I would be a very happy bunny ...

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

blackforce — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:49:43 GMT

it aint the disks. If it was you would get the same results with non update 3. I have even tried 2 discs one which isn't a seagate. Same with both

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

bbobb7 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:05:22 GMT

could be, but the disks work just fine when used as a VMFS datastore with ESXi ?

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

dwholland — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:30:48 GMT

Seagate drives and bad firmware?

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=storage&articleId=9126280&taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_top

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

bbobb7 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:59:49 GMT

Looks like this may be a lot cause, I might just pull the disks and run a storage server instead, probably OpenFiler or FreeNAS, what I dont understand though is why the disk would work briefly ? longest I have managed is about 20 minutes, it could be some sort of timeout issue ? cache issue ?

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

blackforce — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:21:17 GMT

I have a ML115 G1. I only run 3.5. I tried installing 3.5 u2 but I get the offline too.

I think they have changed the driver or something in the build. The reason why I think this is :-

In 3.5 build when installing it creates VMFS on the SATA disk. When it reboots after install you get "Mount Root Failed"

In update 2 it does not allow you to create VMFS. However it does boot up successfully after install with no errors.

Maybe in the later builds it is detecting the controller as an IDE controller. Maybe we should look for the reference of the controller in other controller files and remove them. 037f for example.

Just a thought

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

baljitbasra — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:11:25 GMT

I've been searching long and hard and found no one. People are mainly using ESXi on USB stick, but then they are suffering from poor disk IO. I also really want to get this to work as the server is just sitting there.

Do you think it's worth just installing version ESX v 3.5. Not 3.5 u1, u2, or u3?

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

bbobb7 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:06:14 GMT

I wish I knew, I tried a brand new disk with a new VMFS, this lasted about 20 minutes before falling offline, my guess is that we may not have the right driver ?

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has ESX Update 3 running on their ML115 G5 from local disk (non-raid) ...

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

baljitbasra — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:49:17 GMT

What do you think could be the issue with the disk going offline?

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

bbobb7 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:20:25 GMT

He didn't, there are a few mistakes (bugs), I now have it fixed and working, give me 30 minutes and i'll post the updated script.

This may be pointless though, I now have the controller detected and can see my storage but I get a major offline error basically as soon as you start accessing the disk it goes offline and ESX hangs

#/bin/bash
#
# original author: Reinhard Partmann
# author: Kashif Ali
# author: bbobb7
# date created: 2007-12-17
# date modified: 2009-01-22
# version: 0.3a
#
# Version history
#
# version 0.2: Initial version by Reinhard Partmann
# version 0.2a: Changed the XML file settings by Pascal de Wild
# version 0.3: Updated script for ML115 G5 Opteron Quad Core, also updated for ESX 3.5.0_Update_3-123630
# Also now created variables for values that will probably change during update releases.
# version 0.3a: Fixed bugs, Missing $, head now works & echo of bash, added simple instructions, reminder
# to reboot twice.
#
######################
#
# Instructions for Use
#
# 1. Install ESX Server 3.5 Update 3 - Build 123630
# 2. From Console, Navigate to the ssh folder, cd /etc/ssh
# 3. Open the sshd_config file with a text editor, eg: vi or nano.
# 4. Go to the line where it says PermitRootLogin no (about line 32) and change the no to yes
# 5. Save the file and restart the sshd service: service sshd restart
# 6. Download WinSCP - http://winscp.net/eng/download.php
# 7. Start Winscp and connect to ESX IP Address, username root, password (whatever you set)
# 8. Copy esx-sata-ml115_3a.sh to /tmp directory
# 9. Download PuTTy - http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
# 10. Start PuTTy and connect to ESX IP Address, username root, password (whatever you set)
# 11. Enter cd /tmp
# 12. Enter chmod a+x esx-sata-ml115_3a.sh
# 13. Enter ./esx-sata-ml115_3a.sh
# 14. When ready reboot ESX Server
# 15. Connect VI Client to ESX Server check for Storage Adapter
# 16. Reboot Again if Adapter not available.
# 17. Enjoy .....

### Variable for HD and Partitions ###

HD="hda"
BOOT=1
ROOT=5

### INIT IMAGE NAMES ####

INITRD_IMAGE="initrd-2.4.21-57.ELvmnix.img"
COPY_INITRD_IMAGE="initrd-2.4.21-57.ELvmnix.img.gz"
echo "creating directories..."
mkdir -p /mnt/eboot
mkdir -p /mnt/eroot

echo "mounting.."
mount /dev/$HD$BOOT /mnt/eboot
mount /dev/$HD$ROOT /mnt/eroot
mount | grep $HD

echo "copying original initrd file..."
mkdir -p /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/extracted
cp /mnt/eboot/$INITRD_IMAGE /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/$COPY_INITRD_IMAGE
cd /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd

echo "unpacking & mounting original initrd file..."
gunzip -f $COPY_INITRD_IMAGE
mount $INITRD_IMAGE extracted -t ext2 -o loop
cd /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/extracted/etc/vmware

echo "changing simple.map..."
echo "10de:037f 0000:0000 sata_nv.o" >> simple.map

cd /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/

umount extracted
echo "replacing original initrd file..."
gzip --best $INITRD_IMAGE
mv /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/$COPY_INITRD_IMAGE /mnt/eboot/

# Use /bin/cp to stop asking about overwriting (backup old initrd)
/bin/cp /mnt/eboot/$INITRD_IMAGE /mnt/eboot/BACKUP-$INITRD_IMAGE
/bin/cp /mnt/eboot/$COPY_INITRD_IMAGE /mnt/eboot/$INITRD_IMAGE

echo "patching xml files"

cd /mnt/eroot/etc/vmware/pciid
lines=`wc -l sata_nv.xml | awk ' { print $1 } '`
echo "lines: $lines"
(( lines -= 2))
echo "subtr lines: $lines"
mv sata_nv.xml sata_nv.xml.old
head -$lines sata_nv.xml.old > sata_nv.xml

echo " <device id=\"037f\">" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " <vmware label=\"scsi\">" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " <driver>sata_nv</driver>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " </vmware>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " <name>MCP55 SATA Controller</name>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " </device>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " </vendor>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo "</pcitable>" >> sata_nv.xml

touch /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo '#!/bin/bash' >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo "esxcfg-pciid" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo "sleep 5" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo "rm /etc/rc3.d/S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
chmod a+x /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
cd /mnt/eroot/etc/rc3.d/
ln -s ../init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot

echo "cleanup..."
cd /
rm -f -r /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd
umount /mnt/eboot
umount /mnt/eroot
rm -f -r /mnt/eboot
rm -f -r /mnt/eroot

echo "Please Reboot Twice..."

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

baljitbasra — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:48:00 GMT

I have the same issue and was going to install ESXi instead on the USB but i really want to get ESX installed.

I don't understand how xx213421312 got it working using that script.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

bbobb7 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:59:14 GMT

Hi

I hope you have time to help with a litle troubleshooting ?

I have recently purchased 2 HP ML115G5s with 8GB Ram, they are superb little boxes and happily run ESXi from a USB key, I have however discovered that the disk performance is pretty poor, my assumption is that this may be to do with driver support etc ?

I have been looking for a way to get the 'full fat' version of ESX working, although as you know it installs we cannot however see the internal SATA controller.

It is at this point that I discovered a few scripts that should work but were designed for Update 1 and 2, I would love to be able to get Update3 working and as such have been trying ot get your script to work ...

I have moved the script to the local hardrive, changed permissions and executed, the script runs fine until the following section

echo "subtr lines: $lines"

I get something on teh screen that reads subtr 56 and then it just hangs, any thoughts on what might be going wrong ?

I am using the latest Update 3 Build and running the script whilst logged physically into the Service Console

Thanks

#/bin/bash

# original author: Reinhard Partmann
# author: Kashif Ali
# date created: 2007-12-17
# date modified: 2008-12-03
# version: 0.2a
#
# Version history
#
# version 0.2: Initial version by Reinhard Partmann
# version 0.2a: Changed the XML file settings by Pascal de Wild
# version 0.3: Updated script for ML115 G5 Opteron Quad Core, also updated for ESX 3.5.0_Update_3-123630
# Also now created variables for values that will probably change during update releases.
#
#
### Variable for HD and Partitions ###

HD="hda"
BOOT=1
ROOT=5

### INIT IMAGE NAMES ####

INITRD_IMAGE="initrd-2.4.21-57.ELvmnix.img"
COPY_INITRD_IMAGE="initrd-2.4.21-57.ELvmnix.img.gz"
echo "creating directories..."
mkdir -p /mnt/eboot
mkdir -p /mnt/eroot

echo "mounting.."
mount /dev/$HD$BOOT /mnt/eboot
mount /dev/$HD$ROOT /mnt/eroot
mount | grep $HD

echo "copying original initrd file..."
mkdir -p /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/extracted
cp /mnt/eboot/$INITRD_IMAGE /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/$COPY_INITRD_IMAGE
cd /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd

echo "unpacking & mounting original initrd file..."
gunzip -f $COPY_INITRD_IMAGE
mount $INITRD_IMAGE extracted -t ext2 -o loop
cd /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/extracted/etc/vmware

echo "changing simple.map..."
echo "10de:037f 0000:0000 sata_nv.o" >> simple.map

cd /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/

umount extracted
echo "replacing original initrd file..."
gzip --best $INITRD_IMAGE
mv /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/$COPY_INITRD_IMAGE /mnt/eboot/

# Use /bin/cp to stop asking about overwriting (backup old initrd)
/bin/cp /mnt/eboot/$INITRD_IMAGE /mnt/eboot/BACKUP-$INITRD_IMAGE
/bin/cp /mnt/eboot/$COPY_INITRD_IMAGE /mnt/eboot/INITRD_IMAGE

echo "patching xml files"

cd /mnt/eroot/etc/vmware/pciid
lines=`wc -l sata_nv.xml | awk ' { print $1 } '`
echo "lines: $lines"
(( lines -= 2))
echo "subtr lines: $lines"
mv sata_nv.xml sata_nv.xml.org
head -$lines > sata_nv.xml

echo " <device id=\"037f\">" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " <vmware label=\"scsi\">" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " <driver>sata_nv</driver>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " </vmware>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " <name>MCP55 SATA Controller</name>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " </device>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo " </vendor>" >> sata_nv.xml
echo "</pcitable>" >> sata_nv.xml

touch /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo "#!/bin/bash" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo "esxcfg-pciid" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo "sleep 5" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo "rm /etc/rc3.d/S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
chmod a+x /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
cd /mnt/eroot/etc/rc3.d/
ln -s ../init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot

echo "cleanup..."
cd /
rm -f -r /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd
umount /mnt/eboot
umount /mnt/eroot
rm -f -r /mnt/eboot
rm -f -r /mnt/eroot

BoB

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

baljitbasra — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:56:42 GMT

Hi,

I also just bought a HP Proliant Ml115 G4 Quad Core Opteron but having difficult detecting the SATA Drive.

I installed ESX (not esxi) v3.5 update 3 and then copied the esx-sata-ml115.sh script using veam into /tmp and executed it but it failed.

I don't have /mnt/eroot. All i have under /nmt is cdrom.

What am i doing wrong. I also run the script in maintenance mode and normal mode.

TIA

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

roodyg — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:01:09 GMT

Ok, here is another one that works with ESX 3.5 (update 3 if that matters)...

ASrock A780FULLDISPLAYPORT 780G

I did have to go through this messy process:

1) configure the sata drive as ACHI in the Bios

2) try to install, it will fail,

3) reboot and change the BIOS setting from ACHI to Non-Raid

4) the SATA drive will be seen as an IDE drive and allow you to install.

5) You won't need to do anything else, the drive will mount fine even with an IDE CD/DVD rom attached

The system uses an Athlon X2 5000 dual core chip, a 160GB Western Digital SATA drive and has 8 GB of ram. I also had to add an Intel GigE card because the MB has a realtek onboard.

All told the system came in at about $350 US. I've already built a VM using NAS storage and an NAS ISO Image, and am installing a Windows Server on it.

Happy Days.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

dchateau — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:57:17 GMT

I have a 306m xSeries server. but.. i'm not sure how to disable IDE from BIOS with out disabling the CDROM...

How did you disable the ide controllers?

Will this work with out trying the script?

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

xx213421312 — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:34:29 GMT

Hi,

I have recently bought a HP ML115 Opteron Quad core. I have been reading this thread and found a script which sorts out the SATA issue. I have updated the script to cover ESX 3.5 update 3, I have also updated so you can run the script directly from the ESX service console (via ssh).

Once you have ssh'd onto the box, chmod +x <script filename>

edit the script if you need to change any values i.e initrd file name (I have created variables for HD names, partition number and initrd image names). The variables should make it easier to update the script for new versions of ESX.

File is attached

Regards

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

igurtin — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:04:37 GMT

Reinhard

Did You successfully installed ESX3.0 on HP XW8200 ?

Thank You

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

noahhomsky — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:25:24 GMT

Please help! I had Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus with six SATA drives. When I install ESX 3.5 U3 - I have problem:

I'm restart in service console,

edit /etc/vmware/pciid/sata_nv.xml (037e->037f)

esxcfg-pciid

esxcfg-boot -r

esxcfg-boot -b

reboot

... but on load ESX write:

Activating swap partitions: ... long time ... scsi: device might be offline - command error recovery failed: host 6 channel 0 is 0 lun 0

... and hanging but hard-drives are working.

When I wrong?

Sorry for my bad english

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Grimfish — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:50:40 GMT

Hi All,

I Just thought I would share another system that works out of the box for ESX 3.5. As I have mentioned in earlier posts I purchased an ASUS P5BV-SAS Mother board, I was using this as a file server and iSCSI target under Windows 2003 but decided to try it as an ESX server.

The Install works from an IDE CD Drive and every HDD drive was seen in ESX and can be used to run VM's from. The only limitation I found was the Intel ICH7R RAID setup. This type of RAID is commonly referred to as fake RAID and this means it requires OS drivers to facilitate the RAID. As a result ESX just sees the disks as JBOD despite being set as a mirror in the RAID BIOS.

The good news for this board is the LSI1068 SAS controller is a dedicated hardware RAID device and ESX will see the disks attached to it as s RAIDed set as they are set up in the BIOS. ASUS also have a RAID mode called RAID 1E. This is in essence a RAID 10 set up but can have upto 8 disks in the set. It also performs very well.

All in all the MB was about $400.00 Aust and I feel well worth the money. It is a low end server board that doesn't require (but can use) FB DIMM's and can run the CORE2/QUAD range of CPU's as well as XEON's. It also has the Broadcom GB NIC's and these are also seen by ESX 3.5

I hope this helps if someone is looking for a board that does it all direct from the box.

Cheers

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:09:13 GMT

Hi,

Nice One!

Reinhard

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

kaabol — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:10:34 GMT

Hi Reinhard,

For HP DC7800 CMT:

Just solved an issue using onboard SATA-controller with ESXi 3.5.

By using the SATA ports 4 and 5 (Orange and light-blue) the disks are discovered as sdx-devices.

Hope someone will find this helpfull.

Regards,
Kenneth

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

a3h — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:48:06 GMT

How did you het esx 3.5 installed. I am getting a kernel panic after i hit the enter key for graphic installation

ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3800+
6GB GEIL RAM
1 x Samsung HD743LJ 750GB SATA hard drives
DVDRW IDE drive
GeForce 4MX AGP graphics card
Intel Pro1000MT NIC

Esx3i form usb stick is working fine

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

virgilwashere — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:18:24 GMT

jssoeldn wrote:Neither an old 3ware 8006-2LP nor a brand new 9650SE-2LP seem to work.
I guess we're out of luck.

I hope this isn't a repeat...but 3ware 9650SE-2LP is now supported according to http://www.3ware.com/KB/article.aspx?id=14922

9650SE series products - While not officially tested with the 9650SE, the 9.5.0.2 code set should work okay with VMware ESX Server v3.5 (kernel 2.4.21-47.EL). VMware 3.02 Update 1 and VMware 3.5 Update 2 are supported with the 9.5.1 code set.

9690SA series products - VMware ESX Server v3.5 (kernel 2.4.21-47.EL) are supported with the 9.5.0.2 code set. VMware 3.02 Update 1 and VMware 3.5 Update 2 are supported with the 9.5.1 code set. It is not possible to upgrade from VMware 3.5 Update 1 to VMware 3.5 Update 2. If you want to use VMware 3.5 Update 2 you must install it fresh.

None of the VMware support is VMware certified. VMware 3.5 Update 2 certified support will be available in the future.

For VMware ESXi Server v3.5 Update 2 support, see KB article 15416 http://www.3ware.com/kb/article.aspx?id=15416 .

Virgil

Message was edited by: virgilwashere to include VI3.5 U2 information

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

kugutsu — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:02:49 GMT

hi

Many thanks! It works correctly.

I modified /etc/fstab.
UUID= ----> /dev/sdaX

thank you.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:39:24 GMT

hi,

well thing is that the disk drive will be detected without gosata as
IDE and with SCSI.
So it could be that any startup script references to hdXY instead of sdXY.

bye,
Reinhard.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

kugutsu — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:11:25 GMT

Hi

This problem is displayed each time. It was not displayed when only ESX was installed. It is displayed after executing gosata.sh.
The result was the same although I repeated this.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:22:11 GMT

Hi rpartman

root@esx02 root# cat /proc/swaps
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/sda3 partition 554232 0 -1
root@esx02 root#

hi,

well i would say your system (COS) has as swap partition and it is
active but not used.
not too bad, ... does the error occur at each startup , or ist it gone now?

reinhard.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

kugutsu — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:46:06 GMT

Hi rpartman

~~root@esx02 root~~# cat /proc/swaps
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/sda3 partition 554232 0 -1
~~root@esx02 root~~#

~~root@esx02 root~~# mount
/dev/sda2 on / type ext3 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
usbdevfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbdevfs (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext3 (rw)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/sda5 on /var/log type ext3 (rw)

~~root@esx02 root~~# cat /etc/fstab
UUID=a2106a3e-54e3-491e-ac79-d301b770af79 / ext3 defaults 1 1
UUID=f74004d5-53c3-4efc-ba30-7097df1fca98 /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
UUID=e8e41456-9965-497d-8c45-811101e62f4f /var/log ext3 defaults 1 2
UUID=f918c64a-266c-4f73-b107-1e082ad6cbb0 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0

~~root@esx02 log~~# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14 650 5116702+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 651 719 554242+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda4 720 19457 150512985 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 720 973 2040223+ 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 60801 488384001 83 Linux

Disk /dev/hdg: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdg1 * 1 60801 488384001 83 Linux

Disk /dev/hde: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hde1 * 1 60801 488383968+ fb Unknown

Disk /dev/hda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 14 650 5116702+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 651 719 554242+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda4 720 19457 150512985 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 720 973 2040223+ 83 Linux

160GB SATA-HDD x 1 (/ /boot /var/log)
500GB SATA-HDD x 2 vmfs

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:36:12 GMT

hi,

what says: cat /proc/swaps

i get ...

~~root@v073:~~~cat /proc/swaps
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/sda5 partition 554200 0 -1
~~root@v073:~~~

bye r.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

hanadaa — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:57:46 GMT

Hi, Partmann

please help me

Although I validated SATA using gosata.sh, after rebooting ESX, the following error messages will be displayed. and shown "Activating swap FAIL" in booting process.
(ML115 G5 and ESX3.5update2)

VMNIX: (0)scsi; device set offline - command error recovery failed: host 3 channel 0 id 0 lun 0

but, swap-partition working correctly.

thank you.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

maishsk — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:12:22 GMT

Intel Pro 1000 Cards works fine!!

Maish
Systems Administrator & Virtualization Architect

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

marius — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:03:25 GMT

Can anybody please provide the model of an additional network interface that works on a DC 7800?
Regards
Marius

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Grimfish — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:03:55 GMT

Hi Future2000,

Please let me know how you go with the MS Hypervisor, after I get my VCP I am looking to study that myself. As for performance with a couple of SATA disks, it'll be fine. That was how I had mine untill I did the iSCSI target and RAID disks and I only had 1 HDD. I only justified the cost of the extra server as I use it to hold all my important files as well for my day to day home stuff as it's nice to have the redundany in the disks, a little more peace of mind.

I am not sure what exam options are out your way but they have recently released a fast track VCP course in Australia that combines the "Install and Configure" as well as the "Deploy, Secure and Analyze" together over 5 days. I think this is a better option as it gives you the choice of exams to sit. From what I have seen (i have been studying the 3.0 course ware) the install and configue is relatively easy to learn. Just something to keep in mind.

Best of luck with the rig.

Chers

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

future2000 — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:51:36 GMT

great news. I've literally just brought the box and built it a couple of evenings ago. I have the next 4 days of so I'm going to install Server 2008 and test the hypervisor virtualisation out before trying ESX. I've bid for an Intel Pro 1000 desktop adaptor on ebay so hopefully I'll get that soon. My main interest is to use this system for study purposes. I'm planning on taking my MCSE 2003 upgrade to 2008 TS exam in a few months and my old PC just hasn't had the power I need to run the virtual environments I need too. We use VMWare a lot at work and that's something I'm really looking at getting a lot better at using, perhaps thinking of the VCP qualification next year some time so being able to run ESX on this system is great!

As I can't quite justify the cost of another PC yet I'll probably just chuck in a couple more SATA drives for the time being and try to distribute the disk i/o from the VM's across a number of disks. Hopefully they will still perform ok.

Keep the posts coming, and I'll check out the blog!

Regards

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Grimfish — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:15:15 GMT

Hi Future2000,

Glad it was of assistance, yes I have it all up and running and have had since my original post, It runs like a dream given the cost and that it is aimed at being a lab box. Just remeber not to use the PATA controller and the Network card onboard as they are not supported but if you follow my original post you should be ok. The local disk/s will be seen as SCSI storage (don't use the intel raid either) so you can run all your VM's locally if you want to get started straight away. Also as a side note I have put in two Gigabit Network controllers, 1 PCIe and 1 PCI (both intel) and they both work properly (the PCIe a little faster IMO).

As for iSCSI, I desperatly wanted to use the Thecus as I really like the unit but gave up waiting on a firmware that supported the correct iSCSI functions. A bit later in this forum I mentioned I purchased a low end ASUS P5BV/SAS server board and use the LSI onboard controller to run a raid 1E (LSI Special raid) and deliver iSCSI via MS Windows sevrer 2003 and a software package.

This works very well for running VM's, at the moment I have 6 VM's running: MS Small Business server 2003, MS Exchange 2007 on x64, 3 * Server 2003 std as terminal servers etc, and an XP machine. It still has plenty of head room available to run more VM's if needed, and I am looking at starting some server 2008 work with it soon. The only time it struggles is during big disk I/O operations such a VM clone but even then is doesn't take too long to finish.

I haven't tried HA and DRS as yet as I haven't had the need to buy a second machine to run in a cluster as yet, also we have ESX set up at work so I have had a play HA etc there. I am positive it would work without issue if you went the whole hog.

In the not too distant futire I will be writing about it a blogs.grimfish.com and putting up some more info and photo's so if you interested head on over in a little while and have a look (it's still under construction at the moment).

I hope that covers it all

Cheers

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

future2000 — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:02:12 GMT

Thanks for your post, great reading. I've just purchased a ASUS V3 P5 G33 barebones, popped in a Quad core 2.4Ghz Q6600 and 8Gb of RAM. I was hoping this would support ESX 3.5 and having read your post I'm pretty sure I won't have any issues. Let me know how you get on with the iSCSI support as that is something I will want to add in due course.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Dave.Mishchenko — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:25:37 GMT

See this page for getting the PCI ID - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

bezza — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:15:56 GMT

Thanks for that. I am sorry I do not know. Device manager just says Nvidia raid controller. Where would i find that information?I have disabled the raid now and it makes no difference.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Dave.Mishchenko — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:13:50 GMT

Welcome to the VMware Community forums. Do you know what sort of storage controller your system has? With the lower end nVidia MCP / Intel ICH models, the drivers that come with ESX / ESXi do not support RAID, so I would first remove that. The script / methods in this script will not work with ESXi due to some differences in architecture, but it may still be possible to get your server working.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

bezza — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:02:27 GMT

Hi There

I am new to IT and very much a novice so please help me.

I have a ML115 G1 with three SATA drives in Raid 5. When I load the boot CD I get the em "Unable to find supported device". From reading this blog I understand that it is down to firstly my sata drives and secondly the fact that I have set them up in RAID5. I have never used linux but intend to learn so the scripting looks like latin to me. Can you give me some advice on the easiest way for me to get ESX up and running (drop raid 5 or buy a supported raid card) or will it be just too complicated for a newbee?

I also now realise this is the ESX 3.5 forum and not ESXi but I guess the issues are the same?

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

maishsk — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:24:48 GMT

I will add another config that I have working as of today..

Host
ESX3i U2

Hardware
IBM xSeries 335
2 Xeon 2.4Ghz CPU's
4Gb RAM
1x36gb SAS HD
LSI Logic / 53c1030 PCI-X Fusion-MPT Dual Ultra 320 SCSI Raid Adapter
2x Broadcom BCM5703 Nics

Maish
Systems Administrator & Virtualization Architect

Forgot to add which ESX platform..... oops

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

dmarsh22 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:19:25 GMT

UPDATE... I pluged in BOTH a SATA and a legacy PATA hard drive... re-installed ESXi (I know this area is for ESX)... and installed onto the SATA drive... and after the reboot.. the (nvidia chipset) PATA is available as a "block SCSI" device and I am able to install and run virtual machines from the legacy IDE drive (which according to the documentation is not allowed)... STRANGE!

--Doug

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

kernel007 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:16:38 GMT

Got the Sil3512 to work on my PE600SC, A09 BIOS.
SATA controller: http://wwwsci-worx.com/products/product.aspx?id=29
PE600SC: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pe600sc/en/ug/1r234aa0.htm#1034878
Bought add-on RAM here: http://www.computermemoryoutlet.com/Dell-PowerEdge-600SC-memory.htm
My specs: 4GB RAM, WD SATA 500GB 7200RPM, 1.8 Celeron Proc., on ESX 3.5.
I might get one more HD to separate the OS with DataStore, as suppose to RAID1.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

dmarsh22 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:38:06 GMT

While some time has passed... I can partially confirm the hardware below -- In my case I am using ESXi 3.5u2 (patched 110271) from ISO.

The weirdness comes from offical documents

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php

...

nVidia Corporation

10de 0053 0000 0000 storage ide nForce4 Parallel ATA Controller

That is hardware I have (in addition to the crappy Sil 3114 sata_sil I think it was -- just can't get it to work / but the "NVRaid" which works under sata_nv -- but don't expect any RAID functions from either)

I can ONLY get ESXi 3.5u2 (Version 3.5 Update 2 | 110271) to recognize (and read/write) to the SATA_NV. I understand that the VMFS2/3 can only be used on SCSI like devices but according to various documents, I should still be able to install/boot ESXi 3.5 from legacy IDE drives. My thinking was to attempt iSCSI or NFS but the later releases seem to NOT support any legacy IDE for booting.

The REALLY weird thing is if you log into the console (during install) it not only see's the Legacy IDE drives, but reads the partitions that previously exist on them! The installer simply refuses to install to anything legacy!

I might just use a small P-IDE w/ SATA adapter and leave it at that. I wanted to experiment with NFS (and possible iSCSI) at home -- I have full ESX at work with SAN and would like to try another storage option.

--Doug

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:35:56 GMT

Hi,

strange my ML115 G1 works.... well have to try to start some vm´s ....

reinhard.

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

blackforce — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:42:21 GMT

If you look at my post a couple of pages back I get the same issue when using update 2. They must have changed something in the drivers. Mine crashes with the same error as soon as you put load on it.

I went back to update 1.

Before I did I tried diff HDD's everything same error.

Page 15 to be exact.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

johnyb62 — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:35:57 GMT

Sorry the above post was meant to be in response to rpartmann not blackforce.. Sorry guys finger trouble..

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

johnyb62 — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:34:06 GMT

Hi, firstly rpartmann - thanks for you help here... much appreciated...

Anyway here is my situation.Installed V3.5, used rpartmans script gosata.sh (0.61) as instructed - worked great. So now went to upgrade to V3.5U2, and I am having problems..

Used gosata.sh (V0.62) as instructed. When ESX booted, unknown vm's shown
So followed :-
1.) boot 3 option -> Serviceconsole only
2.) cd /etc/vmware/pciid
3.) vi sata_nv.xml , my last entry was already 037f so no need to change
(tried using spci and lspci -vnn to see if 037f was correct but could not see any reference here?)
4.) esxcfg-pciid
5.) esxcfg-boot -r
6.) esxcfg-boot -b
7.) reboot

Now I could see my VM's listed correctly in INfrasdtructure client, great. But went to run one, and got errors "The VI Client has lost the connection to the "192.168.0.100" server. Do you want to return to the login dialogue?" and pciture of ESX server attached....

Would appreciate any help in understanding how to address this. Thanks

BTW Using HP Proliant ML115

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

ms_1316 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:36:20 GMT

Hi guys,

Excellent thread and some very useful info in here.

I've just sold my ML370 G3 because despite being on the HCL I was unable to clone VM's. Whatever the reason, the only solution for me now is a whitebox given my budget and needs.

From what I've read, there are several boards that will support ESX 3.5 out of the box, and a few that would require additional storage cards or NICS. My question is, how would a standard motherboard get on if a supported RAID and NIC card was installed? Could you just run any motherboard and RAM, or are there restrictions?

I'm considering my options at the moment, and will either get an ASUS P5BV-E/SAS board, or go with a cheap board and stick in more drives / RAM.

Thanks in advance

Matt

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

excelsi — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:41:51 GMT

Hi,

my PC:

Mobo: Asus M2N AM2 Socket

CPU: AMD Opteron 1220 2,8 GHz Dualcore

RAM: 4GB DDR2 667 ECC

2 x 200GB Hitachi SATA Hard Drives

I cannot understand why the gosata script don't work on a fresh 3.5 ESX Installation without updates any more...

The hardware cant be the problem...ESXi works

Because of these problems I'm going work with ESXi or to install smallest Linux with VMware Server 2.0...its also a good performance.

Big Thanks altough

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:53:14 GMT

Hi,

yes now ;-D
mind is empty

bye,
Reinhard.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:53:13 GMT

Hi,

hmm weird, what PC are you running on?
Mine is hp ML115G1.

kind regards,
Reinhard

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

excelsi — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:18:51 GMT

Hi,

I tried your last suggestion.

I changed last "037e" to "037f" in sata_nv.xml and think this was correct.

lspci brought following output:

first one nvidia mcp ide controller 037e

then three nvidia mcp ide controller 037f

then i execute esxcfg-pciid, esxcfg-boot -r and esxcfg-boot -b

But the next reboot in normal mode was not sucessful: Many different errors in esxcfg-boot and other things (network doesn't start etc).

At the end esx hangs up at starting system logger.

Then i try to start the Service Console to correct the things back to default, but the console also hang up and esx reboot automaticly.

At the end the debug mode started, I changed back to "037e", execute esxcfeg-pciid but esxcfg-boot commands doesn't work.

Then reboot and the Service Console boots still with failure messages in esxcfg-boot and so i cannot execute esxcfg-boot commands anymore at the moment.

I hope you can overview my problems.....Questions everytime

PS: The last two days i tried the esxi u2 booted from an usb stick.

What about I'm wondering: There gives absolutely no problems with my hard drives at sata onboard.

After booting from usb and basic configuration, I only had to format my hardrives with VMFS3 Filesystem from VI Client.

Michael

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

excelsi — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:10:05 GMT

Hi,

I thoght my output was lost .....no problem

I'm only using the Service Console....how I sad: before some weeks there was no problems at executing the script.

But now I will try your last suggested way.

Did you also look at vmfs3queuetool.log?

Michael

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:58:31 GMT

Hi,

well there was you output (attachment) but not in my mail client ... sorry for that.

Are you using any LinuxBootCD or the ServiceConsole only boot option?
It seems that you shell has problems with that script....

bye,
reinhard.

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

blackforce — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:20:31 GMT

Have you tried running vms on it? I managed to get update 2 working on mine but had issues with the host crashing once vms running on it. Would be interested to know if u have vms working on it with a load.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:07:04 GMT

Hi,

sorry was busy and we had a public holiday.

1.) no console output.
2.) installed 3.5u2 in my ML115G1 (dont worry, onboard hdd will be
detected as hdaX)
3.) boot 3 option -> Serviceconsole only
4.) cd /etc/vmware/pciid
5.) vi sata_nv.xml
changed the last entry from 037e to 037f (this might be a different value
depends on your system..
use lspci and lspci
-vnn, to resolve)
<ESC> :wq! == write and exit
6.) esxcfg-pciid
7.) esxcfg-boot -r
8.) esxcfg-boot -b
9.) reboot
10.) esx is up and running

hope that helps,
Reinhard.

Author : excelsi
Profile : http://communities.vmware.com/people/excelsi
Message:

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

excelsi — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:14:15 GMT

Hi John,

i have applied the new fixed Update2 patches on my ESX.

The only problem is that i cannot execute the gosata script to get working my nvidia mcp sata onboard controller.

But I have told this problem and the failure messages to Reinhard.

Michael

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Alginon — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:57:04 GMT

Has anyone applied the new patches yet and if so were there any problems?

Regards

John

Please consider the environment, only print out this email if absolutely necessary.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

jmbabcock007 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:29:49 GMT

Hello, rpartmann.

when you said in your last post to check the xml files, do you mean to check each and every xml file in the etc/vmware/pciid folder? I did run the lspci -vnn command, and a lot of stuff came back. I did record all the numbers, not sure which ones exactly I need but I am assuming it is the id number. I checked the sata_nv.xml file and the correct numbers were in there, I think. The main number I need I believe is 037f, which is always there no matter what after I run the script to fix the initrd image file. It is strange though why this does not work for me, according the the website that lists working whitebox systems with ESX, my mother board is on there "Asus M2N-Sli Deluxe" and all the guy said he had to do was edit the sata_nv.xml file and add the number 037f.

So, after checking the sata_nv.xml file I ran the esxcfg-pciid and rebooted, still the same problem "cannot mount root". So I ran the fix script again and I am now waiting to try the next idea..........

I should note that when I booted up after fixing it once again, I paid close attention to the boot up and I noticed that the command that runs from the fix script "rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot" fails. I am wondering if that is the problem??

If I try to run that from the command line after I am booted in, it says it is an invalid command and the only one that works is the esxcfg-pciid.......

Any more ideas, or what files I could look at to determine what the problem is?

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

excelsi — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:31:30 GMT

Hi Reinhard,

now I'm totally confused....:-(

I reinstall my ESX completely new with version 3.5 without any updates.

Then i tried to execute both gosata versions (0.61 and 0.62).

The effect was that both scripts fail although at least version 0.61 goes perfect some weeks before.

I attached what the console gived out.....very strange...so probably a failure on myside

Michael

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:51:13 GMT

Hi,

check the xml files after your first boot.
if the correct pci id`s of your SATAcontroller (lspci -vnn) are
within the correct file then run esxcfg-pciid

then it should boot always.

reinhard.

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

jmbabcock007 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:08:52 GMT

No problem.

After I run the script to fix the initrd image and reboot, I am able to load vmware and configure it, etc. Then once I reboot, it is right back to the "cannot mount root" error and I am stuck at the sh prompt.

would it help if after I fix it and boot into console for the first time, if I ran the esxcfg-pciid once, would that fix it?

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:21:16 GMT

Hi,

the "-r" is a parameter for a command.
i thought incorrectly to an other command where "-r" is ok, but
esxcfg-pciid does not need any parameter.

what errors-messages exactly/how far - do you get?

bye,
reinhard

I tried to modify the script as you suggested but I must be doing
something wrong as it did not work.

I changed all the entries to look like this:

touch /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
echo "#!/bin/bash" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
echo "esxcfg-pciid" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
echo "sleep 5" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
echo "rm /etc/rc3.d/S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r" >>
/mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
chmod a+x /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
cd /mnt/eroot/etc/rc3.d/
ln -s ../init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r

Have I done something incorrectly?

yes, sorry for that

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

jmbabcock007 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:38:30 GMT

This post is for rpartmann,

I tried to modify the script as you suggested but I must be doing something wrong as it did not work.

I changed all the entries to look like this:

touch /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
echo "#!/bin/bash" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
echo "esxcfg-pciid" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
echo "sleep 5" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
echo "rm /etc/rc3.d/S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
chmod a+x /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r
cd /mnt/eroot/etc/rc3.d/
ln -s ../init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot-r

Have I done something incorrectly?

Thanks

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

excelsi — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:29:58 GMT

FYI....

	ESX/X.5 ate 2

EXTREMELY URGENT PROBLEM WITH ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2 – UPDATE

Dear VMware Customers,

Please
find the latest update about the product expiration issue. From this
point on, we’ll provide an update every two hours. Thanks.

Problem:

An
issue has been discovered by many VMware customers and partners with
ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2 where Virtual Machines fail to power on or
VMotion successfully. This problem began to occur on August 12, 2008
for customers that had upgraded to ESX 3.5 Update 2. The problem is
caused by a build timeout that was mistakenly left enabled for the
release build.

Affected Products:

VMware ESX 3.5 Update 2 & ESXi 3.5 Update 2
Reports of problems with ESX 3.5 U1 with the following 3.5 Update 2 patch applied.
1. ESX350-200806201-UG
No other VMware products are affected.

What has been done?

Product
and Web teams pulled the ESX 3.5 Update 2 bits from the download pages
last night so no more customers will be able to download the broken
build.
VMware Engineering teams have isolated the cause of the problem and are
working around the clock to deliver updated builds and patches for
impacted customers.
A Knowledgebase article has been published (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006716), but traffic to the knowledgebase is causing time outs. A new static page has been published at http://www.vmware.com/support/esx35u2_supportalert.html that customers and partners will be able to view.
The phone system has been updated to advise customers of the problem
Vmware partners have been notified of the issue.

Workarounds:

Do not install ESX 3.5 U2 if it has been downloaded from VMware’s website or elsewhere prior to August 12, 2008.
Set the host time to a date prior to August 12, 2008. This workaround
has a number of very serious side affects that could impact product
environments. Any Virtual Machines that sync time with the ESX host and
serve time sensitive applications would be broken. These include, but
are not limited to database servers, mail servers, & domain
administration systems.

Next Steps:
VMware to notify customers who have downloaded this version and provide
an update every two hours.

Resolution:

VMware
Engineering has isolated the root cause and is working to produce an
express patch for impacted customers today. The target timeframe is
6pm, August 12, 2008 PST.

FAQ:

What would this express patch do? \\\\ More information will be provided in subsequent communication updates.
Will VMware still reissue the upgrade media and patch bundles in the timeframe that has been communicated? \\\\ Yes. We still plan to reissue upgrade media by 6pm, August 13 PST
(instead of noon, August 13 PST) and all update patch bundles later in
the week. We will provide an ETA for the update patch bundles
subsequently. NOTE: the "patch bundles" referred to here are for the
patches listed above under "Affected Products" and the other bundles
released at GA. They are not the same as the express patch which is
targeted for 6pm, August 12, 2008 PST as stated above.
Why does VMware plan to reissue the upgrade media before the patch bundles? That is a wrong priority call! \\\\ This is not a matter of priority. Since we can get done building and
testing the upgrade media before the patch bundles, we want to make
that available to customers first instead of reissuing all the binaries
later in the week.
Can VMware issue a patch that opens the licensing backdoor in the next hour as a critical measure? \\\\ There is no licensing backdoor in our code.
Does this issue affect VC 2.5 Update 2? \\\\ No.
What is VMware doing to make sure that the problem won’t happen again? \\\\ We are making improvements on all fronts. The product team had
endeavored to deliver a release with support customers deem important.
But we fell short and we are deeply sorry about all the disruption and
inconveniences we have caused. We have identified where the holes are
and they will be addressed to restore customers’ confidence.

Never trust any update

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

excelsi — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:43:04 GMT

Hi Reinhard,

now i have copied the vmfsqueuetool.log from my esx where you find the detailed failure message

at esx bootup.

Thanks in advance.

Michael

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

jmbabcock007 — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:28:13 GMT

Ok, no problem. I will add the -r to everything and give it another try.

nice work on the script by the way, it definitely helps.......If it was not for the script, i would have been looking at buying something that would work with ESX out of the box.

tks

Jeremy

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

DanielGould — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:27:38 GMT

I'm running an ML115 with the internal SATA drives, with the nvidia RAID enabled (2 x 500GB SATA drives in a RAID-1 setup) using ESXi 3.5 and it works fine. I had issues with ESX 3.5 and it didn't like it. So, use ESXi 3.5 if you can

Dan

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

rpartmann — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:14:18 GMT

Hi,

i wrote a second mail,
sorry for the "-r" error on my side.

The snipplet below creates a script which is being started on startup.

reinhard.

Hello, thanks for the response. Just so I am understanding you
correctly, are you saying in your last post that all that needs to
be done is modify the entry in your script so that each line as the
-r added to it?

I am assuming this is the section of your script that I need to modify:

touch /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo "#!/bin/bash" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot echo "esxcfg-pciid" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot echo "sleep 5" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot echo "rm /etc/rc3.d/S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot chmod a+x /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot cd /mnt/eroot/etc/rc3.d/ ln -s ../init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot thanks

Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

jmbabcock007 — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Hello, thanks for the response. Just so I am understanding you correctly, are you saying in your last post that all that needs to be done is modify the entry in your script so that each line as the -r added to it?

I am assuming this is the section of your script that I need to modify:

touch /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo "#!/bin/bash" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot echo "esxcfg-pciid" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot echo "sleep 5" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot echo "rm /etc/rc3.d/S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot" >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot chmod a+x /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot cd /mnt/eroot/etc/rc3.d/ ln -s ../init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot thanks