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28 Replies Last post: Oct 31, 2008 9:17 AM by Felix001
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Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card

Aug 8, 2008 7:31 AM

Click to view thgood's profile Lurker thgood 7 posts since
Aug 8, 2008
I am looking for a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card compatible with ESXi 3.5 for use in hp dl140 G1 servers. I have reviewed the white box list, however I have not found a clear PCI-X working solution.

We have 8 of these servers and so we have a capital investment that we are not ready to switch out of. Does anyone have a recommendation?

Tom

Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Aug 8, 2008 11:11 AM
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru Dave.Mishchenko 6,710 posts since
Nov 15, 2005 Moderator
Hello Tom, welcome to the VMware Community forums. Have you taken a look at the I/O HCL - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_io_guide.pdf? There are a few SAS/SATA models officially supported. Page 22 lists the SAS/SATA devices, but there are other SAS devices listed elsewhere in the doc that you might consider.
Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Aug 8, 2008 12:27 PM
in response to: Dave.Mishchenko
Click to view thgood's profile Lurker thgood 7 posts since
Aug 8, 2008

Hello Dave,

Thank you for welcoming me. I had looked at the document out of the listed sata devices - those seem to be embedded (ibm) or pci express. I need PCI-X

What about: Adaptec Serial ATA II RAID 2420SA

http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/support/sata/sataii/AAR-2420SA/

It lists vmware esx aacraid as the compatible driver, which seems to be listed in the io guide. What are the chances it will work?

Thanks Tom

Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Aug 8, 2008 12:39 PM
in response to: thgood
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru Dave.Mishchenko 6,710 posts since
Nov 15, 2005 Moderator
I would guess that you'd be OK. Other 2xx0 models have seemed Ok with ESX regular and the 2420SA will be recognized by ESXi - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php
Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Aug 9, 2008 9:42 AM
Click to view nick.couchman's profile Virtuoso nick.couchman 4,594 posts since
Jan 13, 2006
Tried Newegg, yet?
Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Aug 9, 2008 10:02 AM
in response to: nick.couchman
Click to view thgood's profile Lurker thgood 7 posts since
Aug 8, 2008
Yes I have purchased items from newegg before... however as one might expect they do not provide ESXi 3.5 compatibility information.

"I am looking for a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card compatible with ESXi 3.5"
Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Aug 9, 2008 10:01 AM
in response to: thgood
Click to view nick.couchman's profile Virtuoso nick.couchman 4,594 posts since
Jan 13, 2006
I know they don't provide ESX* compatibility information, however I was looking for about the same thing you're looking for yesterday and was able to limit products down to PCI-X SAS/SATA cards. It takes a little work, but you can then go to the Mfg web site (usually linked directly on the Newegg page) and see which chipset the cards have. There's a pretty good selection of LSI cards and a few adaptec ones, as well.
Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Aug 16, 2008 3:39 PM
in response to: nick.couchman
Click to view thgood's profile Lurker thgood 7 posts since
Aug 8, 2008
On a positive note the DL140 G1 does show health status including all fans, cpu temp, bios info - but....

I purchased an Adaptec SA2420 sata controller which works configured as raid 1. However there is no health status information for the storage within vmware. The DL140 G1 does not have the advanced capabilities of DL3xx series. This server is going to be deployed in a data center so it would seem there is no way to monitor the raid status.... Any ideas?

Would I be better trying an LSI adapter like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118030

Thanks

Tom

Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Sep 2, 2008 7:55 PM
in response to: thgood
Click to view YellowSaturnGuy's profile Lurker YellowSaturnGuy 2 posts since
Aug 6, 2006
Hello Tom,

I've run into a small issue that you don't seem to cover here... I have a DL140 G1 as well. I was actually able to get ESX installed on an 80GB PATA using the onboard controller (using these instructions : http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_install_to_IDE_drive/ESXi_install_to_IDE_drive.php )

However, now that I have ESX booted, it does not seem to recognize the onboard NICs. Did you run into anything like this?

Thanks,
Tom Vaughan
Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Sep 2, 2008 10:45 PM
in response to: YellowSaturnGuy
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru Dave.Mishchenko 6,710 posts since
Nov 15, 2005 Moderator
What model of NIC does it have? Also could you tell me which model of IDE controller ESXi shows the system as having?
Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Sep 3, 2008 5:50 AM
in response to: Dave.Mishchenko
Click to view YellowSaturnGuy's profile Lurker YellowSaturnGuy 2 posts since
Aug 6, 2006
Hi Dave,

This DL140 G1 has two built-in Broadcom gigabit NICs, BCM5704 with 14e4:1648 PCI IDs (on the list from what I can see...)

ServerWorks CSB6 Southbridge : Class 0601 : 1166:0203
ServerWorks CSB6 RAID/IDE Controller : Class 0101: 1166:0213

I only have a 100MB switch... could it have anything to do with the NICs not being connected at 1000MB? That doesn't make any sense to me, but I don't know this product very well yet...
Hope this helps some!

Tom Vaughan
Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Sep 3, 2008 6:16 AM
in response to: YellowSaturnGuy
Click to view thgood's profile Lurker thgood 7 posts since
Aug 8, 2008

My onboard NICs worked without any config changes. I am using the generic esxi not the HP customized version. My test network is running at 100 not 1000.

Thanks for sharing the IDE info - I still really need raid with at least basic monitoring - otherwise the raid is useless in a colo facility.

Tom

Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Sep 4, 2008 11:09 AM
Click to view chillware's profile Lurker chillware 7 posts since
Aug 22, 2008
Hi, The Adaptec 2410SA (4 port) and 2610SA (6 port) are both PCI-X, and work in ESXi. I am running th 2410SA myself right now. The only draw back is they are only rated at SATA 1 speed, 150MBs.. But other than that it runs great!
Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Sep 29, 2008 7:24 AM
in response to: chillware
Click to view stivw's profile Lurker stivw 1 posts since
Sep 29, 2008

i am using a adaptec 2420SA but i don't see the health status either ... bios/firmware version is 5.2-011564

will/could an update to the newest firmware help? (I don't want to "just try" this - and be stuck with the same problem again...)

Reply Re: Need help finding a PCI-X (not PCI express) SATA raid card Sep 29, 2008 9:55 AM
in response to: stivw
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru Dave.Mishchenko 6,710 posts since
Nov 15, 2005 Moderator
As of Update 2, there were no CIM providers for Adaptec cards so the health status won't be available for them. Once they are included, it will start with newer / supported controllers so I wouldn't expect the 2xx0SA cards to ever work to display a health status.
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