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dangelwu
Contributor
Contributor

ESXi on IBM System x3550

Hi!

I have a couple IBM System x3550 that are under utilized and would like to virtualize them using ESXi now that it's free.

Is it possible to setup ESXi on x3550?

Did anyone successfully perform such setup?

Any problem with such setup?

I'm planning to setup these virtual servers in the x3550.

- Microsoft System Center Essential 2007

- IIS

- Microsoft SQL Server 2005

- Secondary DC

Thanks in advance!

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23 Replies
weinstein5
Immortal
Immortal

x3550 is on the HCL so it should work - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_systems_guide.pdf

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dangelwu
Contributor
Contributor

The doc indicates that x3550 supports ESX Server 3.5, but not ESX Server 3i Installable. I don't have any spare servers to test so feedback is greatly appreciated!

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

You'll very likely have no problems. The critical components are the storage controller and NICs so if those are on the HCL then you should be able to install ESXi with no issues. And given that ESX has been certified that's a strong indication that you should be Ok with ESXi. You might want to check with your IBM rep as they may have already tested ESXi on the 3550. The VMware HCL can get behind sometimes, but I have been told that the number of ESXi certified system should soon be significantly increasing.

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uda
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

I am using x3550 and x3650 normaly for ESXi and it works perfectly.

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jkgrahamse
Contributor
Contributor

ESXi installs on my x3550 with no errors, but won't boot. Any thoughts on how to fix it?

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dangelwu
Contributor
Contributor

Uda, is there any gotchas in setting up on x3550 and x3650? I have both. I read something about x3560 not able to access CD drive from ESXi, is it the same for x3550? Any other issues?

I also have DS3200. Would I be able to boot from it or must boot from DAS drives?

I don't have any spare server so I have to plan carefully on this migration.

Greatly appreciated!

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

How far into the boot process does it get? Any errors if you press ALT - F1 or ALT - F12?

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

There are problems with some servers and the guest VMs not being able to use the host's CD-ROM. You can get around that with using ISO files or the CD-ROM on the client where the VI Client runs. - http://communities.vmware.com/thread/161007

For the DS3200 you should be Ok as long as you use a supported storage controller.

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uda
Contributor
Contributor

All of my installations was straightforward without any problems.

Have you upgraded your system with latest BIOS, BMC, RAID firware and so on

?

Maybe this could be the problem.

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jyvesd
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

We are using 3550 with 3i on an USB stick and it works fine. We boot on USB and it works fine. Now I have no idea for the installable version.

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Andrea039
Contributor
Contributor

We are planning to deploy an ESXi environment using a new server and one already in use in our farm.

Both servers are the same family (x3550). The "old" one already in use has an Intel Xeon Dual Core 5130 2.0 GHz/1333 MHz and the new one we are planning to buy uses an Intel Xeon QC E5420 2.50 GHz (we would add the second processor on this machine).

Any particular suggestion or alerts to consider before implementing this configuration ?

Thank you in advance.

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Do you plan to use Vmotion between the 2 hosts?

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Andrea039
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, we expect to use Vmotion between these two hosts. They will share an IBM DS3300 SAN that seems to be certified for ESX.

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

You'll want to take a look at EVC to allow vmotion between the different CPU types if required - http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=1003212&sliceId=1.

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joshm
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

The x3550 was not certified due to lack of Storage Management utility support within ESXi, however it should function properly.

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mtrojahn
Contributor
Contributor

I've been struggling with the installation of ESXi on a System x3550 7978-B1U... It only has USB ports for keyboard and mouse devices and once ESXi installation CD finishes booting the keyboard just stops working and I can't proceed to the installation...

I've called IBM and they said ESXi is not supported and, of course, didn't even want to help on my keyboard problem... I even updated to the last BIOS (because some older version had a known problem with USB keyboard in "DOS" applications) and no success...

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joshm
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You will have the same problem with both systems unless you upgrade to the follow-on x3550 M2, which will support ESXi. You can also change out the adaptec storage card and put in a LSI adapter and you would get better results. This has been tested and works well.

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Andrea039
Contributor
Contributor

We installed yesterday on a x3550 (7978kqg) machine the "VMware ESXi 3.5 U3 Installable with IBM Customization" version and everything seems to be working fine. The ESX software is installed on a raid 1 set of disks mounted internally. The virtual machines are on a DS3300 (172632X) san appliance.

Keyboard and mouse are connected to the rear usb ports.

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mtrojahn
Contributor
Contributor

What BIOS version are you using?

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