Could you give me the command to use on Linux to flash the VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0-70348.i386.dd to the USB drive?

I know that I should be using "dd" but what switches should I use to not corrupt the partition table on the USB - drive?

Thanks,

Rick

You may not have a supported NIC.  Do you know the model that you have? 

You'll enter the license serial number through the VI client, but you'll need to get your networking in place first.

Realtek devices (PCI vender ID 10ec) are not in the PCI database for ESXi and thus won't be recognized.   I use an Intel Pro /1000 GT in my white boxes.   You might try other Intel / Broadcom NICs if you have them around.

I know that the BL465c and BL465c G5s also have internal USB ports for this.  I'm not sure, but I believe all the HP Blades have internal USB ports.

Bill S.

Ich bin zur Zeit nicht im Büro. Bitte wenden Sie sich in dringenden Fällen an Hr. Röckert (030-60095-425).

Mit freundlichem Gruß,

Erik Brunne

>>> communities-emailer 17.08.2008 14:38 >>>

,

A new message was posted in the thread "ESX Server 3i - USB flash drive boot possible!":

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1025801

Author  : davedude

Profile : http://communities.vmware.com/people/davedude

Message:

Hi,

I'm trying to get ESX Server3i running on an Intel DQ965GF according to http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm this should be possible.  I followed the instructions of VCPaul's tutorial but i get a simple "boot error" on screen when booting from external USB flash drive. So I'm a little confused, USB Image corrupt? or what might cause this problem?

Hope someone might be able to help me.

thanks

Built two ESXi servers using the Supermicro 6015C-NTRB Superserver and a 2GB USB DOM attached to the interal USB header.  Works great!  Also tested with the Supermicro 6015X-TB server as well (I prefer this one myself).  I have the two onboard Intel NIC ports, a PCIe Intel quad-port NIC, and two additional PCIe slots for more NICs, iSCSI or FC HBAs.  Boots without problems.  Had to use the hack at the vm-help.com site.  I think this is a great way to build a diskless appliance/server.  Hopefully VMware will support this config sometime in the near future.