VMware Communities: Question on RAID Controller

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9 Replies Last post: Jan 28, 2009 5:44 AM by Arostov

Question on RAID Controller

Oct 26, 2008 11:40 AM

bhavin78 63 posts since
Sep 20, 2006

I tried to install ESX 3i but it did not recoginse my SATA HD, How can I use local RAID controller on mother board (GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G) to install ESX 3.0?

Reply Re: Question on RAID Controller Oct 26, 2008 1:38 PM

ericsl 109 posts since
Dec 9, 2007

You need to use a RAID card that is on the HCL. Google vmware hcl, it's the top item.

FYI, certain LSI and Dell cerc controllers will work and recognize SATA drives. There is no way to install a driver in ESX.

I just installed ESXi on an old Dell PowerEdge 1800 with a cerc controller and it recognized the RAID setup...

HTH,

ERic

Reply Re: Question on RAID Controller Oct 26, 2008 4:27 PM

in response to: ericsl

bhavin78 63 posts since
Sep 20, 2006

Thanks for the reply. My built in RAID Card is AMD SB700 which in not compatible with ESXi.

Can I try to boot from USB and use the SATA drives?

I tried to book from USb and this is the error I got,
Cannot get bank 1 paramaters.
Warning: Bank 1 partition type invalid. Ignoring.
Cannot get bank 2 paramaters.
Warning: Bank 2 partition type invalid. Ignoring.
Panic: No useable banks found.

Reply Re: Question on RAID Controller Oct 26, 2008 6:05 PM

in response to: bhavin78

ericsl 109 posts since
Dec 9, 2007

If ESX does not see the SATA drives during install it won't see them booting from any other drive either. You can get a Dell PCI-xxx Cerc RAID card that will work for cheap.

Eric

Reply Re: Question on RAID Controller Oct 26, 2008 8:00 PM

Dave.Mishchenko 8,863 posts since
Nov 15, 2005 Moderator

Your post has been moved to the ESXi forum. ESXi (and ESX) 3.5 and higher will recognize and work with certain SATA controllers. You can get some info on that here - www.vm-help.com.

Reply Re: Question on RAID Controller Oct 26, 2008 8:02 PM

in response to: bhavin78

Dave.Mishchenko 8,863 posts since
Nov 15, 2005 Moderator

What process did you use to create the USB boot drive? Looks bootbank is corrupt.

Reply Re: Question on RAID Controller Oct 28, 2008 3:37 PM

in response to: Dave.Mishchenko

ericsl 109 posts since
Dec 9, 2007

Dave,

Yup, ESX does recognize some SATA controllers. For instance it recognizes the Intel 5000 series controllers, but often NOT the RAID portion, so it kinda doesn't work because the drives are JBOD. Unless one is comfotable with that.

Eric