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bwquestion
Contributor
Contributor

Need an eSATA controller that will run ESX3.5 on a Dell 6650 for less than $150 US

Hey all,

I have a Dell 6650 running ESX3.5 that I need to add eSATA drives to. I have not been able to find a card that I can do this with for a reasonable cost. Is there a card that is recognized by ESX3.5 that I can connect eSATA drives to and create working data stores.

If my wording is not clear please respond. If this is posted somewhere else please provide working link. My searches are not productive.

Bryant

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5 Replies
khughes
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Your best bet is to try and find a card on this site -

If you can't do that, you might want to check out the links at the bottom of for the whiteboxes which might contain a eSATA controller. Unfortunatly most enterprise level controller cards which are on the HCL aren't for normal low cost consumers, seeing that ESX is built to run on specific hardware.

  • Kyle

-- Kyle "RParker wrote: I guess I was wrong, everything CAN be virtualized "
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bwquestion
Contributor
Contributor

Has anyone tried a NORCO-4618 controller?

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

ESX and ESXi ship with a limited number of drivers and the drivers have to be compiled specifically for ESX so it's not an easy matter to add drivers. The list here is specific to ESXi, but it will give you an idea of the model and drivers that ESX has as the list is quite similar to what ESX will recognize for storage controllers - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Hardware_support.php.

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asatoran
Immortal
Immortal

You didn't say if this was for production or not. If not for production AND you do not need to hot swap the eSATA drives, then you can try the PNY P-DSA150-PCI-RF. It's based on the Silicon Image 3512 chip. It has eSATA connectors. You can't use the internal and external connectors at the same time. (You have to choose with jumpers.) No hot swapping and no RAID under ESX. But I was able to get it from Best Buy for $30.

As stated, the Whitebox HCL at VM-Help is a good place to find unsupported controllers that have been found to work. Realize that most of them you do not get RAID. If you do need that, or this is for production, then you should stick to the official HCL.

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bwquestion
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks this is the kind of info I am looking for. Do not need hot swap or raid. The reason for external is no where to mount dirves internal. Will be used for file storage only. Very light load. VM's are running on the SCSI Controler of the server. Just need a place to create a datastore and make some virtual disks and store files.

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