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1 2 Previous Next 16 Replies Last post: Nov 20, 2009 3:45 PM by caude  

ESX4 on Poweredge T110? posted: Nov 5, 2009 10:04 PM

Click to view kevcherry's profile Lurker
kevcherry
2 posts since
Nov 5, 2009
Has anyone successfully install ESX 4 on a Dell PowerEdge T110?

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

1. Nov 5, 2009 10:16 PM in response to: kevcherry
Click to view AdrianExpressUser's profile Novice
AdrianExpress…
3 posts since
Nov 2, 2009
Have you checked VMware HCL to see if your Poweredge T110 is compatible with ESX4.

http://www.vmware.com/resources/guides.html

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

2. Nov 6, 2009 8:02 AM in response to: kevcherry
Click to view jffowler's profile Novice
jffowler
8 posts since
Jun 28, 2008
I tried installing ESX 3.5 U4 on a pretty base config T110 w/ X3440 and all seemed to go well w/ setup, but root not seen on reboot.

  • Josh

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

3. Nov 6, 2009 7:50 PM in response to: jffowler
Click to view kevcherry's profile Lurker
kevcherry
2 posts since
Nov 5, 2009
I tried to install esx 4 and it did not see my hard drives maybe a driver issue with the on board sata card.

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

4. Nov 7, 2009 12:18 AM in response to: kevcherry
Click to view jffowler's profile Novice
jffowler
8 posts since
Jun 28, 2008
If you're storing your VMs on NAS or SAN, then you could likely just connect a USB stick for ESXi. I intend on trying that out this weekend.

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

5. Nov 12, 2009 9:56 AM in response to: jffowler
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Texiwill
10,213 posts since
Jan 13, 2004
Hello,

Moved to vSphere Install forum.


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Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

6. Nov 14, 2009 9:28 AM in response to: kevcherry
Click to view DSTAVERT's profile Virtuoso
DSTAVERT
2,506 posts since
Nov 30, 2003
The 110 is not listed in Dell's compatibility listings. It may install, depending on processor, but as one poster indicated there will probably be issues with the sata controller. Try http://vm-help.com to see if there are work arounds. Installing to a USB stick is a good start (a supported install option). It is much easier to modify a system to work with unsupported hardware with a USB install.

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

7. Nov 16, 2009 12:30 PM in response to: DSTAVERT
Click to view aleksey's profile Hot Shot
aleksey
217 posts since
Aug 8, 2003
I am now running ESX4i on Dell T110. If you are on current release, you won't be able to see your SATA disks connected to the on-board controller. Only option to get working would be with some remote storage (like iscsi or NAS) or getting ahold of SAS 6iR add-on controller. (A bunch cheap ones are available on fleebay). Another option is to wait for ESX4i Update 1 to come out and it will have built in drivers that will work on Dell T110.

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

8. Nov 16, 2009 2:24 PM in response to: kevcherry
Click to view caude's profile Novice
caude
7 posts since
Jul 10, 2009

I have ESXi 4 installed on the Dell T110 but in order to use anything attached to the integrated SATA controller I had to use the custom oem.tgz described here:

http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1272

The T110 has the Intel Ibex Peak aka P55 chipset.


Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

9. Nov 16, 2009 2:30 PM in response to: aleksey
Click to view DSTAVERT's profile Virtuoso
DSTAVERT
2,506 posts since
Nov 30, 2003
Since you have some information others don't have can you post on how your T110 was ordered / configured.

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

10. Nov 16, 2009 2:37 PM in response to: DSTAVERT
Click to view aleksey's profile Hot Shot
aleksey
217 posts since
Aug 8, 2003

It's default bare config. No add on controllers or anything special. Getting ESX4i installed on USB key how tos are available on the web.

What "caude" listed above should probably work as well, but I have not tried it.

I do have access to internal build systems that many do not, so at least I can give people a heads up if an upcoming release will work or not. I just can't tell you when they will come out until they come out. Sorry.


Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

11. Nov 16, 2009 2:48 PM in response to: DSTAVERT
Click to view caude's profile Novice
caude
7 posts since
Jul 10, 2009
I started with the base T110 and upgraded the following:
  • Xeon X3460 2.8 GHz CPU
  • 4 GB (2x2GB) 1333 MHz Dual Ranked UDIMMs

After I got the system from Dell, I replaced the single 160 GB SATA drive with four Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Black SATA drives from Amazon.


I'm still trying to figure out what sort of RAID 10 solution to go with. It seems only a handful of hardware RAID cards are supported by ESXi and even fewer that will report the RAID status. I've heard some rumors about an ESXi 4.0 update and hoping for better (or at least better documented) RAID support.

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

12. Nov 16, 2009 2:57 PM in response to: caude
Click to view aleksey's profile Hot Shot
aleksey
217 posts since
Aug 8, 2003

Thanks for the pointer to the disks. I am still trying to make a call which disk models to go for. There are just some horrible reviews for 1 or 2TB drives on newegg.

I did get a simple SAS 6iR card from ebay (same one that Dell would charge an arm and a leg for), but it will only support raid 1 or raid 0. I got the driver for it loaded, but need to get a cable to try it out with my current drives.

Caude, have you tried to run "ls" on vmfs volume connected to the default controller? For me, it seems to take a little while for the command to complete, and I wanted to see if anyone else was seeing the same issue.

thanks.

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

13. Nov 16, 2009 3:00 PM in response to: aleksey
Click to view DSTAVERT's profile Virtuoso
DSTAVERT
2,506 posts since
Nov 30, 2003
That is a good platform to point people to rather than have them try to build a whitebox. I wish there was a similar piece from IBM, HP et al.

Thanks.

Re: ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

14. Nov 16, 2009 3:03 PM in response to: aleksey
Click to view caude's profile Novice
caude
7 posts since
Jul 10, 2009
No delays that I can detect.
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