ESXi 5 does not see LSI 9240-8i at all

[ackerman76a]

We installed ESXi 5 fine to an LSI 9260-8i.  The installer sees it.

After checking the Vmware compat guide, we see that Vmware says the 9240-8i is supported on 5.  So we bought one.

I tried everything, the rollup, the first release and then installing the vib.  Also kept the card out completely, installing to a USB drive first, updating driver, then installing card. Nothing works.  This is the only controller card in the machine.

I see other threads talking about it, though some titled incorrectly, as they are not using a 9240.

Since we do not have support, just updates, I called LSI who are excellent. Fred at LSI says they do not support this card officially for 5, only up to 4.1.  Looking at Vmware's site, he said it looks like Vmware compat website is wrong.  He thought they only added support for the x5 series in the rollup, or megaraid driver 5.34.   He said currently only 9260, 9280, and 9265, 9285 etc are supported in ESXi 5.  9240 is not.

The card is fine. I installed Windows 2008 R2 as bare metal host on the card totally fine.  Also ESXi 5 is able to see and use the 9240-8i as a pass-thru device to a VM, when I have VT-d on.

Like I said I tried EVERYTHING.  Any ideas before I pay to restock this to newegg and get another model?  Can anyone suggest another 8i adapter with no cache for $300 with cables?

I am upset that Vmware's compat site is incorrect and cost us days of trying to get this card to work!

Thank you!

[RaraAvis]

I am only waiting for my M1015 (OEM 9240-8i) to arrive (so my suggestion is a kind of theoretical one), but I've seen mention of onboard RAID disabled resulting in the similar problem even with ESXi 4.1 : http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12035#p12035

[Kris2k2]

I encountered a similar defunt VMware HCL statement for the LSI 9260-4i when using ESXi 5.0 with the LSI 5.34 drivers

The operating system (the service console) would detect the card and load the lsi module, however, the driver module would not detect any cards.

This seems to have to do with the fact that there is a secondary level of PCI ID verification being done internally to the driver, and somehow LSI produced revised boards within their product line but never communicated the changes in PCI ID namespace for the boards.  Consequently, the OS wants to initialize the driver (since its noticing PCI id's to which the lsi module is declared for), but internally to the driver, its refusing to see any boards to initialize.  The fix is conceptually simple to achieve.

For the time being I have fallen back to ESXi 4.1 since I didnt have time to further investigate the issue, but my next step was to take th v5.34 LSI drivers for ESXi 5.0 a closer look, and see if I could alter binaries.

It's my home box, so I don't mind to have something unconventional (but I would rather see a new version of the LSI drivers released), but if your are planning to use this in production, I would suggest opening a case with VMware and get them to provide a supported fix.

Cheers

[ackerman76a]

No matter what settings and BIOS version, Ubuntu, XenServer 6 and Windows 2008R2 had zero problems seeing and installing to the storage adapters I had.

LSI 9260-8i

LSI 9240-8i

Dell Perc H200

Stupid ESXi 5 is a pain!  Very sensitive.  I either got no storage adapter visible, or ESXi installer would freeze at loading megaraid_sas module.

I can see why everyone is staying with 4.1.  Wise decision.

I finally got it to work after loading and old motherboard BIOS.  Days of my life I will never get back.  My info is posted as reply on hard forum com with thread titled Supermicro X9SCM-F and VMWare.

Good luck

[MauroBonder]

Hello,

Look if have any additional driver http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsphere/5_0#drivers_tools

[zelda110]

Hello ackerman76a ,

How did you get 9240-8I works?

I have supermicro motherboard X9SCL/X9SCM  and bought 9240-8i lsi raid controller, I can't see my drives during the installation.

Thanks

[ackerman76a]

Call LSI if needed for advice. They have awesome phone support.  VMware has no support for small businesses.

First you should update the firmware on the LSI card. I cannot remember exactly, how but it involves making a dos -bootable usb drive.

But you must be able to see the LSI card bios come up on boot.  The card works best in the top most (most inner) slot.  Fiddle with the pcie settings in bios.  There is also an excellent thread on hardware forums.  Lots of info.  My details from a long time ago are in there:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1666761

Old: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1038350129&highlight=#post1038350129

Update with LSI firmware upgrade: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1039443025&highlight=#post1039443025

I have built another similar machine since and it went much better after upgrading LSI card firmware.

Good luck!

[zelda110]

Thank you for your reply, I upgraded the firmware in windows O/S yesterday.

I think it's the same situation as you

(After I updated the firmware it still stuck here)

If I plugin the  top most slot it will stuck on loading module megaraid_sas, and I can't see the controller if I plug in to other slot.

So do you suggest me install the old bios for the motherboard?

Jason

[ackerman76a]

In general it is always better go to a more advanced motherboard Bois version.

2.0+ has fixed the early problems from the old 18 months ago problems, at least on the X9CM-F.

Call Supermicro phone support and ask for Derek, or whoever is an expert on your board, X9.  Wait to hear back from him. It will save you time.

Tell him exactly what is happening, that it is loading webOS, drives etc, and vmware but hanging on trying to load the driver for that card.  A differenct motherboard bios will for sure make the diffierence.

You can search hardforums for people with your EXACT motherboard, as it can make a difference. You are not the first to encounter this.  Talking to Derek is your best bet.

Talk with both Derek and LSI and have them explain to you what to do with UEFI motherboards and settings when it comes to that LSI card.  Short advice is to disable UEFI modes I think.

[ackerman76a]

Also be sure you have the most recent version of VMWare esxi of course.

[zelda110]

Thank you so much I will call Supermicro and ask  Derek!!!

[kspare]

esxi won't see it as a bootable device.

We run alot of servers with these controllers and they works great, however we always as a rule boot from usb or sd cards. This gives us a work around from controllers that aren't supported as boot devices, and it also allows us flexability to swap out our storage without having to reload esxi.

[zelda110]

So basically I tried install ESXI from my USB drive, and when I install esxi it will stuck on  loading module megaraid_sas.

I called supermicro and talked to Derek as ackerman76a mentioned.

He suggest me upgrade my BIOS for the motherboard(My bios version is from 2011) , I am waiting for the files from him now.

Thanks

[ackerman76a]

If you boot esxi from a Usb drive or any other boot device, it will still hang on loading the sas driver.

Won't make a difference at all.

The problem is that esxi is unable to communicate to the RAID card via the motherboard properly. This is is a hardware  firmware compatability problem when the esxi linux driver for that RAID card tries to load and init.

[zelda110]

OK sorry I am a little confused now.

So what I can do now?

[ackerman76a]

Update your Supermicro motherboard BIOS as Derek said and you will be going in no time.

Updating both the LSI card firmware and the motherboard Bios to the latest versions is the fix these days.

[kspare]

try running 1.0b for your bios. thats what we are using.

[zelda110]

Thanks, he told me I need 2 steps upgrade the bios (2.0 first and 2.0b then)

I am still waiting for the files, he hasn't sent to me yet.

[ackerman76a]

You can download them yourself from the supermicro website.

[zelda110]

Thanks Guys After I upgrade bios version 2.0b it fix this problem.

Jason