VMware Communities: SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 18, 2008 3:38 PM

in response to: blackforce

VMware_4Me 3 posts since
Feb 16, 2008

Okay... I think I'm at the end of my rope, and before I hang myself with it... I think I'm just gonna bite the bullet and purchase an LSI MegaRAID Controller and be done with it. Any recommendations on model..? or a good place to buy from...? I'm out on the east coast so I'm limited.. I'll probably have to go online to tiger direct or ebay..

Thanks for any help guys...

Rick

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 18, 2008 4:02 PM

in response to: VMware_4Me

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

A megaraid SATA 150-4 will do the job for you (it is unsupported). What's the exact error that you're getting?

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 20, 2008 5:00 AM

in response to: Dave.Mishchenko

Smeagol 83 posts since
Jul 7, 2005

adaptec sata stuff works fine too, the 2410, 2810 and newer 2420 and 2820 stuff.

Ive used both on 2.5x, 3.0x and 3.5

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 20, 2008 5:51 AM

in response to: VMware_4Me

oluvido 6 posts since
Oct 4, 2006

Hi there,

Further to my last post. I was finally able to run the script onl after using the umbutu live CD. the only problem however was that it took a couple of tries to get it to work after finally copying the script to the ESX server.

It did not work when I ran it from the mounted USB stick nor the tmp folder on the server until I logged on as root (changed the password) on the live CD as it was coming up with Access denied.

The script ran later after complaining about line 56 and some commands not found, It finished but was unable to mount the drive. I eventually restarted the server after this and came up with a screwed up server posibly because it could not mount the root drive.

Can you please let me the steps to take to run the script from the troubleshooting console. I have the nvidia sata controller which I believe the script supports hence I didn't need to modify the script. (only other thing I noticed was that I had to run the other script to remove the windows carriage return before it ran.

Am I right in assuming that the following is the right order of things:

Boot to Service console, attach USB drive with scipt, make a temp directory and mount the USB drive. copy the script to ESX server (does it have to be in the root folder?) run chmod +x gosata.sh and then ./gosata.sh from root (or can this be run anywhere else?)

Your help will be much appreciated along with the time you have taken to put this script together. I just need to sort this out as I have been sleeping very late due to this problem.

Thanks in advance,

Oluvido.

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 20, 2008 6:26 AM

in response to: oluvido

blackforce 30 posts since
Dec 8, 2007

I booted into troubleshooting mode then I enabled SSH :-

To allow the root user to login to a VMware ESX Server over the network using SSH, do the following:

login to root
vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Change the line that says PermitRootLogin from "no" to "yes"
do service sshd restart

Then I used winscp and uploaded the script to the default folder it connects to. Then I Changed permissions on the file to 777. I then ran 0.61 and it ran fine

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 20, 2008 4:05 PM

in response to: blackforce

oluvido 6 posts since
Oct 4, 2006

Thanks Blackforce for that piece of information. I was now able to run the script following your instruction (copied it via Winscp). The only problem is that even after successfully running the script without any error. I rebooted the machine and still had the same problem. I did notice however that the script seems to have updated the pci.xml file compared to the sata_nv.xml that I was expecting.

Currently trying to verify/confirm my sata controller once again. I have one of the new Dell Inspiron 531 which I believe to be using the nvidia sata controller. I ran lspci -v ¦more and it revealed loads of nvidia controllers with numerous 037a through to 037f. At some point in time it was showing the 10de for nvidia. Is there another way of verifying the sata controller or could it be possible that there are multiple contrller in the system?

Sorry for being a pain, just want to figure this out.

Oluvido.

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 20, 2008 8:18 PM

in response to: oluvido

oluvido 6 posts since
Oct 4, 2006

Hi there,

I finally was able to boot into the esx installation by editing the sata_nv.xml file to modify the 037e entry to 03f6 and running esxcfg-pciid afterwards. the only problem is that I can then no longer get the NIC up whenthe server boots up. Initially when running service console, I was able to access the server remotely via winscp to copy the script across (later decided not to use it as it didn't work for me even after modifying the device id)

Everytime I boot, I still get the following error, ipms_si unable to find any system interface...

Is there something else i'm missing? i'm using the onboard NIC which was fine when installing the server or does this mean that I might have to change the NIC? if so then why does it work sometimes?

Regards,

Oluvido.

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 21, 2008 1:39 AM

in response to: oluvido

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

You'll probably have to swap the NIC. It isn't recogized and / or support by the vmkernel. The linux installer can use it during the install and like wise in service console mode it is still just the service console Linux running (the vmkerel isn't started up).

What's the output of lspci when you boot up ESX regularly. You may be able to edit the pci xml files in the same way that you do for the SATA controller to get it to work.

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 22, 2008 10:17 AM

in response to: Dave.Mishchenko

oluvido 6 posts since
Oct 4, 2006

Hello All,

Thanks to Dave for helping me solve the last piece of the puzzle. I tried editting the pci.xml file but it didn't work possibly because I wasn't sure of how many changes to make to the file. I finally have the server running ( Yipee!) last night after a week of sleepless nights. The following is my fix route.

1. Rebuilt the server with a support NIC and disabled the onboard NIC

2. Booted the server to the service console and logged on as Root using build password

3. Enabled remote login to ssh by editing the sshd_config file vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config (thanks to Blackforce)

4. Scrolled down and changed the line that says "PermitRootLogin" from "no" to "yes" and saved the file with :wq!

5. Restarted the SSHD service using "Service sshd restart" and was then able to access the server from a remote machine using winscp to copy files or edit files directly

6. Edited the /etc/vmware/pciid/sata_nv.xml file and replaced the last entry from 037f to 03f6, Also changed the controller name from MCP55 Nvidia... to MCP61 Nvidia... (Please note that steps 3 to 5 can be skipped as the file can be modified directly from the service console)

7. Ran the esxcfg-pciid

8. Restarted the server

9. Server comes up and mounts the root

A big thank you goes to everyone in this forum which I find very helpful. A big thank you goes to rpartmann for his wonderful script as well as pdewild, Dave.Mishchenko for his help as well as the list he is compiling (Please add Dell Inspiron 531 to your list) and lastly but not the least Blackforce. I love forums like this where you learn and I have sure picked up one or two things about Linux.

Regards,

Oluvido.

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 26, 2008 1:59 PM

in response to: doctorttt

MarkFromMn 1 posts since
Feb 26, 2008

So in BIOS, I made Intel 6300ESB Sata Controller to be SATA only. It was in MIX mode before - IDE + SATA.

For what it's worth this did the trick with an ASUS NCCH-DL motherboard as well. I installed ESX 3.5 without error but got the mount error on reboot. After making this change the system came right up. The NCCH-DL was a probably the fastest 800MHz FSB Socket 604 Xeon board out there as it uses an 875P Northbridge with a 6300 Southbridge - so no registered DRAM requirements or latency.

--

Mark

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 27, 2008 2:01 AM

in response to: pdewild

supahted 23 posts since
Jun 18, 2007

I'm am looking for a cheap ESX 3.5 test system and want to buy the HP ML110 G5. Can anybody confirm if SATA support is working with this system (with or without the use of the sata enable script). The onboard sata controller is the Intel 82801IR ICH9R.

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 27, 2008 3:04 AM

in response to: supahted

blackforce 30 posts since
Dec 8, 2007

I know the ML115 does. The new ML110 G5 does sport new faster cpus that the ML115

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 27, 2008 11:46 AM

in response to: rpartmann

supahted 23 posts since
Jun 18, 2007

Hi rpartmann,

Does the Promise SATA300 TX4 works default with ESX 3.5 or do you use the SATA enable script?

Regards,

Ted

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Feb 27, 2008 11:54 AM

in response to: supahted

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

The install will recognize these Promise devices by default

~~root@esx2victo2 pciid~~# cat sata_promise.xml
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='iso-8859-1'?>
<pcitable>
<vendor id="105a">
<short>Promise Technology, Inc.</short>
<name>Promise Technology, Inc.</name>
<device id="3371">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20371 (FastTrak S150 TX2plus)</name>
</device>
<device id="3570">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>20771 (FastTrak TX2300)</name>
</device>
<device id="3373">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20378 (FastTrak 378/SATA 378)</name>
</device>
<device id="3375">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20375 (SATA150 TX2plus)</name>
</device>
<device id="3376">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20376 (FastTrak 376)</name>
</device>
<device id="3574">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20579 SATAII 150 IDE Controller</name>
</device>
<device id="3d75">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20575 (SATAII150 TX2plus)</name>
</device>
<device id="3d73">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC40775 (SATA 300 TX2plus)</name>
</device>
<device id="3318">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20318 (SATA150 TX4)</name>
</device>
<device id="3319">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20319 (FastTrak S150 TX4)</name>
</device>
<device id="3519">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC40519 (FastTrak TX4200)</name>
</device>
<device id="3d17">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC40718 (SATA 300 TX4)</name>
</device>
<device id="3d18">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20518/PDC40518 (SATAII 150 TX4)</name>
</device>
<device id="6629">
<vmware label="scsi">
<driver>sata_promise</driver>
</vmware>
<name>PDC20619 (FastTrak TX4000)</name>
</device>
</vendor>
</pcitable>

Reply Re: SATA Support Clear as Mud!? Mar 2, 2008 2:27 AM

in response to: supahted

supahted 23 posts since
Jun 18, 2007

Well i did buy the HP Proliant ML 110 G5. I haven't got ESX 3.5 working on it. The integrated Broadcom NetXtreme (BCM5722) is not recognized so i probably have to use another NIC. I am having trouble installing ESX 3.5, because the internal disks are not recognized. The HP Proliant ML 110 G5 has an adaptec embedded SATA hostRAID controller. I thought ESX 3.5 should always recognize the disks during setup when the SATA controller is configured as 'not native sata' in the bios?

This Question is Answered

Actions

Incoming Links