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The-Kevster
Contributor
Contributor

SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

From the updated I/O sheet this is what's mentioned on supported SATA controllers....

Supported SAS/SATA Dual Controllers

ESX Server 3.5 supports selected SATA devices connected to dual SAS/SATA controllers. This support is limited to ESX Server 3.5. It is not included with ESX Server 3.0.x.

The supported dual SAS/SATA controllers are:

  • mptscsi_2xx (PCIE) ‐ LSI1078*

  • mptscsi_pcie ‐ LSI1068E (LSISAS3442E)*

  • mptscsi_pcix ‐ LSI1068 (SAS 5)*

  • aacraid_esx30 ‐ IBM serveraid 8k SAS controller*

  • cciss ‐ Smart Array P400/256 controller*

So what is the best PCIE card for me to put into my S5000PAL server that will use the above driver, if only someone could make a list :smileygrin:

Thanks,

Kev

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eabeukes
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Contributor

I have tried this and get the same problem as blackforce - if anyone has done it differently it would save me the $100 on a 2410SA raid card!

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a18041967
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Interesting, you have also possibly saved me some money as I'd only tried the RAID config using a single, planning to buy extra. I suspect that ESX is only recognising the disks as IDE because at install time it does not recognise the MCP55 controller.

Has anyone tried installing ESX on a small IDE drive, adding the MCP55 controller configuration and then enabling the SATA RAID 5 at which point a VMFS can then be created?

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DannyH73
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See my post at the end of page 10 - I created a JBOD RAID array with 1 SATA disk for VMFS, and I installed ESX onto 1 IDE disk configured also as a JBOD RAID array, so you should be able to do the same I guess Smiley Wink

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blackforce
Contributor
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i think its the controller. I even tried this.

Turned Raid on

Created Raid 1 with 2 drives

Then i installed windows.

It saw 1 drive

after installing windows I examined the contents of the disks. Disk 2 was completely different, had my old esx install still on it.

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Leatherwood
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Hello - I'm curious about your post using sata drives.

Q. What is the performance like and are you using the sata controller build right into the motherboard straight out of the box?

I've read where the LSI cards are working with SATA but your indicating that you have no additional raid controller.

Q. Correct me if I'm wrong but you also indicated that you have your ESX server core OS and your data store on the same drive?

That would be awesome if possible.

Thanks for the reply

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Leatherwood
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Blackforce is right - most people (myself included) trying to use sata drives are trying to get by on the cheap.

SCSI is expensive but incredibly reliable and the cost of scsi has gone down considerably over the years.

The problem with scsi is once you start talking about large capacity drives ... get out your wallet.

But you have to consider that scsi drives are build for the datacenter and not the home lab.

So quit crying and get out your wallet if you don't like treading through the mud Smiley Happy

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
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I've had the same problem with RAID setup on an Intel ICH9 controller. Part of the RAID function is implemented in software and it is likely that the drivers that ship with ESX simply don't support that level of functionality. I would guess it is the same case with the MPC line.

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Q. What is the performance like and are you using the sata controller build right into the motherboard straight out of the box?

I've read where the LSI cards are working with SATA but your indicating that you have no additional raid controller.

That is the case. ESX 3.5 ships with drivers that allow it to recognise SATA controllers from the nVidia MPC, Intel ICH, Silicon Graphics series. There a list of what community members have tested here - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm. These aren't supported, but work great for test systems and it sure beats using SCSI. Performance on these are fair to poor.

Q. Correct me if I'm wrong but you also indicated that you have your ESX server core OS and your data store on the same drive?

That would be awesome if possible.

That is the case with either these working SATA controllers or with supported controllers as well.

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Stive
Contributor
Contributor

Hi all, first off all thanks for this excelent thread.

A new Server Motherboard for the List: ASUS P5BP-E/4L works well for ESX 3.5 . The Internal LSI MegaRaid Controller is see as a SCSI Controller out of the box with vmfs support. The only little mistake is that ESX 3.5 can not see the Raid Setup from the LSI Controller. After a Raid 1 configured, the ESX Setup show only the sda and sdb as physical Drive but not the logical Raid drive. Is there a fix to view the logical Raid Drive durring the ESX Setup?

Regards Stive

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devzero
Expert
Expert

seems you`re running in ICH7, not in LSI mode.

check the manual again - some boards are a little bit "magic" with this, since they can access the harddisks in two different "flavours", depending on what you have set in the bios

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Stive
Contributor
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Hi devzero,

Thanks for the Answer. On the Motherboard i can only switch the SATA mode from SATA to Raid. I have the SATA Switch to Raid before, otherwise i cannot create a Raid. Is it Possible to give the ESX Installer a Raid Driver during the Installation?

A second question to the White boxes List:

The SATA Controllers Entry on the List is Testet only of vmfs compatibility or Testet on Raid functionality?

Thanks Regards Stive

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Grimfish
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Hi Stive,

As Devzero mentioned the settings you are running look to be in the Intel ICHR7 chipset. I believe there is a jumper set on the right hand side of the MB adjacent the RAM slots. The manual will specify what one to set it to. You can use either the Intel Intel Matrix Storage or the LSI Megaraid Storage Manager. You can't run both. Once you change this over you will need to recreate the raid again and reintall ESX.

How do you find this board for performance? I am buying the P5BV/SAS board (Almost identical) very shortly for an ISCSI target for HA and VMotion from my two other boxes.

Cheers

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Stive
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Grimfish,

thanks for your answer. I now the jumper, but the jumper is per default set to use the LSI Megaraid Storage Manager. After i change the Bios to Raid i see the Lsi Megaraid boot bios information and i can configure the Raid with the crtl-M. The LSI Megaraid Storage Manager shows me the Green Online comment for the Raid 1 that i createt. After that when i run the ESX Setup, the Installer see only the two Raid 1 Drives as Physical Drives. I not shure but i think it can by the same Problem like the Post:"[http://communities.vmware.com/message/862412#862412|m-862412]" It describe that the SATA controller is driven by ata_piix and these drives are recognized as /dev/sd[a|b|c|d] not as a Raid Controller?

Have you use the LSI Megaraid Storage Manager with Raid for ESX? Or have you all your Disk on the SAS Ports?

About the Performance, at this time i can not make any answer, while i am on the construction of the System. After i have finish the construction, then i will test the Performance.

Regards Stive

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devzero
Expert
Expert

>Or have you all your Disk on the SAS Ports?

for sure you need to attach the disks to the sas ports !

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Stive
Contributor
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Hi devzero,

The Motherboard that i have is not a SAS Board.

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devzero
Expert
Expert

so - you have 2 different bios, one of that is lsi megaraid - but there is no onboard sas ports ?

what`s the lsi chipset of your motherboard ?

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Stive
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Devzero,

Yes thats right. Me Motherboard have no SAS Ports. The different from the two boards are

For P5BM-E: LSI Logic embedded SATA Raid Controller ICH7 (Chipset:Intel Bigby-P MCH, SouthBridge)

For P5BV-E/SAS LSI Logic LSI 1064E SAS Controller

Your board have a stand alone 1064E controller on board. The LSI Logic embedded SATA Raid Controller is embedded in the ICH7 chipset..

Is there e other cheap SATA Controller Card with Raid functionality that ESX run on it?

Regards Stive

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

See the bottom of the list here for what others have tested - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm. I suspect you'l also be Ok with the MegaRAID 150-6 and maybe other Adapter 2x10SA models. If you find a model you want to try, look at the PCI id files in /etc/vmware/pciid to see what ESX will be able to recognize.

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devzero
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dwholland
Contributor
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Hi,

Riddle me this Batman...Maybe I'm missing something obvious.

I'm dinking around with a Sun U40, (older one, not M2). Trying to install ESX 3.5 Update 1, onto its SATA disks.

It's exhibiting odd behavior under ESX.

For some reason the boot disk will NOT show up in /proc/partitions. The other disks they show up fine, which tells me its not a PCI ID mis-match. (The relevant PCI ID's 0054, and 0055 are in sata_nv.xml by default, no subtituion tricks required)

Tried reducing the drives down to just two disks, and doesn't matter which ports they're plugged into. The boot disk doesn't show up, the other one does.

Obviously this makes mounting root rather difficult during boot as the kernel doesn't find the UUID anywhere.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks,

David

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