VMware Cloud Community
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

Reply
0 Kudos
342 Replies
rpartmann
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Hi,

so you ESX doesnt come up fully? Is that right?

Have you installed ESX with only one drive? What happens then, should be the same behaviour at least i think that.

Could you tell me a little more detail or write a pm.

hth,

Reinhard

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.
Reply
0 Kudos
dwholland
Contributor
Contributor

Correct. ESX regular, nor ESX debug will come up.

I just tried it with one drive to rule out any variables. I still get the "Mounting root failed" At that the maintenance shell you get, a cat /proc/partitions shows no disks at all.

Of course the Service Console works just fine.

Poking around in the logs under /log the vmklog.drivers, make it look like the device driver just simply doesn't see the disks. The 'phy stat' messages look 'odd'.

0:00:00:11.482 cpu1:1034)<6>ata1: no device found (phy stat ffffffff)

vs

0:00:00:11.908 cpu1:1034)<6>ata3: no device found (phy stat 00000000)

I'm guessing its a bug in the particular version of sata_nv.o w/ ESX, however, I've yet to try re-compiling the module from the GPL'ed source w/ a few more debug messages in it....

What other details would you like?

Thanks,

David

Reply
0 Kudos
rpartmann
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Hi,

could you send me a pm or attach files to the post,

to avoid too long posts, with the output of

lspci -vnn

and

lspci -v

bye r.

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.
Reply
0 Kudos
dwholland
Contributor
Contributor

Here you go...

The thing that gets me is if I put any other disks in the system, they'll show up, its just the boot disk. <shrug>

I suppose I could just deal with the loss, but who really wants to waste 250Gb in that fashion....

David

Reply
0 Kudos
llaubacher
Contributor
Contributor

I have a question with regards to sata_promise and ESX 3.5. My config is ASUS PC-DL motherboard with FastTrack 378. I also have 39160 adaptec with 18 GB driver for ESX install.

ESX installs and boots up fine (using 39160). I have 2 SATA drivers hooked to Promise FastTrack and configured as RAID-1.

ESX sees the controller - 03:04.0 RAID bus controller: Promise Technology, Inc. PDC20378 (Fastrack 378/SATA 378) (rev 02), but the problem is when I am trying to add new storage, ESX does not see the RAID, but it sees those 2 drives as JBOD.

scsi1: sata_promise

scsi2: sata_promise

Any way how to make ESX to see RAID-1 and not JBOD ?

Thanks.

Reply
0 Kudos
rpartmann
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

hi,

afaik is thin not possible until VMware will bring drivers which have

the RAID support built in.

This Controller i think is a kind of SOFTWARE RAID.

hth,

Reinhard.

>Reinhard Partmann,

>A new message was posted in the thread "SATA Support Clear as Mud!?":

>http://communities.vmware.com/message/915901

>Author : llaubacher

>Profile : http://communities.vmware.com/people/llaubacher

>Message:

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.
Reply
0 Kudos
llaubacher
Contributor
Contributor

Fair enough.

I found a source code of that RAID Controller driver. I even think I can built it on the same RH 3 version ESX kernel is built on.

I am not sure if insmod etc is valid on ESX kernel too - I suppose I can try - but is there possible a FAQ on this w.r.t ESX 3.5 ?

Thanks again.

Reply
0 Kudos
virgilwashere
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Neither an old 3ware 8006-2LP nor a brand new 9650SE-2LP seem to work.

I guess we're out of luck.

I hope this isn't a repeat...but 3ware 9650SE-2LP is now supported according to

9650SE series products - While not officially tested with the 9650SE, the 9.5.0.2 code set should work okay with VMware ESX Server v3.5 (kernel 2.4.21-47.EL). VMware 3.02 Update 1 and VMware 3.5 Update 2 are supported with the 9.5.1 code set.

9690SA series products - VMware ESX Server v3.5 (kernel 2.4.21-47.EL) are supported with the 9.5.0.2 code set. VMware 3.02 Update 1 and VMware 3.5 Update 2 are supported with the 9.5.1 code set. It is not possible to upgrade from VMware 3.5 Update 1 to VMware 3.5 Update 2. If you want to use VMware 3.5 Update 2 you must install it fresh.

None of the VMware support is VMware certified. VMware 3.5 Update 2 certified support will be available in the future.

For VMware ESXi Server v3.5 Update 2 support, see KB article 15416 .

Virgil

Message was edited by: virgilwashere to include VI3.5 U2 information

-- Virgil Brisbane VMUG Leader Founding VMUG Board Director
Reply
0 Kudos
kingx
Contributor
Contributor

I just got a new Dell T605 server with a Perc 6i SAS Raid Contoller. When installing VMware ESX 3.5 it install fine but when you reboot it hangs at Loading........ WMkernel sata_swv (Options '')

thanks

Reply
0 Kudos
kevanjdm
Contributor
Contributor

Ok, so Ive read through this forum and googled like you wouldnt believe and I still have the same problem. Everytime I install ESX 3.5 I inevitably come to the same problem.

"Mounting root failed. Dropping into basic maintenance shell.

.

.

sh: can't access tty; job control turned off "

Now Ive gone through, run the script provided in page 3, followed another guys steps;

Modify /etc/vmware/pciid/megaraid2.xml In the file you need to reflect you PCI card ID, in my case 0409, so i just changed the 0408 id to 0409 after the file is modified, run the command esxcfg-pciid run esxcfg-boot -p run esxcfg-boot -b reboot your server

(my device ID, as far as I know is 0604, which I replaced in those steps)

and still I come up to the same mounting root failed.

Another thing that may be of interest is everytime I choose to restart in the Service Console, at the very end it says "Kernel Panic". Now maybe my main problem is that I dont know much about linux, Im admittedly a windows user, but I know that cant be good. Now maybe its something I have inside my system that is not correct, so I will list my hardware configuration from top to bottom. I would really appreciate any help or suggestions, Im trying to evaluate ESX server for my business as opposed to using VM Server, but if this keeps up, Im not wasting $1800 on a license for ESX. So here is what Im working with.

Supermicro X7DAE Rev 2.0

2 Intel 5140 Xeon CPU's

6GB Kingston FB-DIMM 667MHz

LSI MegaRAID 300-8x

-->5 WD Raptors - RAID 5

ATi RagePRO 16MB

LG DVD-RW

Ive tried to find a list of supported hardware, but there isnt one to really check against. If anyone knows something Im missing, Im all ears.

Reply
0 Kudos
GFFG
Contributor
Contributor

I thought ESX 3.5 can be installed on SATA but you can't format a vmfs partition on a SATA drive? Am I wrong?

Reply
0 Kudos
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Welcome to the VMware forums. Here is the link for support SCSI / SAS controllers - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_io_guide.pdf. And for supported systems - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_systems_guide.pdf. ESX supports a limited hardware set and it's best to stick with it for a production server. Page 22 of the 1st document lists the dual mode SAS/SATA controllers.

Modify /etc/vmware/pciid/megaraid2.xml In the file you need to reflect you PCI card ID, in my case 0409, so i just changed the 0408 id to 0409 after the file is modified, run the command esxcfg-pciid run esxcfg-boot -p run esxcfg-boot -b reboot your server

(my device ID, as far as I know is 0604, which I replaced in those steps)

So is your device ID 409 or 604?

Reply
0 Kudos
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

ESX 3.5 is supported with a few dual mode SAS / SATA controllers and on those you can both install ESX and have vmfs partitions. 3.5 will also recognize and work with a number of SATA controllers (Intel ICH*, nVidia MCP **, Silicon Graphics) and again on these you can have vmfs - it's just that these controllers are not supported. It would also appear that the RAID functions don't work with ESX as these cards typically have a software component to the RAID. There are also SATA RAID cards that ESX has recognized for a while like the list here - http://vmprofessional.com/index.php?content=sata_faq. Again these are unsupported and these cards work because they can use drivers developed for SCSI RAID cards from the same vender.

Reply
0 Kudos
kevanjdm
Contributor
Contributor

As far as I can tell, the device ID is 0604 when I looked with lspcid. Is that how I am supposed to find out or is there a different way?

As well, I noticed that the MegaRAID 150 was on the list, and the card Im using is a MegaRAID 300, and it shows the drives as SCA, so it seems to present them as scsi drives, so why does it not work?

Reply
0 Kudos
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

lspci is the correct command. You can run something like lspci | grep Mega or lspic | grep controller, etc to shorten this list displayed if the output is scolling past your display. Is this a 300-8X, 300-8XLP or other model?

Reply
0 Kudos
kevanjdm
Contributor
Contributor

Sorry, LSI MegaRAID 300-8X.

If this doesnt work, is there a better sata raid controller with 8 ports or more?

Reply
0 Kudos
rpartmann
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Hi,

when searching for the Intel SCRS28x / PCI-X

8xSATA http://communities.vmware.com/message/859433#859433

you probably should enter your pci id and subid´s

as i posted in the link above.

Because without them my controller didn´t work too.

This SCRS controller also uses the megaraid2 driver.

hth,

Reinhard.

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.
Reply
0 Kudos
daat
Contributor
Contributor

script doesn't run for me when not adding 'export' in front of 'lines'

without export, the knoppix shell thinks of a 'lines' command, instead of a variable

after that it worked

thanks!

Reply
0 Kudos
jazzysmooth
Contributor
Contributor

I have a test server with 2 - src28x controllers in it. I modified the megaraid2.xml file, changing 0408 to 0409 and that works, but I only see one of the controllers. I then tried modifying the device id to 0409:8086:3008 but get the same result. Anybody know how to get ESX 3.5 to see both controllers? Here's the lspci output from the server:

lspci -d 1000:0409 -n -v

03:0e.0 Class 0104: 1000:0409 (rev 07)

Subsystem: 8086:3008

Flags: bus master, stepping, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 21

Memory at fbef0000 (32-bit, prefetchable)

Memory at fca00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

Expansion ROM at fc9e0000

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable-

Capabilities: PCI-X non-bridge device.

05:0e.0 Class 0104: 1000:0409 (rev 07)

Subsystem: 8086:3008

Flags: bus master, stepping, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 22

Memory at fbff0000 (32-bit, prefetchable)

Memory at fcc00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

Expansion ROM at fcbe0000

Capabilities: Power Management version 2

Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable-

Capabilities: PCI-X non-bridge device.

Reply
0 Kudos
jazzysmooth
Contributor
Contributor

Just in case anyone is actually reading this thread.... continuing on the issue stated in the previous message, It appears the ESX is seeing both controllers, but has configured them as multi path to 1 of the arrays rather than seeing separate storage on each. Under storage adapters in the Infrastructure client I see:

LSI Logic MegaRaid

vmhba1

vmhba3

Both show a canonical path of vmhba1:0:0. vmhba1 is configured with a 1.13 TB RAID 5, vmhba3 has a 695 GB RAID 10. If I disable the path for vmhba1 and then try to add the storage, I get a primary partition capacity of 695 GB, so it would appear it is reading the info from that physical controller. If I add it and then reenable the path for vmhba1, it says the 695 GB volume no longer exists and I can then work with the 1.3 TB volume.

Any idea how I can force ESX to see these as separate controllers and not multipathed?

Thanks!

Reply
0 Kudos