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aregnier42
Contributor
Contributor

esx3i on a dell poweredge 1950 ?

I heard that it is possible to install esx3i on a dell poweredge 1950... but it doesn't show up in the list of officially supported hardware.

can someone confirm? is it good for production (stable...)?

thanks

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

If you can give us the PCI IDs for the storage controller and NICs in the host it is possible to check with the device map file that ESXi uses. That would tell you if ESXi will at least recognize the devices in your system. If you're looking for production / stable it's best to stick with the supported list of servers.

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joboo12
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I have a total of 2 pe1950 hosts with roughly 13 VM's running in production. Performance and Stability have been solid. IMO It's just a matter of time before VMWare certifies this hardware. Having said this, I would think carefully before introducing Hardware that is not on the HCL. Since my environement services a small shop I do not have an issue with extending the HCL alittle bit. I think I would feel differently if I designed the environment for a larger more critical environment.

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mromanski
Contributor
Contributor

Have you proceeded with installing esx3i on the poweredge 1950's? If so, have you run into any issues? I am running esx 3.5 on poweredge 1950 without issues right now on an evaluation version. However, I would like to purchase multiple esxi licenses if I know they will be functional on the 1950's. Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks

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aregnier42
Contributor
Contributor

that's exactly what I'm trying to do.

I had to postpone it for a while, but I recently installes esx3i (latest version) to a 1950 (first generation) and it installed fined.

I'm gonna run some heavy test with multiple VMs to see if it's stable enough for production.

I think pricewise 1950 with esx3i license is a pretty good combination.

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cgarnier
Contributor
Contributor

Hello everyone. I was trying to install ESXi in one PE1950 without success. I want to know if the PE1950 should have a thumb USB connected on an external USB port. That was a DELL TS told me yesterday when I couldn't find a solution to install ESXi.

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malaysiavm
Expert
Expert

try the installable version of 3i should work. PE 1950 and PE 2950 is same platform with same design internally except the 1U and 2U different which provide more PCI slots and more local attach HDD slot.

Malaysia VMware Communities -

Craig vExpert 2009 & 2010 Netapp NCIE, NCDA 8.0.1 Malaysia VMware Communities - http://www.malaysiavm.com
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cgarnier
Contributor
Contributor

I'm using the "ESXi Server 3i U2 Installable Refresh" CD that I burn from a ISO file that I download from vmware website. I follow the step that the CD show's. After the CD's copy the files and the server reboot. The screen keeps black. The server have four SAS drives and a DVD-ROM.

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