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Roger_Thomas
Contributor
Contributor

Low cost DIY Config For ESX 3.5

I've just built the following system and currently have ESX 3.5 deployed and running. The plan is to build a VMserver system so this

is some what just a 'what the hell' test.

All pricing is given in UK pounds without sales tax

Motherboard -


£46.39 -


Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, AMD 780G, S AM2

3 core Processor -


£87.99 -


AMD Phenom™ X3 8650, Toliman Core, Socket AM2 + , 2.3GHz, HT 3600MHz, 3.5MB Total Cache,

Memory -


£83.98 -


4 x 2GB Scan Twin DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15

Disk controller -


£143.15 -


LSI MegaRAID SATA 150-6 Kit 6 Port SATA Raid Controller PCI

Network Card -


??.?? -


3 year old PCI 1Gbit Intel card I had laying around

Disks -


Add any old SATA based disks you have laying around

CD -


Any old PATA CD Drive

PowerSupply -


Needs to support about 350W if you have 6 SATA drives installed.

-

-

As for performance use the Disk controller in RAID 10 to get the best from it - it also does not like creating disk segments greater than

2TB as they do not strip correctly across all the attached disks.

Roger

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4 Replies
sguha
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Roger,

I have similar mother board with 3 core Phenom, but I do not have the LSI Mega RAID disk controller.

I think the installer cannot access the disk using the on board SATA controller.

If you have any workaround please let me know.

I get the following error.

Trying to install the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0

- Did not install, probably could not find the in built SATA disk driver.

Error message shown.

Installation operation Failed!

The installation operation has encountered a fatal error:

Unable to find a suppoerted device to write the VMware ESX Server

3i 3.5.0 image to.

The following system information will assist the

VMware Support team with your problem. Please

record this information before proceeding.

System Information:

Manufacturer: Unknow

Model: Unknow

Service Tag:Unkow

BIOS rev:F3

(Enter) Reboot

Thanks

Saugata

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vaxman
Contributor
Contributor

Try booting ESXi off a thumb drive and using the on-board SATA just for your local storage.

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Tigerstolly
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

On my home setup i found that ESX did not recognise the onboard Marvell PATA controller so i couldn't use my old PATA CDROM. I had borrow a SATA CDROM for the install.

This was on a Intel P35 based board, so a little different to your AMD 780, but just a heads up.

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bhavin78
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Any work around for using local SATA Raid controller on GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+ Mother board?

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