VMware Cloud Community
TheDonMiguel
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

Hello community

I'm looking for a cheap hardware solution to play with VMware ESX 3.5, or 3i. Since the new version doesn't work in the Workstation Version it's important to have an alternative Smiley Wink What do I have to consider? What kind of CPU, NIC and Controller are suggested? I would like to use local SATA storage...

Thanks in advanced for the feedback!

Miguel

Tags (3)
Reply
0 Kudos
33 Replies
rpartmann
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

Hi,

i searched on my server where i have 2 sata controllers running,

but i didn´t find your vendor id in these files.

kind regards,

Reinhard.

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

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.
Reply
0 Kudos
tuckrman
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Thanks mate!

Bit disappointing that it may not work, it seems from further research on the web no one has it working. Cheers anyway!

Reply
0 Kudos
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

If you'd like to see the possibility of it working down the road, I would suggest adding a post here - http://communities.vmware.com/message/947521#947521.

Reply
0 Kudos
tuckrman
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Already done Smiley Happy Thanks for your advice, seems a fair few people out there have these cards (as they seem to be reasonably priced and have good features) so it would be good to see them working Smiley Happy

Reply
0 Kudos
xxxomxxx
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

hi

i am wondering how you want to install esx. It does not regognize the cdrom....

has anyone really got ESX (AND NOT VMWare Server) to work on a GA-G33-DS3R??

greetz

cobra

Reply
0 Kudos
ceemour
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Have got the GA-G33-DS2R working no problem with a plugin intel e1000 nic using esx 3.5

Reply
0 Kudos
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

See also the link on this page - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm

If you have problems with the CD-ROM, it happens with ESX and SATA CD-ROMs. Do you have another CD-ROM to use or an HTTP / FTP server you could install from? See also if you have an option to put the CD-ROM in legacy or IDE mode.

Reply
0 Kudos
vmmeup
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

If you can't get the sata cdrom to work you could download and run the UDA as a VM on another machine and do the install from there. This is what I ended up doing because I didn't want to remove the sata cdrom and put in an IDE.

Sid Smith ----- VCP, VTSP, CCNA, CCA(Xen Server), MCTS Hyper-V & SCVMM08 [http://www.dailyhypervisor.com] - Don't forget to award points for correct and helpful answers. 😉
Reply
0 Kudos
itopman
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

HI...I read your thread with gresat intrest as I am also trying to get my Dell 670 to work with ESX 3.5, as with yours the error 'mounting root failed dropping into basic maintenance shell also stated VMK538 and 0xbad001e'

I need to no how to do your fix "To do this, simply boot into the recovery console, edit the /etc/vmware/esx.conf file and add /vmkernel/checkCPUIDLimit = "FALSE". Reboot"

when you boot it gives 3 options recovery console is not one of them so which one did you mean? 1, ESX 3.5 server, 2, EXS 3.5 server debug mode or 3, Service console only trouble shooting mode.

And can you give simple instrutions on how to edit this file as I tried option 2 but could not get it to do any thing, my knowledge of this EXS server and command lines is zero

thanks

Brian

Reply
0 Kudos
MartynT
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hi Brian,

When you get to the boot menu select the 3rd option. Once at the command line type "nano /etc/vmware/esx.conf" without the quotes. Simply add the line "/vmkernel/checkCPUIDLimit = "FALSE"" to the top of the file and press 'Ctrl + X' to exit, Press 'Y' to save the changes. Once you've saved the file, reboot the machine as normal.

I hope this helps,

Thanks,

Martyn

Reply
0 Kudos
itopman
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

thanks for the quick response to this question, instructions where easy to follow thanks.

although i have now added the line sucessfully and still getting the same error, any thing further i can try to get it to work

Reply
0 Kudos
MartynT
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hi Brian,

Can you try and copy the '/etc/vmware/esx.conf' file onto a USB memory stick so I can take a look?

Boot into the recovery console as before, insert the USB drive and try the following...

mkdir /mnt/usb

mount -t auto /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

cp /etc/vmware/esx.conf /mnt/usb

Thanks,

Martyn

Reply
0 Kudos
itopman
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I have tried this but nothing seems to happen, after runnig each line i checked the usb stick and nothing on their, so tried to run through teh commends again it stated that can not created /mnt/usb already exists, then when i type the other commends mount -t auto /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb and return it seems like its going to do some thing but does not retunr back to the previous command line root#

i do try the last line again also but again n othing happens, am i missing something

Reply
0 Kudos
rpartmann
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

hi,

did you get any error message?

If not do the press SHIFT-F before you plug in the USB stick

plugin the stick

and watch the output

i´ll got this

-8<-

Jul 10 16:52:12 esx074 kernel: hub.c: new USB

device 00:1d.7-8, assigned address 2

Jul 10 16:52:12 esx074 kernel: usb.c: USB device

2 (vend/prod 0x4146/0xba63) is not claimed by any active driver.

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 /etc/hotplug/usb.agent:

Setup usb-storage for USB product 4146/ba63/100

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: scsi1 : SCSI

emulation for USB Mass Storage devices

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: Vendor:

Pretec Model: 02GB Rev: 2.00

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074

kernel: Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: VMWARE SCSI Id:

Supported VPD pages for sda : 0x1f 0x0

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: VMWARE SCSI Id: Could not get disk id for sda

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: :VMWARE: Unique

Device attached as scsi disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: Attached scsi

removable disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: SCSI device sda:

4095999 512-byte hdwr sectors (2097 MB)

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: sda: Write Protect is off

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: sda: sda1

Jul 10 16:52:15 esx074 kernel: USB Mass Storage support registered.

-8<-

kind regards,

Reinhard.

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