I'd like to install ESXi on an iSCSI SAN and boot a few machines over the SAN via the iSCSI volume. The catch is this: the systems don't have iSCSI HBAs, they just have GigE network cards with iSCSI Boot ROMs (gPXE, actually). I'm got it partially working at this point - I have ESXi on an iSCSI volume, I've booted a machine via that volume. ESXi loads all of the files and starts up - right up until the point where it says: "Starting config script." At this point, it hangs for a while, and if I go to another console, I get a message that says: "PANIC: Failed to find USB boot partition."

Obviously I don't have a USB boot partition, nor do I want it to look for one. Does anyone know if there's a way to keep it from trying to find this, or if there's a way to force the iSCSI software service to start earlier so that the iSCSI volume will be available for ESXi to continue to boot?

Thanks - Nick