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5 Replies Last post: Oct 31, 2009 10:42 PM by RDellimmagine  

ESXi 4.0 on SuperMicro MaxServer 6015B-TB posted: Oct 13, 2009 3:56 PM

Click to view jcunial's profile Lurker
jcunial
3 posts since
Oct 13, 2009

Hi,

I'm currently wanting to install ESXi 4.0 on a SuperMicro MaxServer 6015B-TB

Compatability guide says supported up to 3.5 but i would like 4.0

stats:

MaxServer 6015B-TB Black 1U
X7DBR-E M/B with Intel 5000P chipset,
S771,
support 2xDual/Quad-core Xeon 5100/5300
series active CPU,
2xIntel Giga LAN, ATI 16MB video,
8 DIMM slots(max 32GB
Fully-Buffered DDR-2 667/533 RAM),
Intel ESB2 SATA 3.0Gbps Controller RAID
0, 1, 5, 10 support,
4x1" Hot Swappable SATA HDD bays,
1xslim DVDROM
drive,
1x64/133PCI-X or PCI-E x 8(full height) riser, and 1x64/133PCI-X or
PCI-E x8(Low Profile riser),
560W PSU,
slide rail kit,
slim FDD
option,
WxDxH(432x650x43mm),

Whats inside:

2 x XEON 5345/2.33GHz/1333FSB/8M CACHE/PASSIVE/QUAD CORE
4
x 2GB FB-DIMM DDR2 667 RAM, Intel/Supermicro certified (8 gig in total )
4 x
Seagate 80GB SATA II (this can easily be upgraded)

I've done some research and don't think there should be any issues, but would like some second professional opinions.

Cheers,

James


Tags: esxi, 4.0, supermicro, compatibility

Re: ESXi 4.0 on SuperMicro MaxServer 6015B-TB

1. Oct 13, 2009 5:05 PM in response to: jcunial
Click to view DSTAVERT's profile Virtuoso
DSTAVERT
2,418 posts since
Nov 30, 2003
Have a look through the HCL for all the hardware. The raid controller isn't. It is a software raid controller meaning that for striping calculation it needs the OS. This type of raid controller isn't supported as a raid controller although you can use it a single disks. If this will be for a production environment you will be better of getting a server from the hardware compatibility list. Dell, HP. IBM have affordable servers that are fully supported and will handle 64bit. Unfortunately, supermicro has not had a great reputation for long term support (drivers firmware etc).

Re: ESXi 4.0 on SuperMicro MaxServer 6015B-TB

2. Oct 20, 2009 9:33 PM in response to: DSTAVERT
Click to view jcunial's profile Lurker
jcunial
3 posts since
Oct 13, 2009

what about if a suitable RAID controller card was purchased? would that ever work in this server?

if so, would you know of any that would be appropriate for this model?

Cheers.

Re: ESXi 4.0 on SuperMicro MaxServer 6015B-TB

3. Oct 20, 2009 10:15 PM in response to: jcunial
Click to view Dave.Mishchenko's profile Guru
Dave.Mishchen…
8,943 posts since
Nov 15, 2005
It'll really depend on what you want to do. If this is for test / training then you could install to the local controller (just no RAID). If you need some good performance look at the RAID controllers on the HCL but if those exceed what you want to do then take a look at the whitebox components at ultimatewhitebox.com and vm-help.com. You can pick up a used LSI based controller like the Dell Perc 5/i for a reasonable price and with it you'll get health status for the drives. If performance is a concern make sure to get something with battery backed write cache.




Dave
VMware Communities User Moderator

New book in town - vSphere Quick Start Guide -http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/08/12/new-book-in-town-vsphere-quick-start-guide/.
Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=21.

Re: ESXi 4.0 on SuperMicro MaxServer 6015B-TB

4. Oct 20, 2009 10:23 PM in response to: Dave.Mishchen…
Click to view jcunial's profile Lurker
jcunial
3 posts since
Oct 13, 2009

OK, thanks for that!

theres still some grey area's for me however as this is the first time looking into a product like this.

would a simple card such as that dell 5i be suitable for say 10-20 hosted virtual machines, for general office activites (email, browsing,Office)

cheers again :)


Re: ESXi 4.0 on SuperMicro MaxServer 6015B-TB

5. Oct 31, 2009 10:42 PM in response to: jcunial
Click to view RDellimmagine's profile Virtuoso
RDellimmagine
1,678 posts since
Jul 19, 2004
Thread moved.

Robert Dell'Immagine, Director of VMware Communities

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