LSI vs BusLogic.

[Balmer]

Got a bit of a strange issue.

4 different VirtualCenters, all 2.5.0 (different builds). With differing ESX hosts, 3.0.2 / 3.5 / 3.5u2.

When I create XP VM's, it should (I believe) create the Controllers with LSI Logic. However, 3 of the 4 create BusLogic, and 1 creates with LSI. I've trawled the internet on this, and I can't find where the default guest OS hardware configuration parameters are called from.

Its not a huge problem, but I'd like to get my head around how it determines which controller to assign.

Cheers in advance.

[Phil_White]

Which host is using the LSI? Is the hardware the same across the board?

[gary1012]

LSI is the default when creating a VM. The original XP installation media did not include the LSI driver. You either have to add it using .flp file or slipstream it into the installation media OEM file directory. If it's already on your modified installation media, it probably will pick up the driver. I've always used the .flp method described here to install XP. Hope this helps...

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Moved to the VI: Virtual Machine and Guest OS forum.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

CIO Virtualization Blog: http://www.cio.com/blog/index/topic/168354

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

[Balmer]

The ESX hosts are all HP DL585G2, and some BL460c - the issue isn't following the hardware. Its not consistent at all.....

[Balmer]

LSI is normally the default - yes, I agree. Yes, I know about LSI Logic not being in the media - our XP build has it slip-streamed.

My problem is that our documentation instructs our deployment guys to create a VM in a standard manner, but different VirtualCenter instances, give different default behaviours. i.e. some by default deploy the BusLogic driver. And it causes the build to fail if the kick it off with the BusLogic driver.

What I'd like to know is where VC gets its defaults from when you select an OS, i.e. XP - as I'd like to understand why VC is giving differing default actions.

[Balmer]

Hi,

Just to say, I'm not so sure this is a VM/Guest OS issue - I think its an issue with VirtualCenter. I'm effectively asking why on some VirtualCenter instances that I have, I get a default of BusLogic SCSI controller instead of the expected LSI Logic driver.

Where does VC get this default information from? Is it within VC, or from the ESX host?

What can affect this default information?

[gary1012]

This is a guest OS issue. Since you have the driver slipstreamed into the build media, it is being installed as the driver of choice if detected. If you want to ensure that you get the LSI card in very instance, use the manual .flp method. Once that's done, you can template the build and you're done.

You mention the behavior follows the VC instance. Are you using an ISO to create the VM? If so, have you tried copying the known good ISO to the other VC?

[Balmer]

I can't see how it is a guest issue.... it must be a VC issue. Forget about the installation of XP - I'm not talking about actually building XP OS instances... I'm talking about XP VM Guest shells - thats all.

Even before I get to deploy the OS, before attaching ISO's, before booting PXE into the XP build... before all that. When I create the XP VM Guest Shell, the hardware inside that shell is listed as BusLogic controller - when I know it should be LSI Logic. When I do the same on another VC it creates with LSI Logic! Why?

Its a minor change to change the SCSI Controller to LSI from Buslogic, but when you script your VC Guest Shell creations to build with the default SCSI controller for XP (expecting it to create the VM with LSI Logic controller), and it builds 50 XP VM's with the wrong SCSI Controller type (i.e. BusLogic - its kind of frustrating to go in and manually change it). Of course I could just add the BusLogic driver to XP build, but that defeats the purpose. Why does VC give me two different end results when creating an XP Guest OS Shell?

[jsnavely]

I too see Buslogic presented as the default when I create a 32-bit XP machine from VC2.5U2. I am never presented with LSI as the default.

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your question, but I too think that there is a template somewhere that controls the default configuration of a machine based on the OS you choose. I can't imagine why this default would change with each install though. Just to throw out some guesses... could it be that the VC client is creating these defaults and you have different people running different versions of the client? perhaps the ESX server itself is populating the defaults and you have different versions installed?

It would certainly be nice to have control of these defaults. As-is, I am currently just insisting that staff use templates to create new VMs to maintain standardization.

[Balmer]

It appears that its an undocumented feature-ette from VMWare - cheers for the Heads up guys!

By default, when creating XP VM's, it will select a BusLogic Controller. This changed with 3.5 apparently. So to confirm, the default is no longer LSI Logic, but BusLogic.

A document explaining why would have been nice. Keeping in mind that last Best Practice document suggested the LSI Logic as the better performing SCSI Controller!!