ESXi v4.0 "Failed to load lvmdriver"

[ShoNuff00007]

Can anyone help with this? ESXi v4.0 now loads the sata_nv driver, but now I get this message:

"Failed to load lvmdriver"

kpaden

[Dave_Mishchenko]

See item 3 here - http://www.vm-help.com/esx40i/install_upgrade_issues.php

[ShoNuff00007]

I see now. I had to turn on the network adapter, so ESXi could see and register it. It was turned off in the BIOS.

Thanks

[Dave_Mishchenko]

What sort of system are you using?

[ShoNuff00007]

I built a workstation/sandbox. The basic config is as follows.

ASUS L1N64-SLI WS/B Dual 1207(F) NVIDIA nForce 680a SLI SSI CEB Dual AMD Opteron Server Motherboard

2 Quad core AMD 2350 opteron Procs

8GB of Ram

1.2 TB of Storage

Usually I run Ubuntu as a base OS, then VMware workstation 6.5. In VMware workstation I have about 7 very different OSes. I wanted to make ESXi the base, however, ESXi wants Internet access. My Internet is through Cricket wireless using a "FUNKY" USB device that is also a flash drive. I had to do really strange things to get it to work consistantly under Ubuntu. I am not sure where to start with ESXi.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

ESXi 3.5 or 4 doesn't support USB devices so your only option would be a USB over IP device to get the USB device to a VM.

[ShoNuff00007]

I figured it out. I put ESXi under "VMware Workstation". That gave ESXi the DHCP answer it was looking for. I then downloaded the control program to a different VM. Now I see what it looks like. My problem is that I only have 1 computer. Although it is a big PC, I don't see how I can run ESXi on bare metal and control it from the same machine. (Maybe I missed something).

ESXi would not allow me to run a VM within a VM. I have enough resources though. (Any ideas?)

[RvPLaN]

Hello,

Same problem. I'm newbie on ESXi. So may be that in my guesses, I'm missing the big picture!

Just trying to install ESXi 4.0, and it hangs up with the "failed to load lvmdriver".

Googleing and I land here. Your answer suggest that it's a matter of network adapters compatibility.

I don't get it... ESXi is supposed to virtualize hardware. Being so, shouldn't it be compatible with a large range of hardware?

Especially concerning network adapters: we aren't all furbished with Intel Pro1000 adapters with server's motherboards...

It's not a matter of brand war! It's just common sense.

Still, network adapters are now motherboard integrated, but in my IT environment, it's more Realtek, Netgear, Winbond or HT1000 chipsets.

Aren't nowadays network adapters being able to respond to standard commands and IO access? Like VESA modes for graphic adapters?

Which can simplify compatibility list and still give access to common network adapters.

If I well understand the lvmdriver problem, when generating its unique ID, isn't it possible to generate this ID just by asking its Mac address to the adapter, THROUGH STANDARD COMMANDS?

Regards

[Dave_Mishchenko]

ESXi virtualizes the hardware that the guest OS will see, but still requires real drivers for the hardware that it will use. ESX(i) has been developed to run on server class hardware and while realtek NICs are quite common on PC motherboards, you'll typically find Intel, Broadcom or similar NICs on server class hardware. VMware is broadening the hardware base that ESX(i) will run on, but this will take time so I'm not sure when if ever we'll see support for realtek NICs directly from VMware. Some have compiled realtek drivers for ESXi 3.5, but I haven't seen them yet for ESXi 4.0.

[RvPLaN]

Hi, and thanx for these precisions.

[senpak]

I disable NIC and this information display again.

[Dimitris121]

Same here with AsRock 4Core1600Twins-P35 "failed to load lvmdriver"!file:///C:/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg!. Is so common to not have support in NIC and or HD controller from major companies like microsoft but if we have an intel...... Is like as sectet arrangement is taken place and none cares. Anyway vmware had problems with several drivers or incompatibility issues with common hardware like mouse, printers and vga to name a few but in next release are solved and again, new issues introduced just like any other software!

I dream a day that i plug any card in a computer and that card contains a set of basic drivers (or protocol to communicate) just to work in some plain mode, so the develorers does not have to search for compatibiliry or to include drivers in ANY OS. I had that dream from 1995 but seems a couple of decades are not enough maybe because the epprom or flash chips are cost too much back then but now there is no excuse. Next year we see sata3 or usb3 or something but humanity is like a slaves to the machines and we allways had to search for that cd or driver issue for SOME controller. I thing machines made to serve us guys, not the opposite. Excuses like "we made it for servers" are not the full truth for me. Is like game companies say we need hardware shader number 3.0 or something for that game and a decade later the game does not run even if we had a cpu core to serve that need cause the hardware is absent. For me is the same excuse, game developers in purpose put restrictictions to the software. Software must run in all cases even in slower speed and even in case that some hardware is missing. Messages like "keyboard is missing, press any key to continue" doesn't make sense. The software must continue to execute.

[agalitski]

try this - helped me to work with esxi under workstation after lvmdriver load failed:

Ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"