Any updates on running HP Array Configuration Utility in ESXI 5?

[mfreeoff]

Has anyone got HP Array Configuration Utility to run on ESXI 5?   From all the post I see that it worked under ESX but not ESX(I).   This seems to be a down grade from what was offered before. Have the Array Configuration Utility to expand the drive on the fly are needed at our data center. Should we switch back to ESX 4 on all the hosts.

Current status:

Most servers now running ESXI 5 are DL380 G5 with P400 Array Controllers.

VMware vSphere 5 and Vcenter 5

Thanks,

Mike

[dhabbetichandra]

HP SIM will work with ESXi 5, so long as you have the HP ESXi Offline Bundles installed (which will include the HP ESXi CIM Providers and HP SIM agents)

You can download an ISO of HP ESXi 5 will all the offline bundles pre-installed here (registration required)

https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPVM09

[mfreeoff]

Thank you for the reply, but HP SIM will not allow me to configure/add drives to the array while the server is running, correct?

[dhabbetichandra]

You will need to use the vSphere Management Assistant and install the ACU there

http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/178973

Here's also the link to that HP PDF on how they recommend managing ESXi Proliant servers

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-ESXi-HPProLiantServers-WP-EN.pdf

[Josh26 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I don't believe the vMW allows for the ACU installation at all - how would it talk to the RAID card, being local hardware?

The workaround is generally one of a design change. Your typical "best practise" ESXi installation is run from some sort of SAN, where this sort of technology is irrelevant.

Outside of that, you can always vMotion your VMs to another machine, then reboot a host and boot it from the Smartstart CD, from which you can run the ACU.

I definitely wouldn't downgrade to ESX4 - it's like recommending a downgrade to Windows 2000 as a way to the future.

[mfreeoff]

Thank you Josh,

You are RIGHT.. !!

I keep getting "ACU did not detect any supported controllers in your system."

We are using a SAN but would like to upgrade the HOSTS on the fly.  I hate the idea of down-grading, but I will not be calling the shots.  My boss might make use switch to Hyper-V which I am hoping to avoid.

Thank you dhabbetichand for giving it a shot.

I might try a little more this weekend, If by chance I find a solution, I will post back.

Thanks,

MIke

[peetz]

There is no online version of the ACU available for ESXi, but you can use the offline version - see my blog post here.

This requires a host downtime of course, so I really also like to see an online version for ESXi.

However, this is something that we need to request from HP, not VMware. They already have two command line utilities in their Offline Bundle (a Bootconfig tool and the Onconfig tool for configuring iLO), they just should add a ACU CLI ...

- Andreas

[mfreeoff]

Andreas,

Thank you for your post.. It is funny that I did run across your post before. (very good post!!) However I was willing to try and prove everyone wrong, and that HP ACU could run under ESXI 5. I guess I was wrong.

I am send one of my techs to the server now to take the server offline and expand the array.

Thanks again,

Mike

[a_p_]

Just a quick note (although I hope this does not apply to you):

After expanding the array you may - depending on the logical volumes configuration - have issues with growing the VMFS datastore if this resides on the system volume. In addition to this if you expand the volume to more than 2TB you may be in trouble with the currently used cciss driver (see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2006942)

André

[mfreeoff]

André,

We are just adding 2 more 146GB SAS drives to make a total of 1TB.

As far as your first concern, yes we going to expand the system volume, Has there been problems doing this?

Thanks,

Mike

[a_p_]

I had a discussion with another user some time ago about increasing the datastore on the system drive. Please take a look at Can't increase Datastore capacity VMFS 5.54 to see what happened and how he was able to solve the issue.

André.

[mfreeoff]

André,

Yes, I did comment on that post.. I had the same issue and did the exact same thing (slowing adding more and more space), but I am working great now.   Thanks again for all the information you gave us.

Mike

[TechFan]

HP just released an official bundle that allows commandline access.  Check this reference:

http://v-front.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-run-hp-online-acu-cli-for-linux.html