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Joe_Papa
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

How to run newer versions of ESXi on an HP ML350 G6 server?

I have a ProLiant ML350 G6 server with two 6-core processors and 72GB or RAM, (8) 300GB SAS HDDs in RAID, (1) 1TB SATA SSD, and (1) 128GB SD card installed on the MB. I'm hoping to run several VMs off this hardware and it seems like ESXi is the best option I've found so far.

I have tried to install several version of ESXi without complete success. I initially installed 6.7 and this worked, but was unable to see the RAID array. After some reasearch, it appears that the most compatible version with my hardware is version 5.5 with the HPE custom ISO. When I install this it seems to work properly and I can see the RAID drives... I suppose I could just settle for running the system on 5.5, but I assume there are features and improvements with the newer versions that justify upgrading?

So I have tried upgrading from the HPE 5.5 to 6.0 using the standard version of 6.0. This was successful, but lost the ability to see the RAID array. I have not tried installing 5.5 HPE first and then upgrading to 6.0 HPE, then upgrading to 6.5 HPE... but perhaps this is next? Or maybe there is a better way to solve this problem? I hope someone can help me.

12 Replies
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Welcome to the Community,

with that hardware the latest supported ESXi version is ESXi 5.5 U3 (see either VMware from HPE Certification and Support | Hewlett Packard Enterprise , or VMware Compatibility Guide - System Search). With newer hardware HPE retired support for the older SmartArray controllers.

Regarding features, are you missing any specific features? ESXi 5.5 U3 supports up to Windows Serer 2016. (see above mentioned Compatibility Guide).

André

Joe_Papa
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for the reply Andre. I am aware of the official support limitations of HP and VMWare, but I'm hoping that there are brave souls on this forum that have gone past these limitations...

To answer your question, I don't know what features each version after 5.5 adds to ESXi aside from the very nice web-based management in 6.7. If there aren't really any valuable features between 5.5 and 6.5 then I guess I can probably just stick with 5.5 and be happy...

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

I can't unfortunately help you with this, because the oldest HPE hardware that I have for testing is aG7 server, which has a newer Smart Array controller..

If this is a test/lab system you may try to replace the HPE Smart Array driver with the one from the 5.5 image.

In case you need a stable system, I'd suggest that you stay with ESXi 5.5 U3, which btw. also comes with the embedded HTML5 client.

André

NathanosBlightc
Commander
Commander

I strongly suggest to follow the VMware HCL for using appropriate and supported versions of ESXi for your servers. We hame many cases (not exactly on ML series but in DL especially DL380) in generations of 6 & 7, that sysadmins used a customized ESXi that has a higher version than announced in HCL, and setup that version forcefully. After awhile we encountered with many strong problems like craching, hanging, PSOD and .... in the host-level

Please mark my comment as the Correct Answer if this solution resolved your problem
Joe_Papa
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ok. That's interesting... I didn't realize that the web-based interface is available with the older versions too... So far in my tinkering I had to install vSphere client in order to manage the server with anything older than 6.7.

Are there any feature charts that indicate the differences/improvements of each version over its predecessor?

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Joe_Papa
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I have currently installed 5.5 u3 on this server and I'm trying to learn how to use it. How do you get the HTML5 client to work? Also, I'm not sure how the licensing works so I'm afraid that once the free trial period ends I'll get shut down just as I get familiar with the software... Smiley Sad Do they have a home use license or anything like that?

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

VMUG Advantage is the “home use” option: https://community.vmug.com/vmug2019/membership/evalexperience

No idea if the provided licenses would be downgradable or useable with 5.5 though


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Joe_Papa
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ahh thanks. I checked VMUG out and that might be the ticket... If it works with 5.5... Smiley Happy

In the meantime I'm trying to get the 5.5 web client to work and I can't get the vCenter Single Sign-On server prerequisite install to work. It keeps saying that one of the necessary components did not install properly and crashing.

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dey00
Contributor
Contributor

Very simply. Use linux KVM and you dont never have problem compatibility or power

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wbravin
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hello all

 

although this thread is more than a year old, I would like to popose my solution.

 

I too have an ML350 G6 it has 1 5620 cpu with currently 32 gb ram (increasing to 64 next week). 

 

I installed successfuly exsi 6.7 on this machine with no issues

hope this helps

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LKaderavek
Contributor
Contributor

Hello, which image did you use to get 6.7 running on ML350G6? HPe custom images are only available for pre-Gen9 with 6.5U3.

 

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wbravin
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Thank you for your reponse

 

I tried the hp option. I then downloaded the one from this site

 

I currenly have issues accessing the bios *i screwed up) once this will be fixed i will try again

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