topic Re: HP Microserver with VROC RAID and ESXi 7 in ESXi Discussions

HP Microserver with VROC RAID and ESXi 7

DeKi_31 — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 15:10:03 GMT

Hello,

I'm a bit confused about using VMWare ESXi with an HP Microserver Gen 10 Plus v2.

I have already configured the VROC RAID in the BIOS and created a RAID 10 there.
But no matter what I do, I cannot install ESXi on the RAID.

If I start the installation directly from USB, I get four individual hard disks as installation target - despite the configured RAID.

If I use HP Intelligent Provisioning with Rapid Setup, the setup suggests the RAID as the target storage, but in the end it still installs VMWare on a single disk.

Does anyone have a tip for me?

Re: HP Microserver with VROC RAID and ESXi 7

scott28tt — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 19:26:21 GMT

I found this from Intel about their VROC drivers, it might help: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/memory-and-storage/ESXi-Intel-VROC-UserGuide.pdf

Re: HP Microserver with VROC RAID and ESXi 7

DeKi_31 — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 11:17:30 GMT

Many thanks for the link.
However, I can only find this in the document:

"An inbox Intel ® VMD driver is provided with ESXi* releases 7.0x/8.0x"

That means to me it should work without any problems...?!

Re: HP Microserver with VROC RAID and ESXi 7

scott28tt — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 18:12:56 GMT

Pretty sure the document also said that RAID 10 wasn't supported?

Re: HP Microserver with VROC RAID and ESXi 7

DeKi_31 — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 10:54:24 GMT

You are right. That's exactly the problem...

The “Intel ® Virtual RAID on CPU” BIOS menu should be used to create the desired
RAID volume(s). Currently supported RAID configurations are:
• RAID 1 boot volume.
• RAID 1 data volume.
• Only 1 volume is supported on a given array of drives. Matrix RAID is not
supported.
• RAID 0/10/5 are not currently supported.

Thanks for the hint