Datastore issues with ESX + Dell Perc 5i + VT-D

[evandena]

I've been baning my head on the wall since last October, trying to get this home lab build to work. Essentially, whenever VT-D is enabled, the local datastore becomes corrupt and unstable.

My setup:

Dell T110

Dell Perc 5i w/ BBU

3x750GB Seagate RAID 5

Write back enabled

Read Ahead enabled

Tried every block size

With VT-d disabled, I am able to create a datastore and install VMs to that datastore. If VT-d is the turned on, I may be able to use the datastore for a minute at most, and then it drops from the host. If I rescan, I can usually find it, but attaching it will give an error.

I have tried a slew of Perc BIOS options, as well as LSI offerings.

Hyper-V and XenServer all work with VT-d enabled. It seems to be confined to ESXi and ESX, 3.x and 4.x with or without Dell customizations. I have installing to USB key as well as disk.

It seems other people have having this specific problem with the perc + esx + vt-d. No solution has yet to be found.

Anyone have any ideas? Any help is welcome. Thanks.

[evandena]

any ideas?

[AndreTheGiant]

Why you want to enable VT-D?

Are you using VMDirectPath on some device?

Andre

[evandena]

VT-D is needed for 64 bit guests

[AndreTheGiant]

This is VT-x (in Dell BIOS is called Virtualization Support).

Try to upgrade BIOS version.

Cause with PERC controllers and VT-x enabled I never had any problem (I've used on PE 2950 and also Rx10 systems).

Andre

[evandena]

I have had the problem with RTM bios and newest from March.

[AndreTheGiant]

Do not use LSI firmware, but only Dell firmware.

Upgrade all the firmware on your system (use service tag to find them on dell.com/support).

And use the latest version of ESXi (4.0U1).

PS: Have you tried to install it on a USB key to see if there is some difference?

Andre

[evandena]

Yes, I have tried on USB key, as well as Dell BIOS on the card.

[a_p_]

As AndreTheGiant already mentioned, VT-d is not the same as VT-x (aka. Intel Virtualization Technology).

What you need to run 64-bit guests is VT-x.

Read the following post on Intel's software blogs: Understanding VT-d: Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O

André

[evandena]

Interesting, thank you for that link a.p, and I'm sorry I didn't realize your previous tip, andrethegiant.

My BIOS only shows an option for "Virtulization Technology" in the CPU settings. I think this is enabling/disabling both VT-x and VT-d. Is anyone familiar with the Dell BIOS?

Maybe I've been mistaken and VT-x is what is breaking my ESX. As soon as I switch "Virtulization Technology" to enabled, my datastores are unstable.

[AndreTheGiant]

Your problem is very strange. Check again for BIOS/fimware upgrade, use the latest 4.0U1 version and check also on Internet on similar configuration:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/241076

http://vm-help.com/Whitebox_HCL.php

PS: if you found some posts helpful then please leave some points

Andre

[wveinti]

Hi .. were you ever able to fix this problem

thanks a lot!

[HansPeter3]

Someone fixed it, I get the following error with VT-D Enabled "No such device or address  ha-datastoresystem" when I add as Datastore. When I disable VT-D it works fine.