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kahlif
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ESX 4.1 and LSI Megaraid Storage Manager

Hello everyone!

I am testing a move from VMWare Server to vCenter for my organization and I am running into a problem.

In my test environment, I have a Supermicro H8DME-2 motherboard with an LSI 9261-8i SAS Raid controller on it. I currently have 2x750GB Sata drives in a Raid 1 configured on the LSI controller.

Now, the health in vSphere reports everything perfect, including degraded when I pull one of the hard drives.

My problem is my ability to rebuild the array if I replace a drive. I do not see that functionality inside vSphere (and I haven't progressed to vCenter yet, though I plan to do so). I was hoping to get LSI MSM installed, but I am having an error.

I installed MSM 8.00-05 from LSI's website and used the vmware install script. I opened the ports needed in ESX's firewall. I loaded the MSM client on either a guest on the ESX host or on my own local machine and I am able to connect and login to the server.

Everything loads and I have just enough time for a couple of clicks (about 20 seconds) before I lose connection to the server. After that, I cannot reconnect unless I go to the server console and issue

/etc/init.d/vivaldiframeworkd restart

. Then I can connect again, but only for another 20 seconds.

Due to this, I cannot manage my server, such as rebuilding a degraded array or configuring a new array, without rebooting the host, which is an unacceptable solution.

If I have an ssh connection open to the server when the framework crashes, I do get some terminal output. It is:

# *** glibc detected *** ../jre/bin/java: double free or corruption (!prev): 0x081d2d40 ***

======= Backtrace: =========

/lib/libc.so.6[0x8cd121]

/lib/libc.so.6(cfree+0x90)[0x8d0bf0]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so[0x623f009]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/Framework/libstorelibjni.so(_ZN7JNIEnv_24ReleaseByteArrayElementsEP11_jbyteArrayPai+0x1f)[0xed4f26e7]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/Framework/libstorelibjni.so(Java_plugins_StorelibPlugin_processNativeCommand+0x1cb)[0xed4f1d59]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so[0x621b25d]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so[0x630f998]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so[0x621ab70]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so[0x621abfd]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so[0x628b265]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so[0x63a03dd]

/usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so[0x6310ac9]

/lib/libpthread.so.0[0x9b549b]

/lib/libc.so.6(clone+0x5e)[0x93533e]

======= Memory map: ========

00846000-00860000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 196046 /lib/ld-2.5.so

00860000-00861000 r-xp 00019000 08:15 196046 /lib/ld-2.5.so

00861000-00862000 rwxp 0001a000 08:15 196046 /lib/ld-2.5.so

00864000-009a2000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 196047 /lib/libc-2.5.so

009a2000-009a4000 r-xp 0013e000 08:15 196047 /lib/libc-2.5.so

009a4000-009a5000 rwxp 00140000 08:15 196047 /lib/libc-2.5.so

009a5000-009a8000 rwxp 009a5000 00:00 0

009aa000-009ac000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 196048 /lib/libdl-2.5.so

009ac000-009ad000 r-xp 00001000 08:15 196048 /lib/libdl-2.5.so

009ad000-009ae000 rwxp 00002000 08:15 196048 /lib/libdl-2.5.so

009b0000-009c3000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 196051 /lib/libpthread-2.5.so

009c3000-009c4000 r-xp 00012000 08:15 196051 /lib/libpthread-2.5.so

009c4000-009c5000 rwxp 00013000 08:15 196051 /lib/libpthread-2.5.so

009c5000-009c7000 rwxp 009c5000 00:00 0

009dd000-00a02000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 194744 /lib/libm-2.5.so

00a02000-00a03000 r-xp 00024000 08:15 194744 /lib/libm-2.5.so

00a03000-00a04000 rwxp 00025000 08:15 194744 /lib/libm-2.5.so

00a06000-00a0f000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 194796 /lib/libcrypt-2.5.so

00a0f000-00a10000 r-xp 00008000 08:15 194796 /lib/libcrypt-2.5.so

00a10000-00a11000 rwxp 00009000 08:15 194796 /lib/libcrypt-2.5.so

00a11000-00a38000 rwxp 00a11000 00:00 0

00b19000-00bf4000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 830095 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libstdc++.so.6

00bf4000-00bf8000 r-xp 000da000 08:15 830095 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libstdc++.so.6

00bf8000-00bf9000 rwxp 000de000 08:15 830095 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libstdc++.so.6

00bf9000-00bff000 rwxp 00bf9000 00:00 0

00c55000-00c68000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 196064 /lib/libnsl-2.5.so

00c68000-00c69000 r-xp 00012000 08:15 196064 /lib/libnsl-2.5.so

00c69000-00c6a000 rwxp 00013000 08:15 196064 /lib/libnsl-2.5.so

00c6a000-00c6c000 rwxp 00c6a000 00:00 0

00cab000-00cb2000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 196057 /lib/librt-2.5.so

00cb2000-00cb3000 r-xp 00006000 08:15 196057 /lib/librt-2.5.so

00cb3000-00cb4000 rwxp 00007000 08:15 196057 /lib/librt-2.5.so

06000000-0642a000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 941214 /usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so

0642a000-06444000 rwxp 0042a000 08:15 941214 /usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so

06444000-06864000 rwxp 06444000 00:00 0

08048000-08052000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 941045 /usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/bin/java

08052000-08053000 rwxp 00009000 08:15 941045 /usr/local/MegaRAID Storage Manager/jre/bin/java

080ef000-08350000 rwxp 080ef000 00:00 0

ebc83000-ebc84000 ---p ebc83000 00:00 0

ebc84000-ec684000 rwxp ebc84000 00:00 0

ec684000-ec685000 ---p ec684000 00:00 0

ec685000-ed085000 rwxp ec685000 00:00 0

ed085000-ed094000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 196062 /lib/libresolv-2.5.so

ed094000-ed095000 r-xp 0000e000 08:15 196062 /lib/libresolv-2.5.so

ed095000-ed096000 rwxp 0000f000 08:15 196062 /lib/libresolv-2.5.so

ed096000-ed098000 rwxp ed096000 00:00 0

ed098000-ed09c000 r-xp 00000000 08:15 194726 /lib/libnss_dns-2.5.so

ed09c000-ed09d000 r-xp 00003000 08:15 194726

A google search revealed trying

export MALLOC_CHECK_=0

but that did not resolve the issue.

Can someone point me to some solution? I can't imagine that this is a new issue, so what does everyone else do when they need to rebuild an array?

Thanks!

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DSTAVERT
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CIM modules for LSI should be in the standard ESXi install. They will give you basic monitoring from the vSphere client. Rebuilding arrays would not be a part of that. I would move back to ESXi 4.0 and try whatever is available fro LSI specifically for ESXi. If the controller supports hot spare you might just add another drive.

I don't know what might be available with the Supermicro baseboard controller (IPMI) but you could check that out.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator

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kahlif
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Sorry all. All those links in the quotes are duds, they had braces around them and were interpreted wrong...

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DSTAVERT
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What exactly did you install? There is a specific CLI tool for ESX.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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kahlif
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I installed MegaRAID_Storage_Manager-8.00-05 with the included vmware_install.sh script.

In the LSI documentation, it was the one I should be installing...

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DSTAVERT
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Was it for ESXi 4.1 or 4.0.x?

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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kahlif
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I believe it was for 4.0. I do not see anything in the docs or on the site that there is an update for 4.1. Is there that big of a difference?

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DSTAVERT
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Depending on what ESX libraries it depends on it could be very different. That you are having trouble might suggest that as well. I would check with LSI support. Altering, fudging etc. can make the host unstable and probably not something you want.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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kahlif
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LSI support has suggested updating JRE...

I am going to figure out how to do that and will post back with any progress.

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DSTAVERT
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Where are you going to do this?

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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DSTAVERT
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Don't do this directly. VMware issues patches with very specific versions. Open an SR with VMware.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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kahlif
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Well, since I am evaluating, I cannot open an SR.

However, my answer seems to be using a CIM to manage it.

Now, for a vendor, you have HP OpenView and Dell OpenManage to monitor and manage CIM. What about people like me who build our own servers? What solution do I have?

I have changed from ESX to ESXi since that will be VMWare's hypervisor moving forward, so I need to get comfortable with it...

Also, is there anyone who has ESXi 4.1 with an LSI raid card? How do you manage it without rebooting the host and going into the WebBios?

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DSTAVERT
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CIM modules for LSI should be in the standard ESXi install. They will give you basic monitoring from the vSphere client. Rebuilding arrays would not be a part of that. I would move back to ESXi 4.0 and try whatever is available fro LSI specifically for ESXi. If the controller supports hot spare you might just add another drive.

I don't know what might be available with the Supermicro baseboard controller (IPMI) but you could check that out.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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kahlif
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For anyone who may be researching an issue...

The CIM that is embedded on ESXi 4.1 will allow you to manage the LSI controller to create/delete/rebuild arrays, etc. However, my issue was MSM 8.0 would not discover anything other than the local machine, no matter what setting I tried.

When I opened an older version of MSM for an unrelated issue, amazingly, the esxi server was displayed. It was EXTREMELY slow, but it worked.

Oh well...chalk it up to a learning experience.

Thanks for your help DSTAVERT!

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briandatamatter
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I can't tell but it sounds like you have solved this problem, can you share with us the steps that you followed to get this working, e.g. what software and versions you had to install and where ?

Thanks.

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randysierrascie
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I have ESXi 4.1 in a server using an LSI raid card, and I have megaraid storage manager in a windows client. I cannot get Megaraid storage manager to see the the server. Has anyone ever gotten this to work?

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JaroF
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Yes, I did get it to work.

I used to have it running on ESXI 3.5 and XP windows for Megaraid storage manager.

After upgrading to 4.1 and going to windows 7 on my desktop, i downloaded the newest megaraid from LSI site, and it did not work....

What I did then is install an older one V2.91-05, which found the ESXI 4.1 Server immediately, and after supplying the root password allowed me to manage the drives and everything.

So the question is, why does it not work with the new one? And can I post a link with 2.91-05 which I have archived for others to use?

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randysierrascie
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I will contact LSI and ask for a link to the download. If the download is provided by LSI, then posting the link cannot be an issue.

In a related question, and please forgive me for being such a noob, is there anyway to configure the vsphere client to send an email if the "Health Status" of the server that it is logged into changes? This is related, because, at least for my installation, the Health Status monitors the condition of the server's LSI raid array.

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randysierrascie
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I found this link on LSI's site to their 2.91-04 version: http://www.lsi.com/DistributionSystem/AssetDocument/2.91-05_Windows_MSM.zip

Guess what? It's the 2.91-05 file! Enjoy! Me, I'm going to try installing it. Will report.

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randysierrascie
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I can't get it to work at all. I'm using 32 bit XP from a vm and a physical. Neither one sees my esxi's ip. How did you get it to work? Lord, I hope that Windows 7 is not the answer. I hate w7. If it was a vm, that wouldn't be so bad, but it sounds like you're running MSM from your physical desktop, no?

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JaroF
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The problem is in version of the MSM, you have to use the old version, not the new one, uninstall the new, and do a full install of the 2.91-05 and it will find your server (are you on same subnet?). I am running it on W7 phisical machine, and on XP virtual in vmware workstation and it works in both, it is slow, but it works.

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