ESXi 5.5 U1 does not detect local drives on HP DL380 G7 during install

[Karl112]

Hello,

i am new in testing with vmware ESXi 5.5.

I did one instalation on older Server (DL380 G5), that went fine (i only had to add drivers to monitor P400 Controler healt).

Now i am trying to intall ESXi 5.5. U1 onto HP DL380 G7 with HP Smart Array P410i Controller, and attached is a HP StorageWorks NAS too.

I am having an issue that my local drives are not detected during setup. NAS logical drives are detected.

Processor is E5620.

First i tried with the image not specified  for HP, then also the one i found though HP site, both ESX 5.5 U1. Same behaviour.

I still have a bootable Win 2K3 R2 on the server, and the array controler runs fine, there are 3 SAS disks in Raid 1 + spare. One logical drive.

I updated P410i FW to version 6.00-2. I ran PSP 8.7B to update what can be updated. Still no effect. I even tested it on its future cluster 2nd host(without updateing), but it does the same.

I pressume I am doing something wrong maybe, because if it detects older P400 Array controllers on other locations so it should also the new ones.

Cant really change the array controller physically as i am doing it remotely.

Any hints are welcome. If any more information is needed i will be happy to add.

thanks

karl

[a_p_]

Maybe the issue is caused by the still installed OS. What you may try is to use a e.g. gParted and clean the partition table so that ESXi will find an unused volume. Btw. I'd suggest you use the latest Service Pack for ProLiant for the firmare update.

André

[Karl112]

Thank you,

I try to download the latest SPP available.

I think being a used partition should not be a problem but if the SPP does not help i will, reset the p410i's logical disks.

I will update news here, but it will take a while to upload the SPP to the server.

[Karl112]

I used SPP 2014.02, updated the HP SmartArray FW to 6.40 and other FWs too. (iLO, NIC).

I removed the logicall drive, added a clean logical drive, still nothing.

I think i try some older version of hypervisor, just for a test

[Karl112 · Accepted solution]

I am not sure why...but the local disk was there, it was only listed as remote.

[a_p_]

There's nothing wrong with this, it's by design. Logical volumes on SmartArray (and other) RAID controllers are listed this way. The controller is detected as an HBA with a LUN, i.e. ESXi doesn't differentiate between a RAID controller and any other HBA (e.g. FC).

André

[KashifAhsan]

I'm getting the same message when installing 6.0 U1 on Dell poweredge FX2S. But I guess it is by design so I'm ok with this

[KashifAhsan]

Please read this KB article.

Thanks

VMware KB: When installing ESX/ESXi 4.x or 5.x to a physical server, the local SAS drive appears as ...