ESXi 5.5 will not install using the internal RAID on a TS140. Checked the HCL and it still did not work. Has anyone figured this out?

[louiesaldivar]

ESXi 5.5 installs and sees 2 drives. Does not see the RAID 1. Was told by Lenovo this server would work when purchasing. When I called back and talked to support they said it is not compatible but it is listed on the VMWare HCL. Windows 2k12 hypervisor does work but I refuse to use it.

Has anyone been able to get this to work?

Lenovo

Lenovo ThinkServer TS140

Intel Xeon E3-1200-v3 Series

ESXi 5.5 U1 5.5 5.1 U2 5.1 U1

This is the BIOS they said to use which I could not find on Lenovo's site.

Model Details

Model: Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 Notes: For further details about BIOS, server product configurations and best practices, please contact the server vendor. Partner: Lenovo CPU Series: Intel Xeon E3-1200-v3 Series System Type: Tower Number of Sockets: 1 Max Memory: 32 GB Max Cores Per Socket: 4

Model Release Details

VMware Product Name : BIOS Feature Category Features Feature Value Hardware Health LENOVO FBKT81AUS

[dhanarajramesh]

server Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 supports ESXI  and  by default this server only has on-board Integrated ThinkServer RAID 100 (software RAID controller) but ESXI does not support software RAID controller. it does supports only hardware raid controller. So if you want to have RAID please buy hardware RAID controller such as ThinkServer RAID 500 Adapter I

[louiesaldivar]

Thank you for the reply. I was told by Lenovo no matter what raid card I use it will not work. I understand what you are saying by getting a RAID card on the HCL and I asked about that. They said it wont matter. However I didn't think that was the case. I will buy a card on the HCL and try.

Thank you

[PinoyLinux]

Any update on which RAID controller (also can you recommend a cheap RAID controller that is compatible with ESXI 5.5) you bought and if it is working?  I am planning on buying the same server because it is on sale @ newegg right now!  Thanks!