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vdberge
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ESXi 5.5 won't see datastore when installed on HP SD flash card

Today i installed a HP 4Gb flashdisk on a new HP ML350p gen8 server with Bion P72 (newest). This server contains 4 300GB SAS disks in a RAID5 config with 1 Logical drive. This drive works fine. When installing a direct Windows server on it, the logical drive show up.

When installing ESXi 5.5 i can choose 2 location to install to, one SD flash disk and the SAS logical disk. I installed it on the SD flash disk. But after that i start the vSphere client and no datastore is being seen there. The RAID5 logical disk isn't there.

When installing ESXi 5.5i directly on the Raid5 Logical volume, vSphere sees the logical volume and can use it.

How can i install ESXi 5.5 on the HP SD flash disk and use the logical disk as datastore? Why can't i see that disk now?

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vdberge
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THX!

1. It works both, on the custom HP iso and the standard VMware 5.5i iso

2. When you install ESXi 5.5 on the RAID 5 volume, the remainder of the volume, it prepares as VMFS, because it's disk0".

If you don't use the raidvolume for the VMware installation, you have to configure it in the vSphere client. There you have to format the raidvolume.

That did work.

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tomtom901
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Does the RAID controller show up as a storage device? And does it have devices?

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vdberge
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Yep, as said, all devices are being recognized. Also the logical drive created with the P420 controller.

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tomtom901
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No, I mean in VMware, like this:

Screen Shot 2013-11-14 at 20.56.54.png

tomtom901
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Also, are you running on the standard VMware Image or the Customized version of HP? I'd always recommend using the customized version if available (manufacturers like Dell and HP offer these) because they provide extra drivers.

Link to the VMware vSphere 5.5 ISO for HP servers (ML350p Gen8 also)

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=HP-ESXI-5.5.0-GA-19SEP2013&productId=351

vdberge
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THX!

1. It works both, on the custom HP iso and the standard VMware 5.5i iso

2. When you install ESXi 5.5 on the RAID 5 volume, the remainder of the volume, it prepares as VMFS, because it's disk0".

If you don't use the raidvolume for the VMware installation, you have to configure it in the vSphere client. There you have to format the raidvolume.

That did work.

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tomtom901
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That's why I asked you to check under storage adapters if the disk popped up. Great to see it was resolved. You can mark answers as helpfull or correct if you'd like.

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