ESXi 8.0.0 on Dell Poweredge R710 with PERC6 RAID 5

[3K8WebDesign]

Hi Guys...I have ESXi 6.5 installed on an identical box...I purchased a refurb copy of the same spec box and have installed ESXi 8.0.0 on an internal USB Stick within the server...the box is configured for RAID 5 and has PERC6 controller...I could not install ESXi on Virtual Disck as Install couldn't see it (it shows in boot up) and the Host can not see any drives to use as a Datastore....i've been playing with boot order etc for days...tomorrow i'll try installing ESXi 6.5 to see if it's the box or ESXi 8...but any ideas you have or advise is sure welcome!

[StephenMoll]

The Dell Poweredge 720 and 730 do NOT support ESXi 8, according to the HCL, so I would not expect an R710 to support it.

[3K8WebDesign]

I hear you on that...BUT....you know the "allowLegacyCPU" command on install of ESXi....plus 6.5 works on these boxes...can ESXi 8 really be that fussy about a RAID and PERC?

[StephenMoll]

Yes, but we are not talking about one maybe two generations of CPU or PowerEdge server, we are talking three or four. That's a bit of a stretch isn't it?

[3K8WebDesign]

Spoiler

I relutantly agree with you, although I don't quiet understand why ESXi 8 simply can't see a PERC6...anyway, just for belt and braces - I will try an ESXi 6.5 tomorrow...if that can see the PERC then the question is answered...but what about if it can't....then the PERC must be at fault? So thank you for your help and you sound as though you know your onions...so please, do you have any advise for a gu with a very small budget...what configuration of Dell (I just like them) could I use for my ESXi 8 environment? The trouble is that it becomes so very expensive very quickly and the R710's etc are cheap...any help is very much appreciated

[jsm79]

I've been running ESXi 8.0b on a R720 w/ a PERC H710 controller with 4x1TB SSDs in RAID5 with the RAID virtual disk as my datastore. I installed ESXi to the virtual disk as well. In hindsight I wish I'd done the USB stick install and have my RAID array as datastore only, but it's been running flawlessly for weeks now so I'll probably just leave it the way it is. I just had to ignore the CPU compat warning during installation. But I cannot speak to the PERC6 controller.

Are you using the vanilla flavored ESXi ISO for install? Or the Dell custom?

[StephenMoll]

Trying the Dell custom ISO is a good shout, it might just have enough backward compatibility to have a compatible driver.

on Dell M1000 compute sleds, we have found M610 a no go for anything beyond ESXi 6.7

M620/630 are OK for ESXi 7.0.

Not tried ESXi 8.0 yet.

[Ninemeister]

I have ESXi 8 running on an R720 as well. Internal USB booting clover then pointing to PCIe NVMe to load ESXi. From there the datastore is on an additional PCIe NVMe with H710 running in IT mode with all front drive bays functioning properly. Replaced the internal quad gigabit NIC with a PowerEdge 2x 1gb/2x 10gb NIC and it functions fine as well.

I also have an R710 and plan on attempting ESXi 8 with it as well, but I don't have my hopes up. If there's any good info I can provide one way of the other i'll update here.

[johnnyb3g00d]

please let us know.. trying to upgrade from 6.7 to 8.. (just in my home lab) 

[DubbleU9]

I also have the Dell PowerEdge R710 and want to install ESXi 6.7 or higher for my home lab.

1. Will both ESXi 6.7 and 7.0 work on these machines?
2. Can this work with our the raid controller installed?
3. How do I install ESXi on this Dell PowerEdge R710?
   1. I think I want to use the USB configuration but will use internal drives just to get the experience.
4. Please provide any links that will provide step-by-step instructions for a completing this task.

Thanks

W

DubbleU

[DubbleU9]

@StephenMoll 

Where can I find the Dell Custom ISO?

[jsm79]

The Dell custom ISO is here:

https://customerconnect.vmware.com/downloads/details?downloadGroup=OEM-ESXI80U1-DELLEMC&productId=13...

[PaddyIT]

Hi everyone.. I found this thread very useful to start with! I have a Dell R710 I’m repurposing and I have query around USB installed ESXi.. if you have a USB flash failure what’s your recourse, and, can you RAID 1 two USB drives  to mitigate for failure? Thanks!

[jsm79]

If you boot from USB flash, and the drive fails, you could always reinstall ESXi on a new drive, and your storage datastore would remain intact. As for RAID, the only conceivable way to do that with USB drives (if it can be done at all) would be a software RAID, and VMware only plays nice with hardware RAID controllers.