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izenizen
Contributor
Contributor

Install bootloader on SDCARD drive(/sdf) and start ESXi from /sde (HPE Microserver Gen8 specific issue)

Dear VMware gurus,

I have a  HPE microserver Gen8 Xeon1220Lv2.

/sda     4tb data drive

/sdb     4tb data drive

/sdc     4tb data drive

/sdd     4tb data drive

/sde     SSD drive (64gb)

/sdf     SDCARD drive (2gb)

Due to the HPE's B120i SATA controller hardware limitation, if I select /sda-/sdd as a data drive, /sde SSD drive cannot be a boot drive.

To set /sda as a boot drive, I have to use B120i hardware RAID1 or RAID0.

In order to avoid from this hardware limitation, Microserver Gen8 users are often set /sdf SDCARD drive as a boot loader */boot* partition, and install root "/" partition on /sde SSD drive to install Linux.

Then, my question is how to install boot loader on /sdf and root partition on /sde for ESXi installation.

Best regards,

hidesan

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

I don't think it's possible for you to declare where the bootloader resides versus where the other partitions ESXi creates reside. Why not just install ESXi directly on the SD card? By the way, you need a larger card than 2 GB. I'd recommend 8 GB in size. Once installed on the SD card, you can use the local SSD for whatever you want.

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