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turnerw
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Use of LSI MegaCli tool in ESX 4

We currently have a ESX 4 server using local storage provided by a LSI MegaRAID SAS 8888ELP

In ESX 3.5, you could use the LSI-provided tool MegaCli to provide command line hardward control of the RAID controller. In ESX 4, the application indicates that it is unable to find any controllers. Does anyone have any expierence with this?

Thank you,

Will Turner

ESX 4.0.0 build-164009 2009-04-30

MegaCLI release 3.6, v4.00.11

RAID controller 11.0.1-0013 (Package); 1.40.42-0615 (Fw); 2009-04-06

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btodd
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Hi Will,

I have the same issues with ESX 4.0 and MegaCLI.

The machine has both LSI MegaRAID SAS 8880EM2 and a Dell PERC6/i (LSI based card).

If I boot the same machine (Dell R710) using CentOS 5.3 LiveCD then MegaCli can see both cards. Not really the fairest of tests as the LiveCD is 32-bit and vSphere is 64-bit, but none the less still shows that the LSI chipset driver provided with vSphere doesn't support the use of MegaCli.

Have you tried installing the java based LSI MSM (MegaRAID Storage Manager) tool on the host at all? Unfortunately I was on tight schedule and this server has gone live (after removing the LSI card due to lack of management), so I didn't get a chance to try the MSM.

Kind regards,

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btodd
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Hi Will,

I have the same issues with ESX 4.0 and MegaCLI.

The machine has both LSI MegaRAID SAS 8880EM2 and a Dell PERC6/i (LSI based card).

If I boot the same machine (Dell R710) using CentOS 5.3 LiveCD then MegaCli can see both cards. Not really the fairest of tests as the LiveCD is 32-bit and vSphere is 64-bit, but none the less still shows that the LSI chipset driver provided with vSphere doesn't support the use of MegaCli.

Have you tried installing the java based LSI MSM (MegaRAID Storage Manager) tool on the host at all? Unfortunately I was on tight schedule and this server has gone live (after removing the LSI card due to lack of management), so I didn't get a chance to try the MSM.

Kind regards,

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turnerw
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Brett,

I gave the MSM a try but couldn't get the client to see any servers. Forcing the firewall open and watching the IP table showed that the client was making connections on the correct ports (3071), but no dice. I'll try running the MSM console on a few different clients to attempt to eliminate any localized problems.

Thanks,

- Will Turner

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turnerw
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Success! Using CentOS 5.3 x64 (not sure if that matters, just what I had on hand) with the LSI MSM v2.91-03 connects and shows information. You are a bit limited compared to the MegaCLI, but it's better than nothing.

The process was:

  • Install MSM on ESX service console using the "server" script (either with -x or selecing the interactive install option that mentions VMware by name)

  • Open the firewall (I simply allowed ALL to my test machine, but it looks like the connection is client (outbound port) <-TCP-> 3071 server)

  • Run MSM on the client and target it specifically at the server

As ESX4 can read the CIM information off of the LSI card, the individual drive status is not as useful. However, you can offline/mark a drive for replacement prior to a removal to ensure a graceful rebuild, which is very nice.

Thanks for pointing me in this direction!

- Will Turner

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ropaul
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When you installed and ran the MSM service on the ESX 4 console, did you receive any errors stating that no controller could be found?

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turnerw
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Ropaul,

I'm sorry it took me so long to respond, the server in question has

actually been decommissioned, however I remember that all of tools that ran

locally on ESX (at the service console itself) reported zero controllers. Only

the Java based Storage Management tool that runs externally had any sort of

success.

- Will Turner

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