VM Hard Disk Boot Order with more than 8 VHDs

[Bradders23]

Hi Guys,

I have a VM running on vSphere Update 1 with around 15 VHDs, on 3 different SCSI controllers (vmparavirtual). The node is part of a virtualised Windows 2003 R2 Cluster, hence the

multiple SCSI bus'.

I am unable to see disk 0:0 (amongst others) in the BIOS to change the boor order, it would appear that only 8 disks are 'viewable' in the boot sequence list - unfortunately the one disk I want is not one of these eight.

Am I missing something, or is this a known issue with (hopefully) a workaround?

Any suggestionsgratefully received!

Message was edited by: Bradders23

Corrected Windows 2008 R2 error.

[kjb007]

Are you connecting through vCenter? If so, I've seen cases where the LUN list through vCenter is not updated. You can connect your vsphere client directly to the ESX host in that scenario, and see a complete list.

-KjB

[Bradders23]

Hi kjb007, we do not have a vCenter, I am using the vSphere Client.

The list is 'restricted' from the Virtual Machine BIOS - which is only accessible from the console.

[kjb007]

A couple things to note:

1, if you are running a windows cluster, you need to use the LSI Logic SAS controller, not the paravirtual.

2. Why would you need to set a boot order for more than 1 or 2 drives? You should make sure the devices are configured with the ID you want them to have when you are adding the virtual machines. Make sure the SCSI id matches how you want the drives to be recognized. You don't have a boot image on more than 1/2 drives, do you?

-KjB

[Bradders23]

1, if you are running a windows cluster, you need to use the LSI Logic

SAS controller, not the paravirtual.

This is true if the cluster is Windows 2008, not for Windows 2003.

2. Why would you need to set a boot order for more than 1 or 2 drives?

You should make sure the devices are configured with the ID you want

them to have when you are adding the virtual machines. Make sure the

SCSI id matches how you want the drives to be recognized. You don't

have a boot image on more than 1/2 drives, do you?

It's not that I want to modify the boot order, but after adding the new drives/controllers these changed the default boot order, therefore I need to be able to re-select 0:0 as the boot drive.

[kjb007]

Agreed on point 1, but you did mention you were running a Windows 2008 cluster, so my observation was based on that.

On the 2nd point, your BIOS should view the drives in the order presented through their SCSI Id's. If it is not, because of the way the drives were added, you can remove all of the drives in your vm config,just make sure that the delete files from disk is not checked, and re-add them in the correct order.

-KjB

[Bradders23]

Apologies - could have sworn I'd written 2003 R2!

I'll test and come back to you regarding removing/adding the drives.

[Bradders23]

Unfortunately removing and re-adding drived does not resolve the issue.

I have also tried the following:

• Adding drives individually. When i add the 8th additional drive the 0:0 drive gets 'dropped' from the list of selectable drives within the BIOS

• Changing 0:0 to 3:0 - still 3:0 is not listed ni the BIOS, only 1:0 - 1:8

[kjb007]

So your vm is not booting into the OS? I'm a bit confused, as I currently have a few vm's with over 20 RDM's, and no problem with the OS boot. I have not had to modify the boot order. May be beating a dead horse, but I guess I still don't understand the problem you're actually experiencing, aside from not being able to select the boot.

-KjB

[Bradders23]

When the VM has 1 VHD it boots without issue. Adding more VHDs (upto 7 additional) causes the boot order to change, but I can correct it. Once more than 8 VHDs are configured the VM the configured boot drive (0:0) drops off the list and is unavailable to select, as a result the VM will not boot.

All I want to achieve is to have around 15 VHDs presented, only one of these is bootable! The others are for SQL Data/Logs/Cluster/DTC etc.

Thanks for your help so far

[kjb007]

Can you tell me which SCSI id's you are using? On the clustered drives, you are moving over to a new SCSI controller, correct?

-KjB

[Bradders23]

Hi KjB,

Yes, I'm using a new controller for the data VHDs.

Disk IDs are as follows:

• 0:0 Boot Volume

• 1:0-1:6 + 1:8 Data Volumes (there are more, but for now I can replicate the issue with this configuration)

[kjb007]

Let's try something a little different. What happens when you go into the BIOS and that configuration back to default?

-KjB

[Bradders23]

I thought I had tried this, and just confirmed it again - no joy; the disk boot order remains the same.

[continuum]

It really looks like a display limitation of virtual Hareware 7 - I get the same in latest Workstation 7.1 as well : only 0:0 - 0:8 are displayed here.

Question: would you mind to explain the usage scenario for booting from anything else but scsi0:0 ?

If you occasionally have to switch - you could exchange scsi ID first so that you always have the bootable one as 0:0




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[Bradders23]

OK, I finally got this sorted. To be clear, I never changed the boot order. On adding an 8th VHD the boot order was modified automatically. I would have been quite happy if it had remained the same!

After testing this a few times I discovered that on adding the 8th drive the boot order changed to: 1:0, 1:1, 1:2... 1:7. So i figured, lets move the boot volume to SCSI channel 1 and the data disks to an other controller. I move the data disks to channel 2/3 and the system booted.

I am still only able to see some of the channel 2 disks in the BIOS, but as I only have a single boot volume on channel 1 this isn't an issue as it is number one in the list.

Not really a fix, but certainly a workaround.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

[AlexNTTA]

I had this very problem. The solution is in a KB :

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2011654

[AthithChammatir]

Hi,

I saw that article but everytime I am adding this -

• bios.bootOrder = "hdd,cdrom,floppy"
• bios.hddOrder = "scsi0:0"

I have 17 virtual disks.

Am I missing something here?

Please help.

Thanks

[continuum]

what is your question ???