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jtmuller
Contributor
Contributor

ESX 3.0 install on HS20 8843 blade - disk not found

Hi all,

I'm trying to install ESX 3.0 on our IBM HS20 model 8843 blade servers ( currently running 2.5.2 just fine ) but during installation it doesn't see the local RAID1 configured with the two internal SCSI drives. The 8843 blade is listed as compatible on the VI 3.0 systems compatibility guide and the LSI MPT Fusion 53C1030 SCSI controller is listed as compatible on the i/o compatibility guide. I updated the blade's BIOS / firmware but still no joy. Anyone else seen this particular issue? Thanks.

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1969mako
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I am running the same configuration without issues (Although I am doing fresh installs and have not done an in-place upgrade). Is this a hardware Raid 1?

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jtmuller
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

Yes, hardware RAID1 using the two U320 disks on the blade. I tried it as a clean install of 3.0 first to no avail, then did a 2.5.2 install and tried to upgrade that but again 3.0 didn't see the RAID.

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knmarch
Contributor
Contributor

Just out of curiosity, latest BIOS revisions/etc. on the blade?

I've got 2 8843's (8843-25U) that I've just installed ESX 3 on, and the internal RAID was one of the few things I DIDN'T have issues with.

edit: woops, didn't actually read where you said you updated BIOS/firmware.

Message was edited by:

knmarch

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andrew_hald
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I can report that we are running LS20s (Same SCSI controller) without issue. I agree that you should verify the firmware levels.

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1969mako
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

As a test, break the Hardware Raid 1 and try to install again.

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jtmuller
Contributor
Contributor

Today I found that if I disable the QLogic fibre channel daughtercard in BIOS first, then run the install, it sees the RAID and installs just fine. I'lll re-enable the daughtercard and see how that goes....

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corym
Contributor
Contributor

We had a similar problem, only we had one drive in the blade so no raid. We could not see our local scsi drive. We followed this recommendation and disabled the qlogic hba daughter card and then we were able to see the local scsi disk and install esx03. When the install was done we re-enabled the daughter card on the reboot and the server came up and then rebooted itself again and all was good from that point on. We have notified vmware support of the issue and they said they will be issuing a kb article on it.

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gigispam
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

How did you figure out it was a problem with the disk ?

was it a clear error message?

In my case, ESX 3.01 on blade HS20 8843 the install CD boot after I chose text or graphic install, and then stops at the line:

floppy drive(s): df0 is 1.44M.

the install CD is ok as I was able to do the install on some other machines.

Tx for your help

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moondevil
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

When you say you disabled the card in the BIOS, did you have the actual Qlogic bios enabled on the HBA? If this is the case, it would have shunted the SCSI controller off of the primary boot slot. You should only have the bios on the card enabled for Boot-from SAN.

Apologies if I've got the wrong end of the stick, but I have 8843 blades with Qlogic fibre cards installed and they went on fine.

In reply to the freezing at fd0 problem, it's not just the blade firmware that is critical in these cases. The MM must be up to date as well, as it controls access to media tray. Hope this helps.

Bob

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Adrian_P
Contributor
Contributor

I've got a similar problem that somebody may be able to help with. We are trying to install ESX 3.0.1 onto HS20 blades with Qlogic daughter boards. These connect to Baydel FC switches and storage.

The servers boot with the daughter board disabled in the BIOS, however when the card is enabled ESX partly boots and then stops. The last thing displayed on the screen is a list of FC connected devices that the Qlogic card can see. This is the disk storage and two tape drives.

Both the blade and Qlogic card are on the supported hardware list, although the storage isn't. The storage manufacturer tell me that they are using VMWare happily on their storage, although they tested with HP blades.

Any ideas,

Thanks in advance,

Adrian

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