Installing Adaptec SCSI Ultra320 Card ASC-29320LP drivers using ESX Server 3

[KYLE_BLAKE]

Hi

The default ESX drivers present on the CDROM do not seem to identify the hardware asc-2930LP using ESX Server 3.

The scsi adapter is on the esx HCL list but the AIC7xxxx driver choice comes up with

"driver not FOUND"

Can anyone suggest what I do?

Should I go to Adaptec's site and download the driver for UNIX or something?

It's a single SCSI HARDDRIVE attached to SCSI Ultra320 Card ASC-29320LP.

So obviously I need a driver for ESX, but from where?

[djflux]

According to the HCL the 29320LP uses the aic79xx driver, not the aic7xxx driver. Do you see the card and disk show up when the server POSTs?

[KYLE_BLAKE]

The system detects the card as 29320LP...I can press CTRL A to get into the BIOS

It detects the drive as well ( which has not been formatted )

THE CD ROM is ide

Boot from CD ROM

Choose graphical install

Then it detects the AIC79xx driver as you mentioned.

Then I choose

English

US

Installed Media Method comes up

And that is where I'm stuck

this almost sounds like motherboard crap issues, problem with drivers at that level.

Hmmm

[KYLE_BLAKE]

Hey it looks like it liked the aix 79xx drivern the drivers loaded for the scsi card but now it asks for the media and somehow forgotten it booted from the cd and wants drivers for that - if you choose ftp it wants drivers for the nic.

How do you loaded the drivers, floppy drive?

Do you use the generic linux drivers, red hat?

[oreeh]

FYI: this thread has been moved to the ESX 3.x Configuration forum.

Oliver

VMTN User Moderator

[djflux]

Looks like the linux kernel that the ESX install CD uses isn't detecting your IDE controller. If you want you can do a network install to get around this issue (although you may not be able to use the physical CDROM in any of your VM's if the kernel doesn't detect your IDE controller after ESX is installed).

To do a network install just copy the entire contents of the ESX CD to a server with an FTP or HTTP service running and on a network to which the server that you are trying to install has network access. If you have a Red Hat/CentOS Linux box on your network you can use it. Here are some docs for setting it up:

http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Network-Install-HOWTO.html#s6

Basically you copy the ESX CD contents to a server and then choose the Install Method you want (FTP/HTTP) and click next. The installer will then ask you for the server hostname/IP address and the path to install files. For example, if you copy the ESX CD to a Linux box at 10.10.10.10 into directory /var/www/html/esx/ then your method would be HTTP, IP address would be 10.10.10.10, and path would be esx/

Do a Google search for Red Hat network install (since the ESX installer is based on Red Hat's anaconda installer) and you should be able to get more detailed information if you need it.

Good luck

[KYLE_BLAKE]

That's good info. I'm starting the $3000 course install and config tomorrow. Should learn some more solid info there.

So from what I gather the onboard IDE driver is not on the ESX server's hardware compat list.

So either I buy a PCI IDE card that is (Q: do you know a brand name?) or I do this network install via FTP.

The network install is two fold, one I have to get the actual redhat drivers for the marvell onboard nic.

I've located the files for linux install but heck If I can get the drivers to load.

I've been doing the extract of files for years and I get how to extract and where to put the files on the root of the disk.

But what gives....this is a challenge.

Here is a little info on the EXTRACT:

The folder extracts to DRIVERINSTALL.

The within there is folders labelled, 2.4 , 2,6 , common , and misc.

I've copied the contects of 2.4 to a disk - tried that - nope.

I've copied the contects of 2.6 to a disk - tried that - nope.

I've copied the contects of common files to a disk without the "H" folder- tried that - nope.

I've copied the contects of H:\ folder to a disk - tried that - nope.

Q: Do I have to edit these text files and manually configure?

I'm a windows guy so I should be able to copy driver to disk and insert disk, am I missing some other work that needs to be done?

I've reviewed red hat linux install, been to both motherboard LAN driver section and MARVELL CHIPSET website as well.

ASUS ( Marvell_5056_Linux.rar )

-

---

Version	-	2007/06/14 update

|

|

OS	Linux

|

|

Description	Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet Driver for Linux.

|

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File Size	714.2 (KBytes)

|

THEN GO TO MARVELL - WEBSITE ( ), find custom driver ( linux it has but no RED HAT )

install_v10.22.4.3.tar.bz2

Both drivers look pretty well the same when extracted.

Any help is great,

I'm starting to think that this on board nic does not have red hat linux drivers.

Again Thank you for your time.

[djflux]

Are you trying to run this server in a production environment or just for testing? VMware will only support installations on hardware that is in the HCL. Although it may work initially, you never know what kind of results you'll get running non-supported hardware in a production environment.

If you want to just install ESX to do testing for your class, just install ESX into a VM. Download VMware Server, install it on the OS of your choice, create a VM and then edit the VMX file as described in one of these articles:

http://taylorbanks.com/blog/vmware-virtual-infrastructure-on-a-macbook-pro-part-i/

http://vmprofessional.com/index.php?content=fusion-esx

They apply to installing ESX in Fusion (VMware's virtualization production for Mac OS X), but editing the VMX with the appropriate options should allow you to run ESX on pretty much any VMware product (Workstation, Server, Fusion, or ESX).

[KYLE_BLAKE]

I ended up using FTP.

I believe if you can believe this...I THINK IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS USING A DVD PLAYER TO LOAD IT.

I guess you are suppose to use a normal CD ROM to load it, like a generic 52X.

[KYLE_BLAKE]

Hey the bottom line is the adaptec card was supported and it was never an issue.

The ONBOARD IDE is the ISSUE, I ended up trying a generic 52X CD ROM and it still would load the O/S.

I ended up FTP install, it worked.

However with a single hard disk there is no way to install the product and actually add STORAGE.

That is a pain.

[djflux]

If you used the automatic partitioning during installation then I believe you should have at least one vmfs3 volume on which to store VMs. You could always re-install, do manual partitioning, and then create a vmfs3 volume.

This is the partitioning scheme I usually use if I do manual:

/boot 100M sda1

/ 5000M sda2

/var/log 2047M sda2

swap 1600M sda5

vmkcore 100M sda7

vmfs3 rest of disk sda6

[KYLE_BLAKE]

Thanks, I have paritioned the drive in o/s setup....

made up many specific partitions as you mention in your list.

thank you for taking the time to tell me these things.

no one else has answered.

bottom line, esx 3.1 and above requires legit shared storage, no sharing crap...

there is no way to install vmware esx 3.1 or above on a single scsi hard drive and expect any usuable space.

you will waste a 300 gb drive and the o/s for esx is ....what less than 2 gb

can't store a damn thing on the drive...

add shared storage. nope no way

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Hi Kyle, so are you seeing no data store in Configuration\Storage or SCSI target in Configuration\Storage Adapters once the install is complete?

You may want to try to create the VMFS partition and format it manually. In your case you would need to delete the existing VMFS partition and then create a new one. The vmkfstools format command would need to be altered to match your setup.

FDISK - creating a new disk with VMKFSTOOLS

Run fdisk -l to see devices

Run fdisk /dev/sda

If you have to add a VMFS - create the partition (n) then change the type (t) to fb. Then (w) save the changes.

Check fdisk /dev/sda again and list partitions (p) - it should list as fb.

If so , exit and run vmkfstools -C -S "data_store_name" /vmfs/devices/disks/vmhba0:0:0:10