Can VMware ESXi run on an HP ProLiant DL120 G5?

[MacSpudster]

We're a (very) small shop.

We just got a ProLiant DL120 G5.

I just arrived back to work from the Boise VMUG on 10/3. Great mtg. Thx guys. Thx VEEAM Team.

The vi35_systems_guide.pdf doesn't list the DL120. I'm majorly bummed.

Question: Can VMware ESXi run on an HP Proliant DL120 G5, even though it isn't listed in the systems guide?

I'd rather run VMware ESXi as the 'base' OS on the server versus Windows Server 2008 Standard (and then run other OS's on top of that), or am I misguided on this?

Or, am I better off merely going with MS's Hyper-V or VMware's VMware Server 2.0? (Is it me or does It just seem counter-intuitive to want to go VM and not use a true VM-focused OS (ESXi) but install a base Windows OS and then start using VM stuff? )

Then again, we don't have another server in the chicken house to which we could drop VMWare ESXi onto and run the guest OS's on.

Thx,

BryanC

[Dave_Mishchenko · Accepted solution]

Hello Bryan, welcome to the VMware Community forums. When installing ESXi to unsupported hardware, the main challenges are getting ESXi to recognize the storage controller and NICs. If you get past that, the you could end up with a server that is rock solid despite not being supported. I have an older IBM x305 in my home lab and it run ESXi just fine despite not being supported.

If you take a look at this site - www.vm-help.com, you'll see a list of hardware that ESXi is able to see. If your NIC / storage controller are listed, then you have a good chance of getting the install to run correctly.

There's definitely a performance advantage between ESXi and VMware Server as the later requires a host OS. With Hyper-V, MS has a new edition called Windows Hyper-V Server 2008. It's closer to ESXi than Windows 2008 Server with Hyper-V. Best thing to do would be to give both a try.

[ALTERNA]

Hi, I am new at the vmware community. Unfortunately I am in the same situation that I cannot run VMWARE in an HP Proliant DL120. How can you bypass that because I can definetely make the controller and NIC compatible with what VM requires but I cannot bypass the installation part. Everytime I boot up with ESXi it tells me that that hardware is not compatible and that I need to check the HP support. Can you please help?

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Welcome to the VMware Community forums. Can you post the model and PCI of storage controller that your server has - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php?

[ALTERNA]

Sure. This is the complete hardware Ids Section:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2926&SUBSYS_31F4103C&REV_02

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2926&SUBSYS_31F4103C

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2926&CC_010185

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2926&CC_0101

thank you

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Do you have a BIOS option to change the mode of the ICH controller? In the find PCI id link above, it'll show you how to get into the console for ESXi during the install. If you do so and run lspci - p what module is loaded for this controller? You can also try the IDE install method on that same site.

[hellnfire]

I'm having the same problem with an HP DL120 G5. The installer of ESXi 3.5 fails to

find a disk for using it as a vmfs datastore... This server uses a pair of SATA disks

in RAID 1... I tried the IDE install with no avail...

Any ideas on how to solve this?

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Welcome to the VMware Community forums. What storage controller do you have? ESXi doesn't support RAID for ICH*R controllers so if that's what you have then you need to change the mode of the controller. Could you also post the PCI id - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php.

[hellnfire]

Yes, it' an ICH controller. So how do i change the mode?

So i will be unable to use raid on the pair of disks that comes with the server??

thanks

[dcmores]

We are in the same boat. Did anyone get their DL120 G5 working with ESXi?

After waiding through the references above, I'm still rather confused and overwhelmed with how to add a DL120 G5 to the oem file to get ESXi to load.

From what I can tell my hardware has network and storage controllers on the supported list, but I do not see from the discussion here how that gets connected to this model of HP server.

Broadcom Corp NetXtreme BCM5722 Gigabit Ethernet

RAID bus controller Mass Storage controller: HP Smart Array e200

IDE interface Mass storage controller: Intel Corp 2 port SATA IDE controller (ICH9)

Can you get this nubie headed in the right direction?

Dave

[Dave_Mishchenko]

If ESXi is loading an IDE driver for the ICH9 controller then you would need to use this install method - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_install_to_IDE_drive/ESXi_install_to_IDE_drive.php.

But you may be able to change the mode of the controller in the BIOS which would cause a PCI id change and ESXi would then use the ata_piix driver. You should be Ok to install to the SmartArry without any changes.

[dcmores]

That does not seem to be the case. The suggested changes in your referenced document did not work. I still get the install failure.

I think it is using the Smart Array E200 controller. Got a trick to use that one?

I'm still curious as to how/what connects the hardware model into your process or does it?

[Dave_Mishchenko]

What's the specific error that you get when you install? Could you also post the PCI ids for the devices - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/find_PCI_ID.php? At the console if you run lspci -p do you see a module loaded for both the e200 and ICH controllers?

[dcmores]

The message is a screen that contains: Fatal Errot - Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 image to.

System Info

Manufacturer: HP

Model: Proliant DL120 G5

Service Tag: MX284201SW

BIOS Rev: 022

The lspci -p info is:

14:00.00 14e:165a 103c:7051 10/ 10/0x81 A V tg3 vmnic0

00:31.05 8086:2926 103c:31f4 3/ 3/0x89 C V ata_piix vmhba0

02:08.00 1013c:3238 103c:3212 5/ 5/0x79 A V cciss vmhba1

[hellnfire]

Hello, i found this on the internet to successfully install ESXi on an HP DL120 G5:

I used an HP Proliant DL120 G5.

It is not mentioned in the hardware list as being compatable with ESXi.

But I tried any way and succeeded. But There are some things you need

to know.

- For any ESXi installation you'll need more than 1 GB ram(less just wont do, I found out the hard way), go for 4GB

-

on the HP Proliant you can't use SATA raid (it actually is a software

raid and ESXi has no drivers for RAID setup), so you'll have to disable

it in the BIOS

- also you'll have to put SATA in native mode

HF

[dcmores]

Thank you HF. Your advise was key to my success in loading ESXi on our DL120 G5.

For others - a few more tips.

On boot up, be sure to select the "ROM Based Setup" (F10 key).

After getting into the BIOS menu (Cntl-S), navigate to Advanced -> Advanced Chipset Control and insure that:

Serial ATA (enable)

Native Mode Operation (Serial ATA) - not (Auto)

SATA RAID enable (disable)

Save and Exit

The reboot with the ESXi CD disc should allow a successful ESXi install.

[DSmagghe]

tried this, no avail... still the same message ... I even tried by putting only 1 HDD in the machine.

[DSmagghe]

ok, after the changes in BIOS you need to follow the IDE install instructions on

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_install_to_IDE_drive/ESXi_install_to_IDE_drive.php

that worked fine...

But after that got a core dump on releasebuild 153875

[DSmagghe]

Attached is a PSOD after successfull installation . After boot, it gets an IP-address from DHCP. Runs for about 90 seconds and then out of the blue getting this PSOD attached... Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[Dave_Mishchenko]

You can try this http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/disable_CIM_on_startup.php, but if you're using the HP specific ISO install image I'd first try the generic install CD image.