ESX3i and HP ML115 G5

[Mr_Gimper]

I read all over the net that the ML115 could run ESX3.5 so I bought a couple. Unfortunately the onboard NIC wasn't detected and I read that you had to hack ESX about a bit to get the onboard SATA controller to be usable.

Decided to shelve that approach, and installed them as a 2 node 2008 cluster with Hyper-V.

Then ESX3i comes along.....

Downloaded ESX3i and did the USB boot thing, and am happy to say that ESX3i detects both the onboard NIC and the SATA controller. Well pleased, considering these boxes are around £115 each (with £55 for a corsair 4gb mem kit). A proper install of ESX3i to disk will not work as it doesn't detect the onboard SATA during install. Using the USB boot, I have created a VMFS 3 datastore on the local SATA disk no problems.

Hoping to get a 3rd to run as an iSCSI server :smileygrin:

Just thought I'd let you guys know of this cheap server option, if you weren't already aware.

[leproxxx]

Ok....i will try with another server and i'll tell you..

Thank you!!

[denthorntan]

Having recently purchased an ML115 G5 for a vmware trial, I have like many others discovered that things are not so easy to get sorted.

Would you care to elaborate on the procedure to set a usb key up to boot the machine up to ESX3i please:) ?

[nick_couchman]

Just search the ESXi forum for this - there are quite a few threads already that talk about setting this up. It involves extracting a file from an archive on the ISO image and then writing it to a USB stick.

[Mr_Gimper]

I had better luck using Flashnul to write the image, rather than winimage

Make sure you delete any partitions already on your stick, and ensure windows doesn't have any drive letters assigned to it.

I had issues using disk management to delete partitions on the stick, but I have Acronis Disk Director which deleted them no problem.

As mentioned, search for the procedure and follow it... it really is that simple

And remember, for the internal NIC to be recognised, ensure you use U2

[nick_couchman]

I run Linux on my desktop, so "dd" worked perfectly well for me.

[NormanE]

leproxxx

I am getting the panic banks error on my ML115 G1 when trying to boot from USB. When I switch the USB drive to Hard Disk Emulation, it is not detected.

Did you do anything special to get your USB drive working? Are you using the internal port?

Thanks

Norman

Message was edited by: NormanE

~Got it fixed by going into the hard disk order in the bios. working perfectly now.

[leproxxx]

Yes, that is just the solution

[denthorntan]

Thanks very much for the nudge.

I found the info, extracted the file and sorted the boot stick out and I guess the searching took longer than the actual work needed.

It worked briefley, until VMware scored their home goal with THE time bomb!!.

I expect to have another play in a day or so after I sort the fix out then get a few images sorted.