ESXi 4.0: Raid Array not detected.

[malarie]

Good Day,

I have an HP XW4600 with 2X1TB disks mounted as a hardware RAID 1 array that i created in the BIOS. When I install ESXi4.0, it will detect my 2 disks, instead of my RAID1 array. Is there anything I can do to make sure ESXi sees my RAID Array?

Thanks. I have check the Hardware Compatibility guide, Did not see my model, but im not even sure i checked the right thing. I am quite new to vmware technologies.

Thanks

[DSTAVERT]

You array controller is a software RAID device and requires a software component to provide the RAID functionality. ESXi requires a Hardware RAID device. You either need to find a hardware based controller from the HCL list or you can use the second disk to host copies of the VM's. There are scripts that can help. ghettoVCBdoes a great job of cloning running machines. You can use the VMware Standalone Converter tool to make copies although it is a manual process.

[malarie]

Thanks for the reply,

Unfortunately,this is chineese to me.

What is a Hardware based Controller? Is it a PCI Card? Do I have to change the motherboard?

[DSTAVERT]

If you need RAID then you will need to find a hardware RAID card for your machine. You would need something like the HP Smart Array SA-E200 with the BBWC module. If you can get by without raid use the disks as is and copy the virtual machines from one disk to the other on a regular basis.

You may be able to find other hardware raid cards that work on your machine.

[malarie]

Is this card compatible? (sorry i dont undertand tghis hardware compatibility guide)

Adaptec Serial ATA II RAID 1420SA - Storage controller (RAID) - 4 Channel - SATA-300 low profile - 300 MBps - RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD - PCI-X

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|http://www.insight.ca/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=ADK05055&nbs_search=K%3DRAID%26lang%3Den-ca%26M%3D%26C%3D112%26S%3D1064]

[DSTAVERT]

Not a hardware raid controller. Hardware RAID controllers are seldom inexpensive. They have memory and special purpose processors on them. Check the http://vm-help.com site for controllers people have found to work.

[markzz]

I know this is an old thread but I just have to comment.

For the ignorant..

It's quite easy to determine a hardware raid controller from a software based raid controller.

The easy routine is "Can you configure the raid from a bios on the raid controller, if so it's hardware".

The next question is does the OS you want to load have a driver to address the hardware, in this case the Adaptec 1420sa raid controller.

So the 1420sa is a hardware raid controller. You don't require a software function to configure the raid array, but does ESXi have a driver to address the controller is the question.

I'd like to know this too, but I'll soon enough figure it out..

[BigSuma]

Ive got an Adaptec 2410SA obviously compatible on the VMHELP site..

ive created my array of 4 x 1.5TB drives .. but when i get in to the ESXi datastore. it doesnt see the array.. only 4 individual disks.

Is there something im missing for this array to be seen?

[DSTAVERT]

Welcome to the forums. You need to create your own post.