VMware Cloud Community
Litch
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

ICH9R / PRO1000 Hardware Support

I'm trying to get ESXi (3.5) installed on an Intel based workstation-turned-server.

Its a DG33TLM mobo,

PRO1000 (8086:294Cr2) Ethernet NIC

ICH9R (8086:2822r2) RAID controller.

Now it installs when the RAID is turned off, and the Controller is set to legacy mode (libata driver is used). But since i've got 4 hard disks in there, it'd be nice to be able to use the RAID.

After ESXi installs, it wont do anything because it wont get an IP address...?

1. Can I (compile/download) kernel modules (For the RAID/NIC) and insert them into the distro?

a. What is a compatible dirso to download/compile it from?

2. Is there any support for the ICH9R in RAID mode?

3. I've tried 4 different NIC's (PRO1000,RTL8139,3COM ?, and something else), what DOES ESXi support in the way of Network cards?

Tags (2)
Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Welcome to the VMware Community forums. While some of the drivers for ESX are derived from Linux drivers, the vmkernel of ESX is not Linux thus you'll not be able to add drivers yourself nor compile them yourself. There is no support for RAID on the Intel ICH family at this time or other SATA controllers that require a software component to provide RAID. Note that SATA controllers are not supported either. If you'd like to see that, I would suggest a post on this thread - http://communities.vmware.com/message/947521#947521

Here's the list of supported controllers - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_io_guide.pdf. I've used the Intel Pro 1000 GT which while not on the list is recognized by both ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3.5.

Here's the page for ESXi documentation - http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vi_pages/vi_pubs_35_3i_i.html. It also includes the HCLs.

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Reply
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Welcome to the VMware Community forums. While some of the drivers for ESX are derived from Linux drivers, the vmkernel of ESX is not Linux thus you'll not be able to add drivers yourself nor compile them yourself. There is no support for RAID on the Intel ICH family at this time or other SATA controllers that require a software component to provide RAID. Note that SATA controllers are not supported either. If you'd like to see that, I would suggest a post on this thread - http://communities.vmware.com/message/947521#947521

Here's the list of supported controllers - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_io_guide.pdf. I've used the Intel Pro 1000 GT which while not on the list is recognized by both ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3.5.

Here's the page for ESXi documentation - http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vi_pages/vi_pubs_35_3i_i.html. It also includes the HCLs.

Reply
0 Kudos