Will ESXi run on Sun Fire x4100 M2?

[BryTech]

I have a Sun Fire x4100 M2 server that is supported (on the HCL) by VMWARE ESX 3.5. I am looking forward to running ESXi next week when it will be released for no charge. Does anyone know if ESXi will run on the Sun Fire x4100 M2 server? I have SAS hard drives in the server which is where I will install ESXi.

I installed ESX 3 in the past but never tried ESXi. Before I format the box (it is currently Windows 2008 Server) I want to make sure that ESXi will run.

Thanks

Bryan

[Dave_Mishchenko]

You should be OK if you had no problems with ESX (e.g. like the "mounting root failed" error). What sort of SAS controller and NICs does it have?

[BryTech]

Just to throw in that the Sun Fire x4100 is supported on the HCL for ESX 3.5. I don't know if ESXi has the same drivers in it as ESX.

[BryTech]

Hello,

The list of servers on the HCL that support ESXi is very small (for the install type). I don't understand why a system would be on the HCL for ESX but not for ESXi if they both have the same code (my guess is ESXi is missing drivers?)....

Also what is update 2 going to add? I hear that update 2 for ESX will also be available for ESXi.

Thanks

Bryan

[BryTech]

Hello,

I have 4 NICs:

(x2) Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT

(x2) NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller

For the SAS controller I have:

LSI Adapter SAS 3000 series, 4 port with 1064.

Thanks for the help.

Bryan

[swaltner]

Bryan,

I'm curious if you got ESXi to run on your X4100 M2 system. I tried the same thing but am not able to get the management network to come up.

Hardware

Sun X4100 M2

2x Dual-Core Opteron 2220

8 GB RAM

2x Internal 146 GB SAS HDs

Software

VMware ESXi 3.5.0 Update 2 build-110271

The install of ESXi went off without a hitch, but I have been unable to get the management network to become active.

- I have tried all four Gig-E network interfaces, all refuse to get addresses from the DHCP server.

- I have configured the management network to use a static IP address and all 4 interfaces refuse to ping to/from the ESXi management network interface

- All four interfaces show "Disconnected" unless patched to an ethernet switch, so there is at least some basic connectivity between ESXi and the network hardware

I understand that this is not on the supported hardware list, but I'd like to give ESXi a try before purchasing a system to run it on long-term. This X4100 M2 system was one we had waiting to ship to a remote development site.

Steve

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Did you check the duplex / speed setting on the switch? What model of NICs does the system have?

[BryTech]

Hello,

Yes I got ESXi to install on the Sun X4100 M2 with no problem at all. Everything is working great and as expected. It is a great server to use for ESXi as I think Sun is making some of the best x86 servers today.

I have 4 nics on the back of 1 Sun x4100 and a ILOM management nic which it at the top and to the left of the 4 other nics. Make sure you do NOT use the ILOM nic as this will not work as a normal nic. Please use NIC 0 for the first NIC (this is where my management network is setup).

What are you attaching the nic to? This sounds more like a hub/switch issue then a NIC issue. Did you have another OS on the x4100 before and did that work with the same network equipment? I had no issues with the same server setup as you.

Thanks

Bryan

[swaltner]

Thanks Dave and Bryan for the responses. I guess I had posted my message just a little too soon. I did get this working right before calling it a day today.

Dave, to answer your question, the X4100 has a pair of nVIDEA Gig-E ports and a pair of Intel Gig-E ports on the motherboard. Sorry I don't know the specific model numbers.

Like previous comments in this thread had mentioned, I noticed that ESX lists the X4100 M2 as a supported config, so I downloaded an eval copy of it today. I ran into the exact same issue that I was having with the ESXi installation.

After some head-scratching on what could possibly be wrong with the software on a supported configuration, I had an Ahah moment, I found out that I had plugged the ethernet port into a port on the Cisco switch that had an active port monitor session running to it. Of course, this was the only free port that I had on the Cisco switch, or I would have tried other switch ports. This means any traffic generated by the ESX server to the switch was simply dropped by the switch. No wonder DHCP and pings would not work. Once the monitor session on the switch was stopped, the DHCP function started working fine.

Once that worked, I reloaded the ESXi software on the X4100 and the system grabbed an IP address. I was able to download the Infrastructure Client from the web server on the ESXi system and get connected, but that was about it before I needed to go run some errands.

I'll get some more exposure to this in the coming days/weeks to see how ESXi will work for us. Thanks again for the prompt responses.

Steve