esxi on IBM x3650

[kevisa]

I plan to deploy esxi on x3650 ( 2x QuadCore Intel Xeon E5310, 1.6 GHz, 8G RAM, 5 SCSI HDs Raid5)

I konw almost noting about esxi, so, I am not sure if esxi can be installed successfully, any suggestion will help me a lot!

Here is another problem, can I migration guest OS from running on vmware server 1.06 to esxi? if yes, can I assign more hardware resource (like cpu number, since the max number in vmware server is 2) to an exist guest OS?

[Jasemccarty]

I don't recall off the top of my head if an x3650 is supported to run ESXi or not, but you will not be able to do an inplace upgrade/install.

You'll have to move your VM's off of the host, rebuild it, and them import the VM's back to it.

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center

(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Hello, the x3650 is not on the official VMware HCL (http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_systems_guide.pdf) but it is listed for ESX regular. That also is the same on IBM's guide - http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/nos/vmware.html. That said, it would very likely work but it's best to stick with the HCL. I would check with your IBM rep as it may be the case that they just haven't officially tested it. What sort of storage controller does it have?

You will be able to use VMware Converter (the free version) to move from VMware server to ESXi. You'll just

1) install converter on the VMware Server host (or other Windows PC with access to the host).

2) shut down the VMs

3) Start the import wizard and select the VMX as source and the ESXi host as the destination.

Once you have imported the VM you would be able to modify the resources (memory / disk space / NIC cards and vCPUS (up to 4)). You will see better performance with ESXi that with VMware server as the overhead is much less, so I would first take it over with the same number of vCPUs and give the VMs on ESXi a test first.

What sort of VM count do you have planned for this ESXi host. The reason I ask is that

1) The ration of physical CPU cores to memory is a bit low. Typically with 8 CPU cores you might go with up to 4 x the memory (up to 32 GB).

2) With ESXi (or Vmware Server) as virtual CPU in the VM will only run as fast as a physical CPU core. So a single vCPU VM would only run at 1.6 GHz. ESXi doesn't aggregrate CPU power into faster vCPUs.

[jcwuerfl]

I just did this yesterday and it works fine except for the DVD/CDROM doesn't work when trying to assign a CDROM to a VM. Other than that it seems to be working for me. btw: You can always create an ISO of the CD/DVD and assign that to the VMs if needed so not a huge deal although I need them to add official support for the x3650 and add the DVD/CDROM support which is really USB I believe.

[AE2TAYA]

I installed ESXi today on an IBM x3650 and it all went very smoothly. The only problem I also have is not being able to boot of the DVD/CD Rom drive in a VM.

[kevisa]

Thank all of your kindly and helpful reply, that really do me a great favor and firm my confidence! Thank you very very much!!!

I even can not wait to start the ESXi deployment on local env. :smileygrin:

[ngancip2]

I also installed this in an x3650 7979 model and as the other people said it works perfect only the DVDROM doesnt work under ESXi hope there's a patch soon for this, folks at IBM told me that there was a driver somewhere, and i swear i saw a page with dvd drivers for ESXi i cant find it now though.

[DoctorNet]

> You will be able to use VMware Converter (the free version) to move from VMware server to ESXi. You'll just
> 1) install converter on the VMware Server host (or other Windows PC with access to the host).
> 2) shut down the VMs
> 3) Start the import wizard and select the VMX as source and the ESXi host as the destination.

Sorry to say so, this is not true. The free Converter will only accept physical machines as input - I just tried that, and after tens of installs etc. I tried the commandline version, which told me "no enterprise license found"

This makes it impossible to seamlessly go from VMware server to ESXi ...

[Dave_Mishchenko]

So if you start the convert wizard (File \ New \ Convert) and then proceed to the Source Type screen, what options do you have in the drop down menu?

[DoctorNet]

In the intro it says

blabla

this can be

• This physical computer

• a remote physicakl computer

• avirtual appliance

• a VMware virtual machine

• a Microsoft virtual machine

• a third-party backup image

If I then chose "Next" I I get a dropdown list containing ONLY "Physical Computer" ...

I tried the command line version against an import.xml (attached) and got "You need an Enterprise license for this import"

This is reproducable on all windows boxes we have (only 4 or so), but there is no converter for Linux AFAIK

[jcwuerfl]

Do the option of "Other" and then point it at your vmdk file locally. Then choose desination of ESXi.

[DoctorNet]

Well, if there WERE an option "other" I would have tried ... but as I said: the ONLY option is remote physical computer.

And: Yes, I installed the agent, I did RTFM

[jcwuerfl]

What is the version / Build ?

Mine says: 3.03 Build-89816

Your running this on a XP Desktop ?

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Likewise I'm using 3.0.3. I have the full install on Windows 2003. The install includes the agent, but in my case where I'm converting vmx / vmc the agent is not needed.

[DoctorNet]

Guys,

while the free converter wouldn't allow me to chose a

VMware Server VM as a source on 4 or so different WinXP machines, I

retried with an old Win2K Notebook after being told, that this should

work and - voilà, it's right now converting!

So, to make it clear: Our standard WinXP image looks like the culprit. Sorry for that.

A

Hint to the developers (might or might not be related): All machines,

where this failed have an 1.0.x VMware server installed, the machine

where it worked has not.

Best regards, Eugen

P.S.: Same version here

[DuncanLiberty]

I've got ESXi 4. installed on an IBM X 3650 (7979) server. It's working well despite not being on the HCL... I have 2 issues

1) The server does not detect a USB drive or USB stick in either the front or the back USB ports. I've added a USB controller to the configuration while off to no avail.... Nothing logged in the event viewer and the USB device is conencted on system and guest O/S startup

2) The IBM serverraid manager can't be installed within Windows because VMWare is "hiding" the raid controller form it. If installed, it says the drives are defunt and 0 K (which is not the case) . How can I send alerts (e-mails) and monitor my disks health??

Thanks

Duncan

[SAngeli]

Hi,

I am glad I found a tread that adresses the IBM x3650 7979 server type.

I was reading that this server is not certified for ESXi. Indeed it is certified for ESX software and officially compatible from VMWare with ESXi software.

This is what I was able to find on the Internet.

Anyway, I provided here a link that shows how VMWare consider this server compatible.

Direct Link

Now, back to me:

I have a strange issue with my server that am not able to find a solution. I need your help, please.

I have this server with this specs: System x3650 Type 7979-DWG with 8 GB of RAM and 6 HD SAS of 140 GB each.

I have a ServeRaid 8k with 6 HD. I created an entire Array in RAID5 mode.

BIOS settings are (for boot options) as follows:

• Planar Ethernet PXE/DHCP (Planar Ethernet 1 and 2)

• PCI Device Boot Priority (Planar SAS)

I both used the IBM CD-ROM and the VMWare CD-ROM for installing VMWare ESXi 4.0 U1

Anytime, after completing the installation when I reboot the server I always get this error:

i9990301 Disk Failure or Disk reset error

Therefore, I am not able to boot into ESXi. Rather, if I boot from the CD-ROM (as a test) and then select to boot from the HD, then I am able to boot.

Please, this is driving me crazy. What am I doing wrong?

What is wrong? I believe It seems like it cannot find the Boot sector or something is worng.

Please help me. I do not know what to do.

Lastly, I read on this tread about having 8 core CPU but not benefiting of all the hardware resource with vmware. Can someone please elaborate?

It would not make sense to me if this is true mostly because this IBM server has 2 CPU native for Virtualization. Now, which software is natively compatible for Virtualization that allows full usage and benefit of the hardware?

Otherwhise, it would not make sense in investing $ in hardware if it is not used by the Virtualization software.

Thank you,

Spiro