timfawcett
Contributor
Contributor

MegaRAID M5015 on ESXi 5.0

Having problems connecting to remote ESXi 5.0 servers from MegaRAID 15 running on a Windows 2008 R2 server. Windows server is on the same subnet as the ESX servers, Windows and ESX firewalls have ports 3071 & 5571 TCP and UDP open. On one server I have the "lsiprovider 00.04.V0.55-0006" vib installed, on another I have the "scsi-megaraid-sas 6.607.06.00-1OEM.500.0.0.472560" vib installed, neither work. What else can I check / change to get this working?

cykVM
Expert
Expert

Hi,

which controller type/model are you running?

First of all both the CIM provider (lsiprovider...vib) and the driver (scsi-megaraid-sas...vib) have to be installed on the server having the LSI controller built-in.

The Megaraid Storage Manager (MSM) connects to the CIM provider for health data/configuration of the controller.

On the control server/workstatiobn with MSM installed the ESXi hostname should be resolveable by DNS. You may try to add the hostname/IP to the Windows hosts file found in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

After starting MSM on the control PC goto "Configure Host" and select "Display all the ESXi-CIMOM servers in the network of local server" and "Save Settings" afterwards. Then it should find the CIM provider installed on ESXi.

I've got a nice tutorial on that but unfortunately this is in german, but you may probably follow the screenshots in there: MegaRAID Storage Manager für VMware ESXi 5.5 Server – Thomas-Krenn-Wiki

Maybe this is of any help, too: Manage an LSI MegaRAID card in ESXi host remotely with MSM | Kihltech


cykVM



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timfawcett
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Contributor

Hi, thanks for your reply.

It's an IBM ServeRAID M5015, which I understand to be an LSI 9260-8i.  I've now got the CIM provider and driver installed (as below) but still no luck.  I can resolve the ESX servers from the Windows host without issue but still unable to discover the ESX server in MSM (15.03.01.00).  I also can't telnet to the ESX server on ports 3071 and 5571 from the Windows server, which makes me think it's not listening on those ports.  Have I got the wrong driver vib maybe?

Name                  Version                              Vendor  Acceptance Level  Install Date

--------------------  -----------------------------------  ------  ----------------  ------------

scsi-megaraid-sas     6.607.06.00-1OEM.500.0.0.472560      Avago   VMwareCertified   2015-06-04

lsiprovider           500.04.V0.55-0006                    LSI     VMwareAccepted    2015-05-21

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timfawcett
Contributor
Contributor

More information, in vSphere I only get disk information reported under Storage, nothing about the RAID card anywhere, could this point to the LSI SMIS provider being the problem?

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cykVM
Expert
Expert

That's at least strange, there is really nothing shown in vSphere client host -> configuration -> storage adapters?

Maybe that you first need to update the firmware of the controller? What does a

esxcfg-scsidevs -a

give you on the CLI/ssh on that host?

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timfawcett
Contributor
Contributor

Hi - so I've already upgraded the firmware as a previous troubleshooting step.  The output of the command is below.  In vSphere - Configuration - Storage only disks are listed, no controller cards, although under Software Components I see entries for the LSIprovider and Avago scsi-megaraid...

~ # esxcfg-scsidevs -a

vmhba0  ata_piix          link-n/a  sata.vmhba0                             (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation ICH10 4 port SATA IDE Controller

vmhba1  ata_piix          link-n/a  sata.vmhba1                             (0:0:31.5) Intel Corporation ICH10 2 port SATA IDE Controller

vmhba2  megaraid_sas      link-n/a  unknown.vmhba2                          (0:1:0.0) LSI / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS GEN2 Controller

vmhba3  lpfc820           link-up   fc.20000000c9e8400e:10000000c9e8400e    (0:26:0.0) Emulex Corporation LPe11000 4Gb Fibre Channel Host Adapter

vmhba4  lpfc820           link-up   fc.20000000c9e8400f:10000000c9e8400f    (0:26:0.1) Emulex Corporation LPe11000 4Gb Fibre Channel Host Adapter

vmhba32 bnx2i             unbound   iscsi.vmhba32                           Broadcom iSCSI Adapter

vmhba33 bnx2i             unbound   iscsi.vmhba33                           Broadcom iSCSI Adapter

vmhba34 bnx2i             unbound   iscsi.vmhba34                           Broadcom iSCSI Adapter

vmhba35 bnx2i             unbound   iscsi.vmhba35                           Broadcom iSCSI Adapter

vmhba36 ata_piix          link-n/a  sata.vmhba36                            (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation ICH10 4 port SATA IDE Controller

vmhba37 ata_piix          link-n/a  sata.vmhba37                            (0:0:31.5) Intel Corporation ICH10 2 port SATA IDE Controller

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cykVM
Expert
Expert

Very strange, especially above output:

vmhba2  megaraid_sas      link-n/a  unknown.vmhba2                          (0:1:0.0) LSI / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS GEN2 Controller

the unknown should show at least "sas" or "sata".

Looks like the driver is not fully detecting the ServeRAID as an LSI. Might be due to re-branding the firmware by IBM/Lenovo.

Is there any VMWare driver available from IBM?

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cykVM
Expert
Expert

Just a guess, but is the battery/BBU still working/charged and not dead? I once had an older LSI controller with a dead battery which was running completely mad.

Did you probably accidentally download/install the VMWare 5.5 lsiprovider, on http://www.lsi.com/products/raid-controllers/pages/megaraid-sas-9260-8i.aspx#tab/tab4 there is one for 5.5 and another one for 5.x which have nearly identical filenames/version numbers.

You should use the 5.x one, I guess.

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timfawcett
Contributor
Contributor

Hi - definately using the 5.x LSI driver.  Can't find anything on the IBM website, doesn't show anything available for that controller card.  Will try some different servers (with same controller)...

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timfawcett
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Looking at troubleshooting step 3 here: http://kb.stonegroup.co.uk/index.php?View=entry&EntryID=195 I'm suspecting the LSI SMIS provider...

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cykVM
Expert
Expert

Did you reboot the host after you installed the SMIS/CIM provider?

If the provider does not start/run for some reason it will not work for sure.

You may try with the commandline tools (MegaCLI, StorCLI) to see if it's running on the host.

Another thing to consider might be, that there is already a CIM provider for LSI cards running, because up to VMWare 5 there was a basic one included with VMWare. That might be interfering with the newer version you tried to install, see this discussion: Monitor LSI Raid / Show available CIM providers

To disable a CIM provider refer to: VMware KB: Disabling an ESXi CIM provider when it fails or is unstable

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timfawcett
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OK, so storcli knows about the controller:

/opt/lsi # ./storcli show

Status Code = 0

Status = Success

Description = None

Number of Controllers = 1

Host Name = XXXXXXXX

Operating System  = VMkernel5.0.0

System Overview :

===============

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ctl Model                            Ports PDs DGs DNOpt VDs VNOpt BBU sPR DS EHS ASOs Hlth

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  0 ServeRAIDM5015SAS/SATAController     8   2   1     0   1     0 Opt On  -  Y      0 Opt

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't see any other CIM providers for LSI installed:

/opt/lsi # esxcli system settings advanced list | grep CIM

   Path: /UserVars/CIMEnabled

   Description: Enable or disable the CIM service

   Path: /UserVars/CIMLogLevel

   Description: Set the log level of the CIM Service

   Path: /UserVars/CIMWatchdogInterval

   Description: Set the watchdog polling interval for the CIM Service

   Path: /UserVars/CIMvmw_swmgtProviderEnabled

   Description: Enable or disable the CIM vmw_swmgt provider

   Path: /UserVars/CIMvmw_hhrcwrapperProviderEnabled

   Description: Enable or disable the CIM vmw_hhrcwrapper provider

   Path: /UserVars/CIMvmw_hdrProviderEnabled

   Description: Enable or disable the CIM vmw_hdr provider

   Path: /UserVars/CIMvmw_viProviderEnabled

   Description: Enable or disable the CIM vmw_vi provider

   Path: /UserVars/CIMvmw_sfcbInteropProviderEnabled

   Description: Enable or disable the CIM vmw_sfcbInterop provider

   Path: /UserVars/CIMvmw_pciProviderEnabled

   Description: Enable or disable the CIM vmw_pci provider

   Path: /UserVars/CIMvmw_kmoduleProviderEnabled

   Description: Enable or disable the CIM vmw_kmodule provider

   Path: /UserVars/CIMvmw_hhrcwrapperProviderPollingInterval

   Path: /UserVars/CIMvmw_lsiproviderProviderEnabled

   Description: Enable or disable the CIM vmw_lsiprovider provider

System has been rebooted a few times since installing the SIMS CIM provider.  Going to try different servers now (same hardware), see if I get the same results...

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cykVM
Expert
Expert

That looks OK. Maybe you can PN community user JarryG, he mentioned several times that he has an IBM ServeRAID M5016 (for example here: Re: VM Ware ESXi 6 - Raid controllers?).

Maybe he has any further ideas what's going wrong on your side.

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JarryG
Expert
Expert

I'm using M5016 (aka LSI-9266/9271) but it might be similar as for M5015 (LSI-9260):

I updated bios/driver/smis/storcli all to the latest version, and after restarting ESXi the whole "Storage" section dissapeared from vSphere Client -> Configuration -> Health Status. But despite of that, "storcli /c0 show all" still could retrieve complete info about controller, arrays and disks.

Then I downgraded smis-provider from:

VMW-ESX-5.x.0-lsiprovider-500.04.V0.55-0006-2619867.zip

one version back to:

VMW-ESX-5.x.0-lsiprovider-500.04.V0.54-0004-2395881.zip

I restarted ESXi, and Storage health status was back again, with complete information (arrays, disks, battery, etc)! So I suppose there is some problem with the latest lsi smis-provider. Try to use older smis-provider and see if it works for you...

_____________________________________________ If you found my answer useful please do *not* mark it as "correct" or "helpful". It is hard to pretend being noob with all those points! :winking_face:

View solution in original post

vervoortjurgen
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

hi

dont know if this will help but i got it working with a proxy script in between

if wrote a short blog about it and use the proxy script of alex

LSI MegaRaid Storage Manager for IBM Serveraid systemx or bladecenter on vmware ESXi 5.x | VDS Syste...

got it working on IBM server.

hope it helps

kind regards Vervoort Jurgen VCP6-DCV, VCP-cloud http://www.vdssystems.be
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timfawcett
Contributor
Contributor

Hi - had problems posting on here yesterday...  Now works with the V0.54 version rather than the V0.55 one...  Many thanks for the tip!

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timfawcett
Contributor
Contributor

Although still shown as 'unknown' with esxcfg...

~ # esxcfg-scsidevs -a

vmhba0  ata_piix          link-n/a  sata.vmhba0                             (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation ICH10 4 port SATA IDE Controller

vmhba1  ata_piix          link-n/a  sata.vmhba1                             (0:0:31.5) Intel Corporation ICH10 2 port SATA IDE Controller

vmhba2  megaraid_sas      link-n/a  unknown.vmhba2                          (0:1:0.0) LSI / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS GEN2 Controller

vmhba3  lpfc820           link-up   fc.20000000c9e8400e:10000000c9e8400e    (0:26:0.0) Emulex Corporation LPe11000 4Gb Fibre Channel Host Adapter

vmhba4  lpfc820           link-up   fc.20000000c9e8400f:10000000c9e8400f    (0:26:0.1) Emulex Corporation LPe11000 4Gb Fibre Channel Host Adapter

vmhba32 bnx2i             unbound   iscsi.vmhba32                           Broadcom iSCSI Adapter

vmhba33 bnx2i             unbound   iscsi.vmhba33                           Broadcom iSCSI Adapter

vmhba34 bnx2i             unbound   iscsi.vmhba34                           Broadcom iSCSI Adapter

vmhba35 bnx2i             unbound   iscsi.vmhba35                           Broadcom iSCSI Adapter

vmhba36 ata_piix          link-n/a  sata.vmhba36                            (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation ICH10 4 port SATA IDE Controller

vmhba37 ata_piix          link-n/a  sata.vmhba37                            (0:0:31.5) Intel Corporation ICH10 2 port SATA IDE Controller

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cykVM
Expert
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If it's working now I would just ignore that. Might just be that the driver needs a downgrade, too.

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timfawcett
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That was my thought too...  if it's working, leave it alone...

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JarryG
Expert
Expert

It is perfectly correct output, even with that "unknown" for storage interface (I have the same). Unlike on-board ICH10 ports (wich can attach only sata-disks), your raid-controller can attach both sata- and sas-drives (even mix both types together in one array). Moreover, those drives are completely hidden from system by raid-layer. All "esxcfg" can see is one raid-array, but it can not query individual disks to find what interface they use. Only proprietary vendor-tool can do it (i.e. StorCLI, MegaCLI, SMIS-provider)...

_____________________________________________ If you found my answer useful please do *not* mark it as "correct" or "helpful". It is hard to pretend being noob with all those points! :winking_face:
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