ermockler's Posts

I am having a similar but different issue. Running ESXi 6.0 (beta) on an Asrock H77M mini ITX. Had a Quadro FX3800 in it running VM's - Win7, SteamOS & Android KitKat. The Win7 & the SteamOS work fine. I used a USB ->SPDIF piped into the Quadro for sound. I can only get the screen of the Android when rebooting the host. no matter what. The Win7 & SteamOS work after the Android, before whenever. But the Android must be first or no display. And the SPDIF wasn't working either in Android, had to use the analog from the USB sound. So I got a Quadro 2000 from CL, and swapped it out. Now the Win7 still works fine as before ( I am using scripts to disable & re-enable the Vmware SVGA, here and above) The Android does not work as the first VM.  It only works AFTER I boot the Win7. So I run the Win7, then Android, and if I shut down the Android I have to run the Win7 again to get the Android out the display. This card has sound, so I don't need the USB ->SPDIF anymore. Of course it works in Win7, but not Android yet. I know the sound issues are Android related, so ignore that. But it seems the card needs to in a "state" that I only happened upon. It's funny how it takes different measures to get it into that state. I am convinced it's got something to do with the video ram on the card, and how it's left.  Android is different since there is no VMware tools, but SteamOS is the same.  I haven't tried SteamOS yet with this card, since there is quite a bit of brain damage involved. So I thought I would add my experience here, maybe all this adds up for someone......

Hi Mozzie, I am actually working on the same thing. I have an older PLX RDK Gen 1 8508 that I have working in an xp test system. It's setup in Transparent mode, and I am not getting the desired passthrough options on ESXi 5.1. I wonder if you wouldn't mind posting your config, it would help me eliminate some trial & error steps. specifically I'd like to know: Is ESXi 5.5 better than 5.1 for this? Which PLX card are you using? Is it in Transparent mode, NT Intelligent Adapter mode, or NT Dual Host mode? Or if you are using a gen 3 PLX switch, is there some capability not present in the Gen1 I am using? Did you have to modify the eeprom on the PLX card? Did ESXi reqire any Vibs or modifications? Since you seem to be using ESXi 5.5, I will try this now.   I have been using 5.1 since 5.5 doesn't allow the passthrough of onboard devices, and I needed the USB's.... The PLX card would allow USB add in cards and solve this. Thanks in advance for any help!

I have this working very nicely on an x58 3x sli board running esxi5. It has 3 xp vm's each with a dedicated radeon HD 4650. I also passed through a usb controller for each to get the keyboard & mouse. I get sound from HDMI, but just ordered 3 cheapo usb sound cards since it's impractical to connect 3 tv's. I'll probably have to switch to wireless keyb & mouse since each vm only has 2 usb ports. Each vm is set to auto startup, as is the minecraft server vm. So I'm basically using this for my kids to play minecraft on, simultaneously on 3 vm's.

Click on configuration tab, then advanced settings. Select LVM and first try zero in both. refresh your storage. if you don't see your iscsi vmfs, then set the resignature flag to "1" in the same advanced - LVM area. Refresh the storage and you should see your iscsi with a "snap?????" label, which you can change

I downloaded this VMware-VMvisor-InstallerCD-3.5.0_Update_4-153875.i386.iso, which doesn't obviosly say it's for 3i . booted the ESXi u3 box from it, wiped out the old box and installed. In the Vi it says I have: VMware ESX Server 3i, 3.5.0, 153875 and I added the ESXi license https://download2.vmware.com/software/vi/VMware-VMvisor-InstallerCD-3.5.0_Update_4-153875.i386.iso

I bought a Coraid SR1661 late last year and they sent me out the HBA about a month b4 the beta started (about Jan 09). I wanted to play with the storage and came up with the workaround. VM's created on Coraid storage were visible to ESXi using the HBA and the earliest beta driver. I couldn't use the HBA at all without the driver. Now I have 2 ESXi boxes, and each uses Coraid storage via the HBA and Vblade storage via the workaround. I need to work out the exact method, maybe using VEEAM or something to replicate to the cheepo vblade storage. Starport is just the AOE initiator for windows, using that on the backup box for disk2disk as well as temporarily in the aoe->iscsi vm.

This wasn't really a question, I was just sharing the workaround. I participated in the Coraid beta of the driver, so I was alerted by email of the release of version 1.0.1. The workaround is still useful, since it will let you use a vblade target, presumably for "tier 2" storage, backups, redundancy, etc. Using this with ESXi you could knock together a san and some hosts for NO money, and makes you more comfortable pluncking down for enterprise class hardware and management . I suppose it may be worth building the linux aoe-->iscsi vm after all.

Yes, you can run esxi in a vm, but be prepared for some brain damage. look at www.xtravirt.com for instructions. You must have VT support enabled, I had to poke values into my sony laptop bios and risk bricking it to enable it. You also need workstation 6.5. I found it to be work the brain damage.

I thought about doing that, downloaded freenas and a couple others that had very out of date AOE tools and no package management. A couple hours into it I decided it was too much work for a supposedly temporary workaround. I used Winlite for a minimal xp with 2 nics. You get 30 days of a trial from Rocket Division, which should be enough for a workaround. If you need longer I think it's only $200 for both. Running trial software on a vm with snapshots would probably allow some creative individual to see some possibilities..... I spoke to Jim Kemp from Coraid on the phone and the driver is for both ESX and ESXi.