IBM x3850 X5 boot from SAN issue

[devs159]

Hi,

I'm currently having a problem with an IBM x3850 X5 and getting it to boot from SAN for ESXi 4.1 (update1). The server can see the boot volume successfully but when you enable the qlogic BIOS it just won't boot to it.

The storage is an IBM Storwize 7000 and we're only enabling a single path for the purposes of the install. The firmware of the system and the qlogic cards is at the latest levels. We have an install on USB separately using the same storage and it's possible to map LUN's without any problems so it's looks to be related to UEFI BIOS options.

Any suggestions welcome....

[S_Grimbuhler]

hi

suggestions, not solutions :

- activate the bios only for the hba used to boot (desactivate the other)

- use a lun id 0 for your boot lun

- i guess you know: you have to activate the bios AND to indicate the boot lun in the qlogic menu

Hope it helps

Stéphane Grimbuhler

Senior Virtualization & Storage consultant (VCP / VCAP-DCA)

VMware Instructor (VCI)

[devs159]

I had actually done that also as it's a pre-requisite for the Storwize 7000 when using boot from SAN.

It ended up that I had to set the order of the I/O devices so the HBA cards were listed first (e.g Slot 4, 5 first) in the following sytem BIOS menu page:

System Settings --> Devices and I/O ports --> Set Option ROM Execution Order

Once the above is done you can access the ctrl Q option for the qlogic BIOS and it's boot to ESXi successfully.