Dell 2950III not supported by 3.5?

[mystereman]

Ok, I'm confused. I just read in the Systems Compatibility Guide for 3.5 that Dell 2950III's are not supported (well, there's no X under 3.5), but 3.02 Update 1 Does support it. What?

Why would ESX 3.5, which has come out AFTER 3.02 Update 1 not support the 2950III?

[mcwill]

Its possible they just haven't got around to testing it yet, the 2950III is relatively new and adds support for the 54xx range of Xeon cpus.

[Paul_Coen]

There seems to be a fairly massive amount of hardware that hasn't completed testing yet - I noticed that HP DL380 G5 servers are supposidly only supported with dual-core processors, not quad with 3.5. Also, the only EVA array listed for things like "basic connectivity" or "multipathing with HVA failover" is the EVA 8000. The EVA 8100, 4x00, 6x00 haven't been listed yet, never mind the older 3000 and 5000 series. Mind you, the quad core DL380 G5 servers worked fine well ahead of being added to the "official" list.

I suspect what we're seeing here is a side effect of what seemed like a shorter release cycle. I'd give it a shot. If it works, I wouldn't lose sleep over it. If you've got a new server coming in that's similar, even if it's for another purpose, try throwing 3.5 on there (or a demo if you don't have available licenses).

[jadamt]

Can't wait to see these on the supported list as well...

[dpomeroy]

In this case its most likely like others have said, that it hasn't been certified yet, but never assume that hardware will automatically be supported in a future version just because its supported with a current version.

Don Pomeroy

VMware Communities User Moderator

[ejward · Accepted solution]

I know the beta works on a Dell 2950III. I'm burning this new release now. I'll let you know in a few minutes.

[mystereman]

Thanks guys. That takes a load off my mind. I just ordered a 2950III yesterday for a client to put 3.5 on, and I was really freaking out for a moment.

Yes, it makes sense that it's merely a certification issue.

[ejward]

Here's something I hadn't noticed with the 2950 III before. It comes with a new version of Dell's setup disk (v5.3). In there, Vmware is now one of the OSs you can select for the install. I'm not sure what it does differently. It still asks you for the Vmware CD. you still have to go through all the screens just like you would if you had booted from the Vmware CD. I think it just partitions the drives differently. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

[jadamt]

Any trouble with the Perc 6/i raid controller similar to what was mentioned here? My box should be in today...

I have talked to a source at VMware who mentioned 2 things:

1. They haven't formally "announced" ESX 3.5 release.

2. An update on the certification of the 5400 series processors and Dell 2950 III with 3.5 is expected soon. (Next week or two).

[ejward]

Ok, I installed it with the Dell setup CD. Ummmmm ..... I'm not even sure what the CD does. I still had to answer every single prompt as if I booted from the Vmware install CD.

[dkamdar]

I have a Dell 2900 III, I tried to install ESX 3.5 with the Dell setup CD and without the Dell setup CD, both ways, I can't seem to get the ESX boot, everything install fine, but when I boot up the system it gets stuck at:

Loading VMKernel megaraid_sas.o (options: '')

I have the PERC/6 controller, anybody else having this problem?

[ejward]

It has to be the SATA drives. I can't get me SAS drive 2950 III to NOT work. Unfortunatly, I've got to roll it into production so I won't be able to test more with it.