Cant install VMware VSphere ESXi 6 hypervisor on SAMSUNG SM951 M.2 drive also SATA drive on Adaptec host card not visible! Please help!!

[actinade]

I am having a rough time attempting to install VMware VSphere ESXi 6 on a little home server I *tried* to build for this purpose.  When attempting to install, I cannot see any hard drives and can only exit.

The intent of this system is to have the hypervisor on the M.2 SSD and to use the pcie RAID card in RAID 10 configuration to host all OS images for testing/play/and a serious-long term personal storage solution

I built the system last week and installed windows 7 off of the board's sata ports.  System worked as expected.  I installed the pcie RAID card and transfered the 'test' SATA hard drive there and formatted it via the ADAPTEC card BIOS

I can see both drives via the MOBO BIOS.

1. SAMSUNG SM951 M.2 128GB PCI-Express 3.0 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
2. Adaptec 6405e RAID host adapter (I just have a single test SATA drive installed for now, a WD raptor)

1. MOBO - ASRock C226M WS Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150
2. CPU - E3-1246 v3 @ 3.50 GHz
3. RAM - 32 GB Kingston 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 ECC

Thank you so much!

[Techie01]

>>

When attempting to install, I cannot see any hard drives and can only exit.

>>

Whenever the installer cannot see the harddisk during installaiton, the first suspect is the driver for the controller. Please check if your raid controller is in the supported controller list in vmware HCL and if the required driver is part of the vmware ISO. If not, you will have to customize the ISO with the driver VIB injected into it. Based on the model you mentioned I see the driver available at Adaptec - Adaptec Driver: AACRAID Driver v1.2.1-41024 for VMware Download Detail

[BoneTrader]

VMware Compatibility Guide: I/O Device Search

driver for vSphere 6.0 U1 -> https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI60-PMC-AACRAID-62141024&productId=491

[actinade]

Thank you.  Could you please point me to a walk through for customizing the ISO with the 'VIB injected into it' (do I need a tool or just place the files in a specified location, etc?) I did find the Adaptec driver listed and DL it yesterday but only to hold on to until I have the hypervisor installed on the Samsung M.2.    I was NOT able to find the M.2 driver listed.

I just noticed that I have ver 6.0.  If I now get 6.1 do you think it will detect the SM951 M.2?  Thanks again

[actinade]

My bad... I guess that there is no 6.1, just 6.0 update 1? hmm

[Techie01]

There multiple blogs on how to create custom ISO . SOme of them are

http://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer.html

Create ESXi 6.0 custom ISO - vInfrastructure Blog

https://blogs.vmware.com/kb/2014/05/using-vsphere-esxi-image-builder-create-installable-iso-vulnerab...

[actinade]

Welp.  I got all set up to make a custom ISO with the drivers slipstreamed in... I got VMWare PowerCLI and the stat-xahci-1.32 offline bundle / vib...and started following the instructions that I could ... and then saw the following:

3. Re: Does ESXi 5.5 recognise M.2 drives?

alaylm8 Jun 27, 2015 4:22 AM (in response to fars)

Implementing this VMware Front Experience: How to make your unsupported SATA AHCI Controller work with ESXi 5.5 and 6.... should work for M.2 SM951 as per Latest Update on 2015-06-17, Version 1.32

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

SM951 SSD M.2 Controller

144d:a801

1.30

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

as I recall, this is why I purchased the SM951 to begin with... it appeared that it would be compatible.  And I had located the adaptec drivers thinking that after I installed the hypervisor, I could install the drivers later.  help me.  what am i missing?

[actinade]

I ended up using ImageBuilder to make custom ESXi ISO

I ran PowerCLI in RemoteSigned execution

For the Samsung SM951 M.2 drive I added the following VIB

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot sata-xahci-1.32-1-offline_bundle.zip

For my Adaptec 6405e I added the following VIB (but this did not work even though the Acceptance Level was PartnerSupported)

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot c:\vmware\aacraid-offline_bundle.zip

And the ESXi was Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -name esx-base

esx-base 6.0.0-0.0.2494585

The package "sata-xahci-1.32-1-offline_bundle.zip" was CommunitySupported but everything else I had was PartnerSupported, so I changed the level of my new image to CommunitySupported

PowerCLI C:\vmware> Set-EsxImageProfile -Name ESXi6-M2 -AcceptanceLevel CommunitySupported

Then I could add it

PowerCLI C:\vmware> Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile ESXi6-M2 -SoftwarePackage sata-xahci

And make my ISO

PowerCLI C:\vmware> Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile ESXi6-M2 -ExportToISO -filepath c:\vmware\ESXi6-M2.iso

And it ...sorta worked!!!!  my ISO booted and the installer saw my Samsung SM951 M.2 drive... and installed ESXi

However, strangely, the single drive off the Adaptec drive was NOT seen by the installer, even though the BIOS sees it and I was able to format the single drive via the card's utility...

And here is the cincher: while I was able to install ESXi onto my M.2 drive, it would not boot, and in fact, the board would not allow me to select it as a boot device.

YUK... ok so what happened?  #1 I dont know what the deal with the Adaptec card and its drivers are!

Howver, I have found out that my Samsung SM951 M.2 drive is an AHCI type... instead of an NVMe.  I bought it from Newegg under N82E16820147431 but newegg did not list the type, and moreover, did not list the full part number so there was no way I could tell

I opened up my server and transcribed the full part number: MZHPV128HDGM-0000 or MZ-HPV1280

So the way to tell is the 3rd digit:

MZVPV = NVMe

MZHPV = AHCI

AsRock / AsRack was really awesome with their help regarding my ASRock C226M WS Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 DDR3 1600/1333 board.  So it turns out in Tawain, there is great availability for the NVMe M.2 and thus this is what the BIOS team tested against.  But there is hope.  I slightly different current board by ASRock which also has a M.2 slot had the exact same problem: drive visible and listed in bios but not selectable as a boot device when AHCI whereas selectable if NVMe

They think that they can probably cook up a BIOS update for me that will address the issue of AHCI M.2 on the C226M chipset

I want to say that this link totally helped me complete the image:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=200520...

...Still have no idea what is the deal with the adaptec aacraid-offline_bundle.zip drivers working with the  Adaptec 6405e!!

[MRoushdy]

Hello,

there's a very simple-to-use tool to inject the driver that you have into the ESXi ISO file., please use these steps here:

Can’t install ESXi 5.5/6.0 in your home lab because of the network adapter driver error? | Arab IT N...

I've used it to inject network adapter drivers.

[actinade]

ASRock gave me an updated BIOS for my ASRock C226M WS Micro ATX Server Motherboard

After updating, the system rebooted and launched directly/automatically into ESXi 6!!  Launched and ran the build I had slipstreamed and had previously installed on the M.2 drive (but was unable to boot to as the system did not see the M.2 drive as a bootable device)

THEN I FOUND OUT IT DID NOT 'SEE' EITHER OF THE TWO NICS!! AAAUGH

My follow-up question is this: is there any way to update/install drivers AFTER the ESXi OS is installed and running?  Thanks!

[actinade]

It looks like my motherboard has two different NIC

1. intel i210
2. intex 1217LM

And as far as the i210 it appears that ESXi 6.0 does not include it in box *however* 6.0 U1 does.  Does this mean that I can UPGRADE my existing 6.0 (with the M.2 drivers) to version 6.0.U1 and my NIC driver will be present?

•   ESXi 6.0 U1___igb version 5.0.5.1.1-5vmw___VMware Inbox 
•   ESXi 6.0 U1___igb version 5.0.5.1.1-5vmw___VMware Inbox 
•   ESXi 6.0___igb version 5.0.5.1.1-5vmw___Partner Async 
•   ESXi 6.0___igb version 4.2.16.8___Partner Async

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=io&productid=34010