Highpoint Rocketraid & Multiple Arrays

[Manneau]

Hello!

I have configured some old hardware for re-use. It's old but still rock solid and nice for storage virtualization. (2x Openfiler)

The problem is that there is no access to pci passthrough so I have to raw map the device.

VMFS limits me to 2TB Files so I have to configure multiple arrays

Config:

Tyan K8S Pro Thunder

2x AMD Opteron 242

2GB ECC DDR-400

(I know the driver is not supported for this card but the driver base is the same (R3XXX/R4XXX) and it's working for 1 array)

1x Highpoint Rocketraid 3220 PCI-X                 

     -- 6x 2TB Disks [Selected]

         -- #1 RAID 1/0 1500G

         -- #2 RAID 1/0 1500G

         -- #3 RAID 1/0 1500G

         -- #4 RAID 1/0 1500G

1x SIL3114 (VMware system disk)

     -- 1x 1TB Disk [VMware ESXi 4.1]

The problem is that VMware only sees 1 Array

I have tried to manually create path files but this is getting to confusing for me as there is a generic scsi device file and 1 physical disk file copying symlinks for the paths isn't really working. So I think I am doing something wrong 🙂

See Attached JPEGS for more information.

Hope someone is able to help! Really want to use VMware.

Last resort is XenServer for linux kernel based pci passthrough but I don't like XenServer :-).

Thanks in advance.

Menno

[TGLeviathan]

Highpoint makes software based raid cards and VMware has some issues with that. I used a 2720SGL in ESX4 and that worked ok, when using it with ESXi 5 id did not work anymore. It saw my disks but only as individual disks not as RAID set.

You may want to look for a hardware based RAID controller like Adaptec but bare in mind that they are allot more expensive than most software RAID controllers.

[EnricoD]

Hi TGL Leviathan,

First of all sorry for my bad english 😃

Can I make you a question?

How did you install the 2720 installed in your machine (4.0 I have read)?
I'm trying to install the 2710 on a 4.0U1 (same driver for 2720 and 2710 declared as compatible on the manufacturer's website) but I can not view the raid card.

Trying to install the drivers as I get told that the card is not compatible.

Your card was seen immediately after installation or you had to install the drivers?

Thanks for your help

Enrico