ESXi hardware help

D

Digital-Vortex

Gawd
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Messages
961
Hi everyone,

Been scratching my head all night trying to get some sense of this. been a long night so no chance now. anyway!

I am trying to install ESXi on 2 machines. both refuse to install, one not being able to see the storage drives. the other not loading the lvmdriver. I would love to get both of these machines working.

Machine one currently has a Pentium core 2 duo E5300 @2.5GHz, 2 gig ram, and an ASUS mobo. everything inbuilt to it. This one is not seeing the storage device to install to. I would imagine i could just put a SATA card in but have no idea which one would be recommended.

The second machine is an AMD AM2+ 5000+ @2.6GHz with 2 gig ram. This one has the lvmdriver issue which i believe is the network port. Its running a Foxxcom mobo so not sure if thats more of a problem.

Anyway. What would you guys recommend for these machines. Not against upgrading parts if needed, could use more ram slots anyway but open to ideas.

Cheers.

G
 
There is an extremely stringent compatibility list you have to follow - ESXi especially doesn't have a lot of drivers for most off-the-shelf hardware, especially not consumer grade stuff like you're using.

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

It's both very picky about network cards (go buy an intel e1000), and storage devices (sata on SAS only for 3.5, SATA sorta-supported for 4).
 
Like lopoetve said, you are SOL for majority of consumer hardware support with ESXi. My advice to you would be to buy either a cheap HP DL380 or go the Virtualbox, Workstation, VirtualPC route.
 
Yes this is very correct.

Most consumer parts don't work directly with the very short and server specific HCL vmware esx(i) carry.

You usually will run into 2 big stumbling blocks.

1. Network Cards
2. Hard drive controller

If you are desperate to make it work on those boxes, add a supported NIC and SATA card. This is still not a guarantee everything will be working. Because of such I suggest you do a little reading on the VMWare HCL and you may find a working option.
 
Treyshadow said:
Yes this is very correct.

Most consumer parts don't work directly with the very short and server specific HCL vmware esx(i) carry.

You usually will run into 2 big stumbling blocks.

1. Network Cards
2. Hard drive controller

If you are desperate to make it work on those boxes, add a supported NIC and SATA card. This is still not a guarantee everything will be working. Because of such I suggest you do a little reading on the VMWare HCL and you may find a working option.
Click to expand...

Used HPDL380 or Dell 1900 is the fast and easy way to go, really. eBay is your friend.
 
Just installed ESXi on a AMD 955 and ASRock 785G. I had to put the Intel Pro in but other than that it all worked fine. As others stated get the Intel card and then put it in the machine that have the lvm error.
 
Try Xenserver instead I've got it running on several little Dell optiplex desktops with integrated SATA controllers and NICs.
 
strikerP4 said:
Try Xenserver instead I've got it running on several little Dell optiplex desktops with integrated SATA controllers and NICs.
Click to expand...
Never compromise - also take a look at the HCL - your HD controller might not be supported, ESXi is mainly a server platform - if your trying just to play around with ESXi4, you can setup ESXi inside VMware Workstation version 6.5 and higher - check this yahoo video out for a how to
 
Digital-Vortex said:
Hi everyone,

Been scratching my head all night trying to get some sense of this. been a long night so no chance now. anyway!

I am trying to install ESXi on 2 machines. both refuse to install, one not being able to see the storage drives. the other not loading the lvmdriver. I would love to get both of these machines working.

Machine one currently has a Pentium core 2 duo E5300 @2.5GHz, 2 gig ram, and an ASUS mobo. everything inbuilt to it. This one is not seeing the storage device to install to. I would imagine i could just put a SATA card in but have no idea which one would be recommended.

The second machine is an AMD AM2+ 5000+ @2.6GHz with 2 gig ram. This one has the lvmdriver issue which i believe is the network port. Its running a Foxxcom mobo so not sure if thats more of a problem.

Anyway. What would you guys recommend for these machines. Not against upgrading parts if needed, could use more ram slots anyway but open to ideas.

Cheers.

G
Click to expand...

On the ASUS are you using AHCI mode with SATA drives? Is it an Intel chipset and ICH7/8/9/10 southbridge?
For the Foxxconn you just need to disable onboard nic and use an Intel Pro 1000GT or Broadcom netXtreme (or from those families).

Whenever I've installed ESXi on Dell desktops, usually all I need to do is disable onboard audio, firewire, and add NIC's. ESXi doesn't support fakeraid, so you need to run in AHCI mode for SATA controllers.
 
I'm running ESX4i on unsupported hardware without any issues. Below are the specs, for those that are interested:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-US2H
Video: Onboard
RAM: 8GB of GSkills DDR2 800MHz (4 X 2GB DIMMs)
CPU: AMD 5050e
SATA Mode: AHCI
DVD/CD: Samsung DVD-RW
NIC: Intel Pro 1000 MT (found on eBay for $14, shipped), onboard NIC isn't supported
HDD: 4 x 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11, raid isn't supported...yet
 
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