VMWare and Storage Controller (RAID)

Most issues with ESXi are caused by incompatible storage drivers, that are not certified or on the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) for ESXi.

What is the storage controller you are using, and is it on the VMware HCL?

http://www.vmware.com/go/hcl

the article you refer to was unsuccessful, and the author reported, after discussions with Highpoint, they stated the storage controller was not comaptible with ESXi 4.1, despite it being listed on the HCL.

They DO state it is compatible with ESXi 4.0 which is what I am using. It is a Highpoint RR4320

Yes, I'm looking back over the history of that questions, what surprised me, is that the HCL states it works for ESXi 4.0 and ESXi 4.1, but we failed to get it working, author through in the towel, after speaking to Highpoint that stated it didn't work with ESXi 4.1. So if it's listed in the HCL, the vendor obviously know something about that card, that's not been update in the HCL as not working.

So, what does that say about this card working with ESXi 4.0?

other than your experience of it causing a crash?

When you state it crashes out, could you be more specific, do you get a Purple Screen of Death (PSOD).?

If so, I would be tempted to log a call with Highport and see what they suggest?

(any reason why you are using ESXi 4.0, which is not current?)

have you tried updating the firmware on the storage controller to the latest version?

what version of driver do you have?

is ESXi 4.0 installed on the RAID array?

What size is the datastore?

I have logged a support call, but haven't heard anything from highpoint. I am using 4.0 because that is what highpoint has supported drivers for. I DO have the most recent updates for the RAID adapter as I downloaded all from highpoint and updated the card when I was running into these issues.

ESXi 4.0 is installed and boots from a USB flash drive. I have two raid 1 arrays. each arrays is using 1.5 TB Seagate hard drives and each array has a hot swap backup drive, for a total hard drive count of 6. I have created two datastores, each using the full amount of available space on the array.

Yes, there are definately issues with their drivers and ESXi 4.1, they do not install, despite them being on the HCL! (confirmed by Highpoint recently).

Please let us know, what Highpoint Support solution is to this issue.

Personally, if it doesn't take much time to test, reduce the datastores to 400-500GB each, just as a test and check if the same issue occurs?

Do you get as Purple Screen of Death (PSOD) crash dump?

Came to be that my hard drives were not supported so I used drives that were supported by the vendor.