sglee
asked on
No Storage detected on VMWare
I have set up ESXi V4.1 on DELL T105 Server with one 1TB SATA HD connected to the SATA port on the motherboard. There is no separate RAID Controller Card or On-Board RAID Controller on this computer.
I successfully load OS into the 1TB HD and boots to the OS on the DELL T105. However when I run VSphere client, it can't find the storage space.
Now my question is that if it loaded OS from the hard drive, why does it not see the rest of the space from the same hard drive?
I successfully load OS into the 1TB HD and boots to the OS on the DELL T105. However when I run VSphere client, it can't find the storage space.
Now my question is that if it loaded OS from the hard drive, why does it not see the rest of the space from the same hard drive?
cdfs
VMware is a little picky on the hardware. Make sure your server is on the VMware HCL. If it is not, you're maybe out of luck. One thing you could try would be to install ESXi on a USB-thumb-drive and use the internal disk completely as datastore. If ESXi still can't find your drive, you could check the HCL for a compatible RAID-controller and connect your harddrive to this one.
Check the VMware HCL (Hardware Compatability Lists) and these resources
http://www.vmware.com/go/hcl
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php
http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/search.php
Whitebox HCL
http://vm-help.com/Whitebox_HCL.php
Ultimate Whitebox
http://ultimatewhitebox.com/
VMware Communities
http://communities.vmware.com/cshwsw.jspa
You will find ESXi has a limited number of devices it supports.
Dell PERC, HP Smart Array and LSI RAID Controllers are mostly supported and available from Ebay.
http://www.vmware.com/go/hcl
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php
http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/search.php
Whitebox HCL
http://vm-help.com/Whitebox_HCL.php
Ultimate Whitebox
http://ultimatewhitebox.com/
VMware Communities
http://communities.vmware.com/cshwsw.jspa
You will find ESXi has a limited number of devices it supports.
Dell PERC, HP Smart Array and LSI RAID Controllers are mostly supported and available from Ebay.
ASKER
I understand the HCL.
But what I don't understand is,
When I installed ESXi V4.1, it had to be installed the hard drive because it boot from the hard drive that I selected to install ESXi V4.1.
Then why in the world the same hard drive does not get listed in datastore?
But what I don't understand is,
When I installed ESXi V4.1, it had to be installed the hard drive because it boot from the hard drive that I selected to install ESXi V4.1.
Then why in the world the same hard drive does not get listed in datastore?
How do partitions apply to ESXi 4.1 hosts? VMware ESXi installations do not use a Service Console, so need fewer partitions than ESX. Both ESXi Embedded and ESXi Installable automatically create two partitions and a VMFS datastore:
Can you confirm if the VMFS partition is created?
This article addresses the situation in which the ESX/ESXi host is unable to create a datastore because the volumes contain an existing non-msdos partition table:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008886
Hope it helps.
The scratch partition supports the system swap. This is a 4GB partition which is created on the disk from which ESXi is booting. Although the scratch partition is not required, it is recommended by VMwre. When it is present it is used to store vm-support output.
The vmware diagnostic partition is the core dump partition where ESXi will write info about a system crash. In VMware 4.1, the VMware diagnostic partition is 110 MB.
VMFS – all the rest of the local storage is a VMFS 3 datastore. This is an extended partition.
Can you confirm if the VMFS partition is created?
This article addresses the situation in which the ESX/ESXi host is unable to create a datastore because the volumes contain an existing non-msdos partition table:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008886
Hope it helps.
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ASKER
by: CarlosDominguez, Can you confirm if the VMFS partition is created? ---> how can I tell?
ASKER
If hanccocka is correct, then it make all the sense as to why ESX was able to use the HD to load OS, but the same HD can't be used as a datastore.
do you have a datastore call datastore
example, you can install ESXi on usb flash drive, but you cannot create a vmfs partition on a flash drive
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ASKER
Thanks for the insight and suggestions.
It was good to know that T105 might work with ESX V3. But I also can see that I really need a VMWare compatible SATA Raid controller to load ESX V5. So I ordered a separate RAID Controller card.
Thanks for your help.
It was good to know that T105 might work with ESX V3. But I also can see that I really need a VMWare compatible SATA Raid controller to load ESX V5. So I ordered a separate RAID Controller card.
Thanks for your help.