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I have the following:

  • 2 x DL585 G1 (8 cores) with built in Smart Array 5i (4 x 74GB SCSI in Raid 5)

I installed VMware ESXi 5 and got it all working :)

When I boot my server up, it states the RAID is being checked etc, (The messages is "Disk performance optimization scan in progress") ( Good to use the pause button to stop at the POST )

First of all, the RAID is doing something, I do not think it is a rebuilding itself! On HD tune (HDD benchmarking Software) under 2008 R2 I get 18MB/s (hmm, not quite right).

So I would like to install the HP tools to see what is going on. Well I cannot, because under the "Device Manager" under 2008 R2, the controller is a vmware SCSI.

My question "How can install/access the hardware to check what is going on. Mainly for the RAID, I would like to install the HP RAID UTILITY.

Thank you

Arthor
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2 Answers2

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It's not going to happen. Remember my comments in the previous question. VMWare ESXi 5 is not supported on the server you've installed it on.

The general answer to this question is to use the special HP-specific build of ESXi, but that only applies to G5 and greater servers. The HP build of ESXi adds some additional information with details about the Smart Array controller and drive health.

Also see: How to find out more hardware details using only ESXi4.1 and (possibly) shell and ProLiant DL380 G4 ESXi host - How to check RAID status of local storage

Community
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ewwhite
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  • Ok, is there anyway you can think of so I can get the status of the RAID by chance. – Arthor Feb 14 '12 at 23:39
  • Boot the server up and access the Smart Array right after POST. Look for prompts for the correct keystroke. – xeon Feb 15 '12 at 00:21
  • You can look at the health LEDs on the front of the SCSI disks. A greed disk icon indicates that the drive is healthy. An amber or red indicator means that the drive has failed. – ewwhite Feb 15 '12 at 00:57
  • @ewwhite - thanks.. I have found a way.. You can use HP Smart Start 8.40 64bit for the DL585 G1 and run the maintenance, use the smart array, the only this is that the ESXi server is off line.... – Arthor Feb 15 '12 at 00:58
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You can't do anything from within the VMs hosted on that server. They are virtual machines, so they (by the very definition of "virtual machine") can't access the underlying hardware, and can only see the virtual hardware ESXi exposes to them.

You can't do anything from ESXi, either, as it doesn't have any management console where you can install or run additional programs (well, there is a console, but the end result is the same, you can't install anything in it).

You can install a customized version of ESXi tailored to your hardware, as ewwite said; but its management tools will not be the same you can have on a real, physical server.

Massimo
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