ESX on Serial ATA disks WORKING

JOSE CARLOS ARENILLAS PEREIRA

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Dec 27, 2004, 12:40:42 PM12/27/04

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Hello,

I think this is a unsupported configuration, but works for test enviroments.

With LSI MegaRAID 150-4 or MegaRAID 150-6 (both are SerialATA controllers) the ESX server load megaraid2 SCSI driver and works ok.

Todd

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Dec 27, 2004, 1:31:39 PM12/27/04

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Is the VMFS partition on these disks?

If not, this is no big deal as you can use IDE for the OS.

"JOSE CARLOS ARENILLAS PEREIRA" <JC...@mpsistemas.es> wrote in message
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JOSE CARLOS ARENILLAS PEREIRA

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Dec 28, 2004, 2:49:36 AM12/28/04

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Hello,

Yes, the VMFS partition on SATA Disk.

>>> Todd<tatu...@hotmail.com> 12/27/04 07:31pm >>>

awefasdf

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Dec 28, 2004, 4:12:17 AM12/28/04

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Hello! This is really great news!

Can anyone please confirm this information.

Happy New Year

Best Regards!

/Niclas

James Price

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Dec 28, 2004, 10:58:22 AM12/28/04

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How is the performance on the SATA volumes? I recently installed an ESX
server using the new HP MSA1500 as a SAN. I was initally concerned how well
the controllers would scale but performance have been exceptional thus far.
The SAN configuration in the MSA has some quirks but generally works well.

~james

"awefasdf" <saddf...@sdafsadf.com> wrote in message
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peter erleshofer

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Dec 30, 2004, 7:43:02 AM12/30/04

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JOSE CARLOS ARENILLAS PEREIRA wrote:

hello

wich version of ESX are you using ?
did you have to choose "driverdist" bott image or are the drivers included ?

JOSE CARLOS ARENILLAS PEREIRA

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Dec 30, 2004, 9:26:34 AM12/30/04

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Hello,

I use ESX 2.5.0 (11343). I use the drivers include on this distribution. The driver is the same for MegaRAID scsi and MegaRAID Serial ATA (megaraid2).

>>> peter erleshofer<sv...@gmx.ch> 12/30/04 01:43pm >>>

southpaw

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Dec 31, 2004, 3:58:40 AM12/31/04

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this is great stuff.. i have a promise 4 port caching SATA controller and
4 160gb SATA drives that i have been using in RAID 0+1 config on my home
workstation for 8 months.. i would love to be able to do this on my esx
box... scsi drives are so @@%@#% expensive for what i need my ESX for..
(Demos and proof of concept stuff) i just need 500gb of sata storage to run
10-12 instances...

hmmm.... i need to see if i can do this as well on 2.5...

thanks

"JOSE CARLOS ARENILLAS PEREIRA" <JC...@mpsistemas.es> wrote in message

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nero

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Dec 31, 2004, 4:59:16 AM12/31/04

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> this is great stuff.. i have a promise 4 port caching SATA controller

it don't work with promise , afaik you need to buy a megaraid controller.

--
Se Dio avesse voluto che l'uomo volasse, l'avrebbe fatto nascere con un
biglietto.
-- Mel Brooks

southpaw

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Dec 31, 2004, 11:40:22 AM12/31/04

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saw that... ebay here i come...

tnx
"nero" <ner...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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nero

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Dec 31, 2004, 12:51:52 PM12/31/04

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southpaw wrote:

> saw that... ebay here i come...

;-)

--
I miei interessi sono per il futuro, perche' e' li' che mi appresto a
passare il resto della mia vita.

Heath Higgins

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Dec 31, 2004, 2:18:56 PM12/31/04

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hey southpaw,

if you find some good deals can you post back for us.

thanks

"nero" <ner...@yahoo.com> wrote in message

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southpaw

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Dec 31, 2004, 4:37:33 PM12/31/04

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can you get us an exact model number for your megaraid card? i am going to
purchase one on ebay or pricewatch.com but want to make sure its supported

heading to the supported hardware page on vmware now to double check

thanks

r

southpaw

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Dec 31, 2004, 4:34:58 PM12/31/04

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http://search.ebay.com/MegaRAID-SATA_W0QQsokeywordredirectZ1QQfromZR8

Looks like they are out there.. between 250 and 340 each.. (some are mid
auction so they might go up)

I am going to sell my promise SX150 4 port caching SATA with two 160gb SATA
seagates and get a pair of 250's or 300's and a megaraid for my lower
priority vm's...

run my high performance ones on my ultra320 volumes and my file print and
low use ones on the SATA volume... (or benchmark each to find out what is
what)

we need to keep this thread alive and get some benchmarks.. this is
something i really have wanted in ESX for a while... a 1 TB SATA RAid
volume would be someine in the area of like 1500 which is darn good

r

southpaw

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Dec 31, 2004, 4:31:10 PM12/31/04

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yeppers... what exact model should i look for... i am thinking 4 port or 6
port, caching would be a plus of course...

will post back a few links shortly...

southpaw

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Dec 31, 2004, 4:39:26 PM12/31/04

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forget that request... i saw your earlier post wtih teh versions...
thanks

r

southpaw

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Jan 3, 2005, 2:54:14 AM1/3/05

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i wonder if their 2 port sata megaraid will work as well... for 38.00 it
might be worth trying... (but then would really want the 4 port to get raid
0+1 in the end... so might be good to drop the coin.. (found them on
pricewatch.com for 228.00 (4 ports)

r

"JOSE CARLOS ARENILLAS PEREIRA" <JC...@mpsistemas.es> wrote in message
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peter erleshofer

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Jan 3, 2005, 4:14:37 AM1/3/05

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JOSE CARLOS ARENILLAS PEREIRA schrieb:

thanks, GREAT information btw

Jeremy Kuhnash

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Jan 5, 2005, 3:07:20 AM1/5/05

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On the 'expensive' side of SCSI:

Actually it seems that....

SATA drives are of _equal_ cost of equally performant drives in the
ATA*** amd SCSI arenes. In other words, if you find a 10k SATA drive,
why can you only find it in SCSI sizes, for SCSI prices? On the flip
side, very large SATA drives from 160GB and up are 7200rpm only, just
like the ATA equivalents, for the same or slightly more expensive
prices. Today, in early 2005, SATA isn't any sort of 'deal' on hardware,
it is just a way to repackage the same stuff from 2 different product
lines into a compatible format. Don't get me wrong - I bought a couple
200GB SATA drives and a non-real hotpoint raid card (and yes, Frye's
rocks - pricewatch prices in the convenience of a Best Buy) for mass
storage recently and things are fine. That is, price and performance as
just as 'fine' as the same specs in ATA drives, but have the benefit of
being the new standard. Tomshardware.com has some reviews, but I kinda
found them worthless, as they compared equal hardware just refitted for
SATA or SCSI.

The bottom line is that SCSI is a sophisticated multi-device protocol,
and at the end of the day, has a faster potential than SATA does. Of
course, this can and probably will change, but as far as today, SCSI is
still king on performance - even bang for the buck. 15k drives are being
seen now at commidity prices in SCSI but are yet available in other
formats, and it's doubtful that manufacturers will change any time soon
- enterprises (like those I work for) buy SCSI only, therefore, just as
a movie doesn't come out in the theatres and home-video simultaneously,
neither does faster spindle speed come out in home-market units at the
same time as the 'enterprise' worthy drives.

By the way southpaw - wasn't debating, just sharing something I kinda
saw out there and wanted to share my perspective.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Stephen DeBarros

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Jan 6, 2005, 8:06:06 PM1/6/05

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I think that you are paying too much attention to the RPM specification.
What is the price difference between a 300GB SATA drive and a SCSI (do they
even make SCSI drive that big? Not that I know of). HUGE!!

I fully endorse SATA with ESX. At least from a testing or an environment
were performance WILL NOT be an issue.

Again my two cents worth.

Chow.

--
Stephen DeBarros
MCSE, MCT, RHCE, VCP, CNE, ACE, CLP, PSI, Server +
IBM xSeries Instructor
IBM IT Education
"Jeremy Kuhnash" <jer...@kuhnash-mapson.com> wrote in message
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southpaw

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Jan 8, 2005, 12:36:23 AM1/8/05

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they have SCSI drives in the 300gb range now... i have to stop and drool
when i see them on pricewatch.com

i agree on the SATA stuff.. if its a demo server who cares if its SATA...
i ran my esx box with a pair of 50gb ultra2 drives until the ultra320 ones
came... it was okay... nothing to write home about but worked and solved
my problems

r

"Stephen DeBarros" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
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