Building a Low Cost (Cheap) VMware ESX Test Server.

VMWare

My job now involves more and more virtualised (or virtualized if you’re one of our American cousins from across the pond) server implementations so this is a good excuse to go and build my own VMware ESX test environment.

I have been reading many articles over the last few months such as those by vinf.net and Ryan Coates who have blogged about their experiences building their own VMware ESX test rig.

As most of you probably know much of issues faced by those wanting to build their own cheap ESX test server is having SCSI disk on which to present the Virtual Machine File System (VMFS).

There are a handful, and more with ESX v3.5, of SATA disk controllers that present the disks to ESX as being SCSI. Obviously due to the cost of SATA Vs SCSI/SAS disks this is preferable for a low cost ESX box.

I was wanting a server that would offer half decent performance and wasn’t going to cost the earth. Probably the cheapest, and one of the most hassle free ways would be to purchase an HP Compaq D530 desktop. vinf.net has blogged quite extensively here and here about his experiences with running ESX on the D530. A basic model can be picked up on EBay from about £80 (with minimum memory and disk) though it would be worth hunting around for a version with the 2.8Ghz Hyper Threaded (HT) CPU which will offer more in the way of performance.

The D530 is an attractive little unit on many fronts though I was a little concerned about the performance as ESX and it’s VM’s would be running off of a single hard drive. Although this would be fine for any low/moderate resource intensive VM’s I was hoping for something which would give me that added flexibility of a little more horse-power under the hood, especially in the area of disk access speeds.

I have an existing homemade desktop machine which has an AMD X2 4200 CPU, 4GB memory and onboard RAID 0 SATA II 320GB hard disks which runs very well. All I would have to have added to this PC is an ESX compatible SATA controller such as the LSI MegaRaid 150 and a compatible network adapter. The LSI MegaRaid 150 is a 64bit PCI adapter and as such I would have lost valuable bandwidth as my ABit motherboard only had 32bit PCI slots available. So to get the most out of the disk controller I would have had to have purchased a new motherboard and in using my existing PC as a dedicated ESX test rig I would be down one PC that I use for all my day to day computing bits and pieces.

After much more trawling of VM forums regarding ESX white boxes I decided to take the plunge and go for an entry level HP server with an entry level ESX certified disk controller.

As budget is an issue the HP Proliant ML110 (Intel) or HP ML115 (AMD) seemed like an obvious choice. I have worked with HP Proliants for a number of years now and have always been impressed with their build quality and reliability even on low end models.

Both the ML110 and ML115 have onboard SATA raid though there wasn’t any clear definitive information on whether the controller would allow the SATA disks to be seen as SCSI based by ESX – as is necessary for the VMFS volume. This wasn’t to be an issue however as I had also decided to buy and install an HP Smart Array e200i Controller. This controller can control both SATA and SAS drives so offered some future proofing for when SAS drives become more affordable and mainstream in the home market. Unfortunately the e200i only offers SATA I (1.5Gb/s) speeds though hopefully by using 2 disks in a RAID 0 (Ok, I know where’s the redundancy? – but keep in mind that this is only a test rig) configuration I should get decent enough performance in the disk access department. An HP specific 4 port SATA cable is also needed (HP PN: 430762-001).

UPDATE: I have posted another article that outlines things to look out for when going to buy an HP Proliant ML110 G4 to run ESX.  Click here for more details.

The cost of a new ML110 (G4 or G5) was inexpensive enough to make it not worth the time trying to hunt for a bargain on EBay or the like. The cheapest (UK based) online vendor I found to buy an ML110 was ‘Servers Direct’. They, apparently have bought up all of HP’s remaining ML110 G4 models (G5 is the latest) from HP so are now selling them off at a reduced price (ie: £149.00).  *UPDATE: Check out the TechHead ‘Hot Deals’ page for the best up to date pricing I can find for the ML110 or ML115’s.

Here is an overview of the HP ML110 G4 specification:

  • HP ProLiant ML110 G4 – Dual-Core Xeon 3040 1.86 GHz
  • Type – Server
  • Form Factor – Tower – 4U
  • Dimensions (WxDxH) – 17.5 cm x 42.6 cm x 36.7 cm
  • Weight – 10.5 kg
  • Server Scalability – 1-way
  • Processor – 1 x Intel Dual-Core Xeon 3040 / 1.86 GHz ( Dual-Core )
  • Cache Memory – 2 MB L2 Cache
  • Cache Per Processor – 2 MB
  • RAM – 512 MB (installed) / 8 GB (max) – DDR II SDRAM – Advanced ECC – 667 MHz – PC2-5300
  • Storage Controller – Serial ATA ( Serial ATA-150 ) ; IDE ( IDE )
  • Hard Drive – 1 x 160 GB – standard – Serial ATA-150
  • Optical Storage – CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo (IDE)
  • Monitor – None.
  • Graphics Controller – - 2 MB
  • Networking – Network adapter – PCI Express – Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet
  • Power – AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
  • Manufacturer Warranty – 3 year warranty ( on-site )As you can see the server is capable of taking 8GB of memory which should be enough for most self respecting ESX test servers, though as standard it only comes with 512MB. I have used 4 x 1GB Corsair XMS2 Extreme memory modules – which I took out of my other server. If I didn’t have this memory spare I was going to buy memory from crucial where you can buy 2 x 2GB modules for £82. This would leave 2 spare memory slots for adding extra memory in the future. I find that Crucial memory is usually the best bet for such non-business critical server installations. Although genuine HP memory would have been nice the usual story applies where it costs at least twice as much for just being a ‘genuine’ HP part. Using HP genuine memory is important from a HP support perspective in business critical or clients servers.I also purchased (£173) the HP e200i Smart Array controller with 128MB BBWC from Servers Direct. Here is the specification:
  • HP Smart Array E200/128 BBWC Controller – storage controller (RAID) – SATA-150 / SAS – PCI Express x4
  • Device Type – Storage controller (RAID) – plug-in card
  • Interface Type – PCI Express x4
  • Dimensions (WxDxH) – 1.5 cm x 31.2 cm x 11.1 cm
  • Controller Interface Type – Serial ATA-150 / SAS
  • Data Transfer Rate – 300 MBps
  • Buffer Size – 128 MB
  • Supported Devices – Disk array (RAID)
  • Max Storage Devices Qty – 8
  • RAID Level – RAID 0, RAID 5, RAID 10The Big DayAfter a lot of hassle with the courier delivering the kit it eventually turned up – happy days.

    I have never used, or bought, an ML110 before and am used to using it’s more SMB and Enterprise level Proliant cousins such as the Proilant DL380, etc.

    The first thing that struck me was it’s size… it’s really small. Smaller in fact than my current PC’s midi-tower case. This is good news as I have limited space in my inner-city London flat.

    I set about installing 2 Samsung SpinPoint 320GB hard disks – to be used in a RAID 0 configuration off of the e200i controller.

    My plan with the hard disks is to run ESX off of the SATA hard disk that came with the server (160GB) which runs off of the motherboards SATA controller and then create the VMFS volumes on the raided 320GB drives which are connected to the e200i.

    The HP Smart Array e200i comes with 128MB of Battery Backed Write Cache.

    Here is the necessary HP SAS/SATA cable that connects the hard disks to the e200i array controller.

    Unfortunately standard SATA cables won’t work. It costs £14 and the HP part number is 430762. Most of the suppliers I contacted always seemed to be out of stock.

    Once I had added the memory it was time to start it up and install ESX v3.5!

    Another item of note with the ML110 is how quiet it is. It is perfectly quiet enough to have this server running in a room without really knowing it’s actually switched on. I wouldn’t say it’s completely silent but it is no louder than your average PC.

    Installing VMware ESX v3.5 was straight forward. It picked up all the hardware devices first time (ie: disk controllers, NIC, etc).

    Before I knew it I had a working ESX installation which I could connect to via the VMware Infrastructure Manager which is running on my PC.

    VMWare ESX White Box

    One interesting point of note is that ESX see’s the hard disk connected to the onboard SATA controller as a SCSI VMFS3 device so I could have saved some money and run my ESX install and the VM images off of the onboard SATA controller.

    VMWare ESX White Box[7]

    I have created a VM instance on the disk connected to the onboard controller and can confirm it works just fine. Though, as with the D530 if you want to spin up a number of VM instances depending on what these instances are doing (ie: a task that involves moderate or high disk IO) I could foresee disk access being a potential bottle neck and a separate disk controller preferable. That said, as this is just a ESX test server then in most cases the VM instances will most likely not be doing anything too resource intensive.

    So all up this is what creating my VMware ESX v3.5 test server cost:

    1 x HP ML110 G4 £149.00 (www.serversplus.com)
    1 x HP e200i Array Controller £173.00 (www.serversplus.com)
    1 x HP SATA/SATA Cable £14.00 (www.serversplus.com)
    4 x Corsair 1GB XMS2 Mem £80.00 (www.overclockers.co.uk)
    2 x Samsung 320GB Hard Disk £104.00 (www.overclockers.co.uk)

    Total: £520.00

    I hope this has helped you if you’re currently looking around for a low cost ESX test server. Please leave any comments or questions.

    UPDATE: Check out my blog article here on installing VMware ESX 3i 3.5 on an ML110 G5.

    UPDATE: I have had a number of queries regarding the NIC and the onboard disk controller running with ESX.  I am currently creating an article that outlines what revisions (eg: G4, G5) of the ML110 and ML115 are fully compatible with ESX (v3.5) and those that aren’t or where there are tweaks or a work around. Here is a link to my temporary blog posting – whilst I compile this information.  Check back soon or add me to your RSS feed to be notified when I finish the final article.

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    59 Responses to “Building a Low Cost (Cheap) VMware ESX Test Server.”

    1. ike  on March 16th, 2008

      Very useful article!

      I am planning to purchase a ML110 G5 server to run ESX 3.5 hope I don’t have to get the HP e200i Array controllers

      How many VMs are you running? What is the performance like?

      [Reply]

    2. Preetam  on March 18th, 2008

      First thanks very much for leaving comment on my website so that other people come to know such a neat article. I found it very helpful. It is going to help lot many like us.
      I would like to know how many nics did the server had. Another thing which i was looking was to make ESX cluster. In case you know how to make that cheaper.

      - Preetam

      [Reply]

    3. Kiwi Si  on March 19th, 2008

      Hi ike,

      To be honest at the moment I’m only running a couple of VM’w on it as I haven’t had time to spin up any others. I hope to get some time to do this and some speed bench marking this weekend. I’ll publish my results.

      The performance from the two VM’s I’m running so far has nice and responsive. They are both W2K3 Enterprise. I’ll get some bench marking software up and running to assist in getting a better idea of overall performance.

      Simon

      [Reply]

    4. iKE  on March 19th, 2008

      Hi Simon

      Looking forward to see your benchmark results.

      Currently HP is doing a promo if you purchase any ML110 G4 or G5 you can double your memory for free

      http://www.hp.co.uk/proliantcpuandmemory/

      -iKE

      [Reply]

    5. Kiwi Si  on March 26th, 2008

      I have come across a very cheap deal on brand new HP Proliant ML115’s (AMD) which apparently can run VMWare v3.5

      Check out my blog article here for more details: http://www.techhead.co.uk/hot-hp-proliant-ml115-amd-g4-deal

      [Reply]

    6. Trevor  on June 25th, 2008

      Hi,

      I went the D530 route. 3 machines off ebay for $95AUD each, P4-2.6s.

      2 are used for the ESX cluster, 1 used for Openfiler iSCSI storage.

      Added 500GB SATA to Openfiler – $100AUD
      Added 2GB of RAM to each of the ESX servers (2.5GB each total) – $160AUD
      Added Linksys SLM2005 VLAN switch – $110AUD

      Works a treat for $700AUD, have between 4-6 VMs running, with VMotion, DRS and HA.

      [Reply]

    7. titn003  on June 28th, 2008

      Techhead – There are a few people who have written that they have had problems with the nics using thse ML 110 & vmware.
      eg
      http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/VMWare/Q_23437339.html

      Any ideas why this is the case for some people ?

      [Reply]

    8. kiwi si  on July 12th, 2008

      I am trying to install 3.5 and 3i in a ML110 without sucess.
      The ML110 has a Broadcon 5721.
      2.5 Gb of RAM
      160 SATA Disk
      It is amost identical to your configuration.
      I get an error DHCP lookup failed.
      The server is expecting either for me to enter F2 or F11 but the keyboard does not respond at all.
      I also try an USB with 3i that is booting in an old Pethium 4 but not in the ML110.
      Any suggestions?
      Thanks in advanc,

      [Reply]

    9. tomier  on July 12th, 2008

      Kiwi Si,
      Could you please confirm if your embedded Nic is NC320i? As I look into mine Ml110 the NIC is a Broadcom 5721 Gigabit NIC (embedded) 10/100/1000 WOL (Wake on LAN). As I read the specifics HP uses the NC320i in ML115 with AMD processors.
      I am having problems with the instalation of both 3i and 3.5 and I am under the impression that it is related to the NIC driver.
      Your support will be highly appreciated.
      Thanks in advance,

      [Reply]

    10. Goldencascade  on July 12th, 2008

      Dear,
      Im trying to instal VM Ware 3.5.0 ESX on HP ML110 G5, im getting an error “The Installer could not find any supporting Network Devices”
      Pls guide me
      1. Is that the issue of NIC (embedded PCI Experss)
      2. Is VM Ware ESX 3.5.0 wont support HP ML 110 G5

      Thanks

      [Reply]

    11. Kiwi Si  on July 12th, 2008

      Hi,

      Unfortunately the onboard NIC in the ML110 G5 is not compatible with ESX v3.5. You’ll need to purchase a compatible NIC such as the Intel Pro.

      Here is a link to the ESX v3.5 I/O compatibility guide:

      http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_io_guide.pdf

      The ML110 G4 model has a compatible card but unfortunately HP changed the NIC chipset between the G4 and G5 revisions.

      I picked up a cheap dual port Intel Pro NIC from EBay.

      Hope this helps,

      Simon

      [Reply]

    12. kiwi si  on July 13th, 2008

      Thanks Kiwi Si,

      Perhaps I opmited that my ML110 is a G4 with 2 GB RAM.I only have the SATA disk now.
      I also learned that NC320i is the HP OEM for Broadcom 5721, however it my have a different Chipset. Anyway I just put in an INTEl Pro E1000 1 GB ethernet that is fully supported. No changes what so ever. So by reading your specs th only difference with your ML110 is the HP Smart Array.
      I just got this ML110 from Ebay so I tested the ML110 with Ubuntu8 and worked fine
      When installing the 3i from a USB I can only get to the screen where it says http://0.0.0.0 and I can not do neither F2 nor F12.
      Then I try using ESX 3.5, I can select
      Disk ATA FB160c4081 SCSI/ATA 149 GB.
      it seems that it is installing Ok but it will stop at 99%. When I try again I can get to the same point but remains at 0%.
      I try to find the log. The only change that I have done to the BIOS was to enable the Intel VT parameter. My understanding is that 3.5 supports Local Disk SATA and I don’t need any SCSI devices (true in the past for 3.1.0 but not for 3.5? please let me know if I am wrong?)
      I also try to run a 3.1.0 but as expected due to the lack of support of SATA disk, however interesting enough it ask me to choose either the Broadcom or the Intel Pro drive.
      Is there a particular BIOS level I am using BIOS 00 07/10/2007
      Do you recommend a particular BIOS setting?
      Please HELP!! and take me out of my misery
      :-(

      [Reply]

    13. Kiwi Si  on July 17th, 2008

      Hi there,

      Apoloigies for the delay in getting back to you.

      I have had a look at both my HP ML110 G4’s and can confirm that they are running a later BIOS revision to yours. Mine are dated 07/20/2007 (010) which is the next BIOS update after yours.

      Looking at the ‘Fix List’ on my BIOS revision there isn’t mention of any fixes that may be related to the problems you’re experiencing though I guess it may be worth upgrading just in case.

      The latest Firmware update file is named
      SP36639.exe and can be download from the usual HP location.

      I’ve had a look at the NIC chipset on the system boards and can also confirm that mine is the Broadcom 5721 – I find that ESX v3.5.1 picks it up and uses it just fine.

      If you can forward your v3.5.1 log through I’ll try and take a look.

      Let me know how you get on after upgrading the Firmware.

      Simon

      [Reply]

    14. Kevin  on July 18th, 2008

      Hey Simon,

      Great blog, thanks! I need to get VMWare going too, will need to help the VMware admin here at work and a jumpstart would definitely help. Trevor’s setup with ESX cluster sounds cool, if I can get my hands on a couple of DL530s or similar.

      Question for any of you VMware folks though, is there a non-commericial or test-type license that’s “cheaper”? I think the ESX demo/eval is free for 60 days. Are you guys going with the 60 day or is there an option that I’m not aware of.

      Thanks,

      Kevin

      [Reply]

    15. George  on July 20th, 2008

      Hey guys, nice article, I also have a bit of a problem.
      I setup ESX with my ML110 G4 and really needed to VM Server 2003 64 bit, but it’s saying my CPU is not compatible. I heard about having to enable the VT option in BIOS but that option is not there, and my BIOS revision is up to date.

      Any information will be appreciated, thank you.

      [Reply]

    16. Kiwi Si  on July 20th, 2008

      Hi George,

      The VT option can be found in the following location within the BIOS:

      Press F10 –> enter BIOS –> Advanced –> Advanced Processor Options –> Intel (R) Virtualization Technology –> ‘Enable’ this setting.

      Then ‘Exit Saving Changes’

      Your ML110 should now have VT enabled.

      Let me know how you get on.

      Cheers,

      Simon

      [Reply]

    17. George  on July 20th, 2008

      Hello Kiwi,

      I did go into these options, but VR is not there. The CPU in the ML110 is a D915 2.8 Dual Core. Do you think it is not supported? If not is there any other way I can VM a 64-bit OS?

      Thanks.

      [Reply]

    18. George  on July 21st, 2008

      VT I mean.

      [Reply]

    19. Kiwi Si  on July 21st, 2008

      Hi George,

      Unfortunately the Intel D915 doesn’t have VT functionaility built into the chip so x64 OS’s won’t be possible.

      Here is a chart from Intel outlining what models in the ‘D’ range have ‘VT’:

      http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number/chart/pentium_d.htm

      Sorry it’s not better news.

      Simon

      [Reply]

    20. Kiwi Si  on July 21st, 2008

      Hi Kevin,

      I just use the 60 eval license in my home lab. I have a scripted build that I deploy again when I want to rebuild the environment.

      Unfortunately I don’t know of any cost effective way of purchasing a license – apart from purchasing the entry level foundation edition of ESX.

      [Reply]

    21. George  on July 22nd, 2008

      Hello Kiwi,

      Yeah I did some reseach and confirmed my fears. I’ll have to purchase something like a Xeon 3050 to be able to use VT. Thanks for the assistance though. :)

      [Reply]

    22. Jonas Back  on July 31st, 2008

      Now with 3i being available for free, have you successfully installed it on ML115? I only get the error during CD installation that it can’t find supported HW so the installation cannot continue.

      [Reply]

    23. Nathan  on August 14th, 2008

      ML110 G5 – From ebuyer at a bargain £111 and succesfuly running ESX 3.5 U2 on the server.

      Cost a total of £209 with 4Gb of HP Ram

      Important steps.

      1. With BIOS at the defaults install ESX 3.5 Update 2 (Do not configure SATA Raid its not compatible)

      2. After the install enter the bios and change SATA to SATA and enable VT

      3. Using a VI Client create VMFS partition

      I can confirm the SATA controller works and the onboard NIC works only with ESX 3.5 Update 2

      [Reply]

    24. Nathan Perkins  on August 15th, 2008

      “Nathan said:
      August 14th, 2008 at 9:37 pm .. I can confirm the SATA controller works and the onboard NIC works only with ESX 3.5 Update 2″

      I have an ML110G4 with the embedded Sata, and have experienced the 99% hang with ESXi, and just installed ESX3.5 on the RAID set, but on reboot, didn’t find a bootable disk.

      Your instructions in Step 2 suggest to change SATA to SATA, is this a mistake and did you mean to turn on the RAID after the initial install?

      Has anyone got the embedded SATA running in a RAID configuration to provide disk mirroring and running ESXi3.5 or ESX3.5?

      [Reply]

    25. Mick  on August 15th, 2008

      You can use embedded SATA RAID only with supported OS + drivers, so not with ESX. You can take them as modern version “winmodems” for RAID. You can use these SATA’s in native-mode with no RAID.

      [Reply]

    26. Nathan  on August 15th, 2008

      Im using an ML110 G5 could net get ESX to install with RAID configured as it was unable to see any disks, After looking through the VMWare forums its seems the Intel ICH9 SATA controller in the G5 will only work in SATA mode without RAID.

      I also found I need ESX 3.5 update 2 for the ICH9 SATA driver without update 2 the SATA was seen as IDE not SCSI as required by VMFS

      Step 2: refers to changing the SATA mode in the BIOS from AUTO to SATA not sure if the G4 has the same chipset as the G5.

      [Reply]

    27. Kiwi Si  on August 15th, 2008

      Hi all,

      Mick: That’s a really good way of describing the onboard SATA – as a “winmodem” type equivalent. That’ll make it easier for others to understand.

      Nathan: Thanks for the good information your ML110 G5 experiences with the RAID. I will be installing ESXi 3.5 onto one of my ML110’s this weekend. I not envisaging any problems as both Storage Controller and NIC worked fine under ESX v3.5 – though I guess you never know. :)

      Thanks all for your great comments – keep them coming.

      Simon

      [Reply]

    28. Bemen  on August 15th, 2008

      My ML110 G5 hangs when I try to install ESXi. It works fine with ESX (using an intel pro card) so I have no idea yet how to fix it. When the countdown for Automatic boot reaches 1 the system locks up. If someone finds a solution, please share it here!

      Bemen

      [Reply]

    29. Claudio  on August 22nd, 2008

      ML110 G5 hangs on install i think for serial ATA cdrom.

      If you install ESXi on other host, then move hard disk to G5 (with default BIOS and SATA settings on SATA not in AUTO as previous post)…
      …works like a charm :-) )

      Claudio

      [Reply]

    30. thomas  on August 31st, 2008

      Tried ESX 3i 3.5 Update 2 on a ML110 G4 … no success
      - ML110 G4, BIOS 010, Intel Dual Core 925 CPU (no VT setting in BIOS).
      - 8 GB RAM, 2 * 500 GB SATA HDD

      Tried all possible disk settings combinations, always freezes at the install screen.

      Any suggestions greatfull recieved?

      [Reply]

    31. Maurice Wörnhard  on September 6th, 2008

      I just installed ESXi 3.5 Update 2 (build 110271) on a new ML110 G5 wih 4 GB (2×1GB, 1×2GB) and 1×160GB+2×250GB SATA. It worked like a charm with all the hints given on this side (turn off internal RAID controller, set mode to SATA instead of automatic).

      The good news: the internal NIC (Broadcom) is recognized and and can be used!

      The ESXi-version for HP-servers kernel dumps, so don’t use it …

      [Reply]

    32. Nelly  on September 11th, 2008

      Hi Simon/all

      I have just bought a ML110 G5, I have followed your advice on bios settings above but get the error ‘ESX is unable to find any supported network device’ during install. It is an embedded NIC with PXE capability. Have you come across this problem?
      Any advice Most welcomed.
      Nelly

      [Reply]

    33. Kiwi Si  on September 11th, 2008

      Hi Nelly,

      I’m guessing that you have installed ESX v3.0 or v3.5.0 and unfortunately as you’re finding the onboard NC105i NIC isn’t compatible with these versions.

      With the introduction of update 2 (at least with ESXi) there is newly found compatiblity. I have only installed ESXi U2 on my ML110 G5 and can confirm it works just fine despite not being on the VMWare compatibility list (http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_io_guide.pdf)

      Can you confirm if it was the Update 2 (U2) version of ESX 3.5 that you had installed or an earlier version?

      Cheers,

      Simon

      [Reply]

    34. Thomas  on September 12th, 2008

      Now that Hyper V Server is announced (will be out in a few weeks and it’s free) it will be a whole lot easier to support rather than ESXi. Bye VMware … too many hardware compatibility issues.

      [Reply]

    35. Nelly  on September 12th, 2008

      Simon,

      I’m installing esxi u2 now on my ml110 g5, however after changing the bios settings (from auto to sata and enabling VT for the processor) I get fatal error immediately about the storage device. I’m installing on the server out of the box no added hardware.
      Advice gratefully received!
      Nelly

      [Reply]

    36. Zebulebu  on September 13th, 2008

      Simon

      I’ve got my ESX cluster up and running at home – three ML110 G5s with 4Gb RAM in each.

      Following various posts about the internal RAID controller I decided to take the plunge and bung two HP e200 boards in there to take care of the disks – they worked a treat. Also, I bought 6 NICs (2 for each server) but installing 3.5 u2 I found that the onboard Broadcom NIC was detected as well – which means I’ve now got three NICs in each box to play with :)

      The whole thing took me about three hours to put together – including the ESX install – I’m now installing a new DB server for VC, then plan to put VC on an old PC I had knocking about.

      The posts on this and the VMWare community forums have been extremely helpful – cheers!

      [Reply]

    37. Peter  on September 14th, 2008

      Simon,

      Experiencing similar problems to Nelly
      “I’m installing esxi u2 now on my ml110 g5, however after changing the bios settings (from auto to sata and enabling VT for the processor) I get fatal error immediately about the storage device….etc.”
      Install failure message reads “Installation Operation Failed.
      The installation operation has encountered a fatal error.
      Unable to write image to the selected Disk.
      This may be caused by bad sectors on the device or another hardware problem.”

      Sys info:
      Manu: HP
      Model: Proliant ML100 G5
      Service tag: CZ18320164
      Bios rev: 015
      I’ve tried installing many times.
      I installed Ubuntu server 64bit with “everything” as a test, without any problems. Tested disk, appeared O.K.
      Any advice/help would be very much appreciated
      Thanks

      [Reply]

    38. Kiwi Si  on September 14th, 2008

      Hi Peter,

      This sounds similar to an error message when you try installing ESX/ESXi with 1GB of memory or less.

      Can you confirm whether you still have the default 1GB installed or have more?

      Cheers,

      Simon

      [Reply]

    39. Peter  on September 14th, 2008

      Hi Simon,
      Spot on. 1GB ram. Bought the server from ebuyer on a special for £110 and
      was going to upgrade ram after evaluating Vmware on it.
      Does this mean that all I have to do is upgrade the memory?
      Regards
      Peter

      [Reply]

    40. Kiwi Si  on September 14th, 2008

      Hi Peter,

      If you’ve got some extra memory (eg: DDR2 5300 or 6400) kicking around throw that in. If you could take it up to about 2GB you should be fine. You don’t need to replace the 1GB memory that came with it – just add another 1GB DIMM.

      Check out the EBuyer link I on the left of this main page – they are selling 2 x 2GB DIMMS for £50 at the moment – including shipping.

      Let me know how you get on.

      Cheers,

      Simon

      [Reply]

    41. Kiwi Si  on September 14th, 2008

      Hi Nelly,

      Please see my last 2 replies to Peter. Are you getting the same error message? If so can you confirm how much memory you also have in your server when trying to install ESX?

      [Reply]

    42. Kiwi Si  on September 14th, 2008

      Hi Nelly,

      Please see my last 2 replies to Peter. Are you getting the same error message? If so can you confirm how much memory you also have in your server when trying to install ESX?

      Regards,

      Simon

      [Reply]

    43. Nelly  on September 15th, 2008

      Simon,

      All sorted last night, reset bios defaults then chsoe settings as advised. Also had to add 4gb memory to get around bad sector errors.
      Many thanks for your your help!!
      Nelly

      [Reply]

    44. Peter  on September 16th, 2008

      Hi Simon,

      Installed 4GB of the ebuyer Corsair memory deal (it sold out tonight), then VMware 3.5i. Problem sorted.
      Your help and knowledge greatly appreciated,
      Many thanks
      Peter

      [Reply]

    45. the wiley  on October 5th, 2008

      I have a boxed standard ML110 G5 that will not load esx 3.5 u2 it says it cannot find a storage device however if I plug my adaptec 1210sa raid controller in then I can load up esx but on reboot I get the screen dump maybe I need an intel pro nic. I have the latest bios update so cannot work out why you guys can get it to load.

      thanks

      the wiley

      [Reply]

    46. Erwin  on November 22nd, 2008

      Now with 3i being available for free, have you successfully installed it on ML115? I only get the error during CD installation that it can’t find supported HW so the installation cannot continue.

      Managed to get (ML115 G5 AMD Quadcore, 250gb SATA, 2.5GB RAM) installed with ESXi 3.5 U3 but reboot after 5 seconds it will purple screen and no further, anybody manaaged to get this sorted please?

      I have tried the USB boot but no luck used winimage and flashnul but get stuck on the blinking curson stage when it boots off the usb.

      Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

      [Reply]

    47. 850cc  on February 17th, 2009

      Disk performance is very poor. I have a ML110 G5 8GBRAM 3 NICS 3 X SATA DISKS connected to HP procurve switch. Installed ESX 3.5 U3 and all the patches via Virtual Center 2.5. Still very slow disks. Let me explain :
      COPY/PASTE/UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD via the datastore browser at 5MB/s, why to slow. Copy/paste via a 2003/XP VM only 5MB/s, why to slow. The best result i get is with Copy/Paste to/from a 2008/VISTA VM there i get 30MB/s.
      Networking tests via NETPERF for Windows :
      * 300 mbps from a VM to external PC
      * 750 mbps between 2 VM’s
      This is also slow considering the 1 Gbps network but exceptable.
      The only options i can tnink of is to install a Smart Array E200/128 but this costs around 300€ First i need some test results from someone with this controller in a ML110. Simply copy/paste in the datastore browser and count the seconds it takes to copy a vmdk file. Please help me !!!

      [Reply]

    48. Kiwi Si  on February 17th, 2009

      Disk performance is very poor. I have a ML110 G5 8GBRAM 3 NICS 3 X SATA DISKS connected to HP procurve switch. Installed ESX 3.5 U3 and all the patches via Virtual Center 2.5. Still very slow disks. Let me explain :
      COPY/PASTE/UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD via the datastore browser at 5MB/s, why to slow. Copy/paste via a 2003/XP VM only 5MB/s, why to slow. The best result i get is with Copy/Paste to/from a 2008/VISTA VM there i get 30MB/s.
      Networking tests via NETPERF for Windows :
      * 300 mbps from a VM to external PC
      * 750 mbps between 2 VM’s
      This is also slow considering the 1 Gbps network but exceptable.
      The only options i can tnink of is to install a Smart Array E200/128 but this costs around 300€ First i need some test results from someone with this controller in a ML110. Simply copy/paste in the datastore browser and count the seconds it takes to copy a vmdk file. Please help me !!!

      Hi there,

      I will run and post some disk stats from my ML110 G5 with an e200/128 controller (4 x 250GB 7200rpm SATA in a RAID 1+0 configuration). This will probably be in about a day of so.

      In the meantime check out this thread from Veeam, who produce the great (and free) FASTSCP copy product. The Veeam FastSCP Beta forum thread below discusses and gives some good information on copying files to/from the VMFS. It also mentions some speeds that others are seeing when copying files (using FASTSCP). Link: http://forum.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=596

      I would strongly recommend downloading the new beta of FastSCP (there is a link to download this beta, which is ESXi compatible, at the top of the page I linked above) and using that when copying files as you will see a significant increase in speeds over the datastore browser.

      Give this a go and let me know if, and by how much, you notice an increse in speed during file copies (using FastSCP).

      Cheers,

      Si

      [Reply]

    49. 850cc  on February 17th, 2009

      Disk performance is very poor. I have a ML110 G5 8GBRAM 3 NICS 3 X SATA DISKS connected to HP procurve switch. Installed ESX 3.5 U3 and all the patches via Virtual Center 2.5. Still very slow disks. Let me explain :COPY/PASTE/UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD via the datastore browser at 5MB/s, why to slow. Copy/paste via a 2003/XP VM only 5MB/s, why to slow. The best result i get is with Copy/Paste to/from a 2008/VISTA VM there i get 30MB/s.Networking tests via NETPERF for Windows :* 300 mbps from a VM to external PC* 750 mbps between 2 VM’sThis is also slow considering the 1 Gbps network but exceptable.The only options i can tnink of is to install a Smart Array E200/128 but this costs around 300€ First i need some test results from someone with this controller in a ML110. Simply copy/paste in the datastore browser and count the seconds it takes to copy a vmdk file. Please help me !!!

      Hi there,
      I will run and post some disk stats from my ML110 G5 with an e200/128 controller (4 x 250GB 7200rpm SATA in a RAID 1+0 configuration). This will probably be in about a day of so.
      In the meantime check out this thread from Veeam, who produce the great (and free) FASTSCP copy product. The Veeam FastSCP Beta forum thread below discusses and gives some good information on copying files to/from the VMFS. It also mentions some speeds that others are seeing when copying files (using FASTSCP). Link: http://forum.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=596
      I would strongly recommend downloading the new beta of FastSCP (there is a link to download this beta, which is ESXi compatible, at the top of the page I linked above) and using that when copying files as you will see a significant increase in speeds over the datastore browser.
      Give this a go and let me know if, and by how much, you notice an increse in speed during file copies (using FastSCP).
      Cheers,
      Si

      Could also try a copy a large file between 2003/XP or XP/XP or 2003/2003 and tell me your speed ?

      Luc

      [Reply]

    50. 850cc  on February 17th, 2009

      Disk performance is very poor. I have a ML110 G5 8GBRAM 3 NICS 3 X SATA DISKS connected to HP procurve switch. Installed ESX 3.5 U3 and all the patches via Virtual Center 2.5. Still very slow disks. Let me explain :COPY/PASTE/UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD via the datastore browser at 5MB/s, why to slow. Copy/paste via a 2003/XP VM only 5MB/s, why to slow. The best result i get is with Copy/Paste to/from a 2008/VISTA VM there i get 30MB/s.Networking tests via NETPERF for Windows :* 300 mbps from a VM to external PC* 750 mbps between 2 VM’sThis is also slow considering the 1 Gbps network but exceptable.The only options i can tnink of is to install a Smart Array E200/128 but this costs around 300€ First i need some test results from someone with this controller in a ML110. Simply copy/paste in the datastore browser and count the seconds it takes to copy a vmdk file. Please help me !!!

      Hi there,I will run and post some disk stats from my ML110 G5 with an e200/128 controller (4 x 250GB 7200rpm SATA in a RAID 1+0 configuration). This will probably be in about a day of so.In the meantime check out this thread from Veeam, who produce the great (and free) FASTSCP copy product. The Veeam FastSCP Beta forum thread below discusses and gives some good information on copying files to/from the VMFS. It also mentions some speeds that others are seeing when copying files (using FASTSCP). Link: http://forum.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=596I would strongly recommend downloading the new beta of FastSCP (there is a link to download this beta, which is ESXi compatible, at the top of the page I linked above) and using that when copying files as you will see a significant increase in speeds over the datastore browser.Give this a go and let me know if, and by how much, you notice an increse in speed during file copies (using FastSCP).Cheers,Si

      Could also try a copy a large file between 2003/XP or XP/XP or 2003/2003 and tell me your speed ?
      Luc

      Done a test with veeam fastscp and get 2MB/s when i copy a vmdk from one disk to another disk
      so that does not help

      [Reply]


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