Hello!
I have a serious stability problem and I am not able to figure out how to solve it.
I have a IBM ServerRaid M1015 (oem version of a LSI-9220-8i) which I have reflashed with LSIs own software (9210-8i IT mode, but see details below).
When I start ESXi and create a VM with a large virtual disk (90% of the physical disk) the creation process freezes after some time (about 10% for a 145GB vdisk on a 160GB pdisk)
and I get alot of 'stuff' in the vmkernel.log file (see attached logfiles). Eventually ESXi will purple screen and die.
I seem to be able to make small diskaccesses with no problems.
To test if this was a hardware problem I have:
- I made a clean installation of Debian-6.0 and there everything works without problems.
- I made a clean installation of Solaris-11u1 no problems here too - the controller was FAST!
- I have tried to move the controller to a different host (HP DL120 G6), same problem there.
- I have even tried to buy another controller (which worked perfectly with the included IBM software but after I reflashed it with the LSI-9210-8i IT firmware it was failing just at the first one)
- I have tried a slitter cable instead of the HP backplane to be sure that it wasn't the backplane that gave me the problems.
- I have tried to move the card to another PCIe slot and attach the 8087 cable to the other port on the controller card.
System configuration:
- VMware: ESXi-5.1.0update1 (build 1065491)
- Machine: HP ML150 G6 (12GB memory, BIOS: O21), and HP DL120 G7
- Controller: IBM M1015 reflashed to LSI-9210-8i (firmware 2108it.bin Version: 16.00.00.00 Release date: 27-FEB-13, BIOS-7.31)
- ESXi drivers:
Before update:
# esxcfg-scsidevs -a | grep mpt
vmhba0 mpt2sas link-n/a sas.500605b002aa7ea0 (0:5:0.0) LSI Logic / Symbios Logic LSI2008
# vmkload_mod -s mpt2sas |grep Version
Version: Version 10.00.00.00.5vmw, Build: 799733, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Aug 1 2012
# vmkload_mod -s mptspi |grep Version
Version: Version 4.23.01.00-6vmw, Build: 799733, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Aug 1 2012
Update:
# esxcli software vib update -v /tmp/tmp/scsi-mpt2sas-16.00.00.00.1vmw-1OEM.500.0.0.472560.x86_64.vib
Installation Result
Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
Reboot Required: true
VIBs Installed: LSI_bootbank_scsi-mpt2sas_16.00.00.00.1vmw-1OEM.500.0.0.472560
VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_scsi-mpt2sas_10.00.00.00-5vmw.510.0.0.799733
VIBs Skipped:
After update:
# esxcfg-scsidevs -a | grep mpt
vmhba0 mpt2sas link-n/a sas.500605b002aa7ea0 (0:5:0.0) LSI Logic / Symbios Logic LSI2008
# vmkload_mod -s mpt2sas |grep Version
Version: Version 16.00.00.00.1vmw, Build: 472560, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Feb 28 2013
# vmkload_mod -s mptspi |grep Version
Version: Version 4.23.01.00-6vmw, Build: 799733, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Aug 1 2012
I have attached the logfiles from the system. Is anyone able to point me in a direction for a fix? Or have anybody used the IBM M1015 (in IT mode) with VMware-5.1
This is starting to get just a little frustrating! :-)
I cannot 100% conclude this but it seems like a ESXi driver problem or the combination of firmware and driver.
Best regards,
- Morten Green Hermansen, Fanitas