IBM ServeRAID LSI Mega Raid Manager on VMware

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 The LSI Mega Raid Storage Manager is a program where you can monitor the health of your array, setup drives and change notification details. IBM has always provided a way for you to manage your array in Windows, Linux, Unix and many other operating systems. Currently configuring the LSI Mega Raid Storage Manager on VMware ESXi 5.1 is not very well documented by IBM. IBM has a retain tip with installation instructions but that tip is outdated. Following these steps below will get the LSI Mega Raid Manager running on an IBM ServeRAID adapter. Please note this guide should work the same for any non IBM server that is running VMware ESXi 5.1 and a LSI Mega Raid Controller.

Tested Configuration and Hardware:
Operating System: VMware ESXi
Version: 5.1

IBM ServeRAID M5110
IBM xSeries 3650 M4 Server

Step 1: Download the latest LSI SMIS for VMware
http://www.lsi.com/support/Pages/Download-Results.aspx?keyword=9265

• LSI SMIS

 

Step 2: Enable SSH on VMware

From the VMware host console press F2 then go into troubleshooting.
VMware KB 2004746

Step 3: Extract the LSI download and upload the VIB file to /tmp
"LSI_bootbank_lsiprovider_500.04.V0.38-0006.vib"

Step 4: Install the VIB

# cd /usr/bin

# esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/LSI_bootbank_lsiprovider_500.04.V0.38-0006.vib --no-sig-check

Step 5: Reboot the VMware server

Step 6: Download and install LSI MegaRaid Manager. The download is on the same URL from step 2 or you can also download this from IBM. MIGR-5077712

Step 7: Add the VMware hostname to your DNS server. Setup an A record to point your VMware hostname to it's IP address.

Step 8: Install LSI Manager

Perform a basic install, no password is needed during the install.

Step 9: Configure LSI Manager

• configure host

• lsi mm 2

• lsi mm 3

• lsi mm 4

• lsi mm 5

Login using the VMware server login details.

• lsi mm 6

• lsi mm 7

Note: IBM released retain tip H21152 but the steps currently does not work with ESXi 5.1

Conclusion:

Once you have followed these steps you will have full control over your IBM ServeRAID using LSI Mega Raid Controller on a VMware ESXi 5.1 operating system. You will be able to monitor the array from any Windows computer in your network.

Resources:

http://www.tinkertry.com/lsi92xx-health-under-esxi-51/

 H21152

MIGR-5077712

VMware KB 2004746

Error adding datastores to VMWARE ESXi

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Error Message:
I was unable to add any of the local disks to my VMWARE ESXi host as VMFS datastores as I got the error “HostDatastoreSystem.QueryVmfsDatastoreCreateOptions” for object ‘ha-datastoresystem’ on ESXi….” as shown below;

Solution:
There are various useful suggestions in the Eversity comments for dealing with GPT partitions but they are quite long winded. The quickest solution (as suggested by fdisk) was to use partedUtil.
You need to run the following command for each disk that you’re having issues with (this overwrites the partition table with a standard msdos one which VMware can work with);
NOTE: This will ERASE ALL DATA on the disk in question so be careful to select the right disks!

#partedUtil mklabel /dev/disks/ msdos

To get the disk id: 
ls /dev/disks/

How to collect IBM Dynamic System Analysis(DSA) logs for an ESXi server

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It is possible to gather DSA data from an IBM server running ESXi without having to boot with a bootable CD or reboot the server at all.

From any machine, Windows or linux, you can run the latest release of the DSA tool, then reference the ESXi server using commandline parameters when running the DSA tool.

Step 1: Download the appropriate IBM DSA utility on any windows server that has connectivity to ESXi server.

Step 2: Open the command prompt and go to the directory where the DSA utility presents.

Step 3: Enter the below command to collect system information

#ibm_utl_dsa_dsyt85t-3.40_portable_windows_x86-64.exe --vmware-esxi  user:password@ip-address

Note: this will take some time to gather diagnostics logs and store it in C: drive.

Remote Access to ESXi Shell Using SSH

Remote Access to ESXi Shell Using SSH

If Secure Shell is enabled for the ESXi Shell, you can run shell commands by using a Secure Shell client such as SSH or PuTTY.

Enabling SSH for the ESXi Shell

By default, you cannot access the ESXi Shell using a Secure Shell client. You can enable SSH access from the direct console.

To enable SSH access in the direct console

1	At the direct console of the ESXi host, press F2 and provide credentials when prompted.

2	Scroll to Troubleshooting Options, and press Enter.

3	Select Enable SSH and press Enter once.

On the left, Enable SSH changes to Disable SSH. On the right, SSH is Disabled changes to SSH is Enabled.

4	Press Esc until you return to the main direct console screen.

You can enable remote command execution from the vSphere Client.

To enable SSH from the vSphere Client

1	Select the host and click the Configuration tab.

2	Click Security Profile in the Software panel.

3	In the Services section, click Properties.

4	Select SSH and click Options.

5	Change the SSH options.

■	To temporarily start or stop the service, click the Start or Stop button.

■	To enable SSH permanently, click Start and stop with host. The change takes effect the next time you reboot the host.

6

Click OK.

After you have enabled SSH, you can use an SSH client to log in to the ESXi Shell and run ESXi Shell commands.

Accessing the ESXi Shell with SSH

If SSH is enabled on your ESXi host, you can use an SSH client to run commands on that shell.

To access the ESXi Shell with SSH

1	Open an SSH client.

2	Specify the IP address or domain name of the ESXi host.

Precise directions vary depending on the SSH client you use. See vendor documentation and support.

3	Provide credentials when prompted.

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