Issues migration to ESXI

[IMuijtjens]

Hello,

 

Today I migrated my Drive Pool from Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2016 (ESXI).

 

I have some problems with re-adding my disks. I have linked all my hard drives to a .vmdk file using this article from VMware: https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1017530.

On my Server 2012 configration I had 5 drives (8TB) added to the drive pool. When I add those drives as a SCSI drive (Virtual Device Node) the drives will show up as RAW and I cannot open them.

 

I tried to change the Virtual Device Node to IDE controller, they will show up normally and are automtically added to the pool. I can only setup 2 drives with an IDE controller (master and slave).

Does anyone have experience with this? I'm afraid of losing the data stored on the disks.

 

Disks that where not part of the drive pool before can all be added on de SCSI controller.

 

Thanks!

[otispresley]

Yeah, you definitely didn't have to go through all that trouble. There are 2 options with ESXi...pass through the individual disks, or if all drives on your controller are for DrivePool, then you can pass through the entire controller. See here:

 

RDM (In the GUI client)

Pass-Through controller

[IMuijtjens]

Found the problem. The onboard SATA ports on the motherboard caused this issue. After reconnecting all hard drives on my SATA PCI-E cards, the drives show up correctly on my guest.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Ouch.  well, glad to hear that you found the issue!

 

For reference, what controller is the motherboard using? Or which motherboard.

[IMuijtjens]

Supermicro X8DAi

 

The onboard controller is the "82801HR/HO/HH (ICH8R/DO/DH) 6 port SATA AHCI Controller". Now I used 2 cheap controllers bought from Aliexpress which will work fine

 

Marvell 88SE9235 PCIe 2.0 x2 4-port SATA 6 Gb/s Controller

Marvell PCI 4-port SATA controller card