Install ESXi 5.x to HP ProLiant N54L

I got one of the new HP microservers to use as a NAS.  As long as I had it, I figured that I'd install ESXi and then install a NAS OS to a VM.  Then I could run another VM or two on there.


The first step was to add memory, which requires disassembling the machine almost completely to pull the motherboard out.  After that, I moved the included 250GB hard drive from one of the 4 drive bays to the 5.25" bay using a 3.5" to 5.25" adapter.

I got a license from VMware and downloaded a version of ESXi with HP drivers from this page.  I used vSphere 5.1 U1 Apr 2013, which was really this image: HP Custom Image for ESXi 5.1.0 Update 1 Install CD.

I "burned" the iso to a usb stick using unetbootin-windows-584.  I put the stick in the server and booted.  It promptly complained about the media failing a check.  I formatted the stick and ran unetbootin as administrator.  This time, the microserver booted to a VMware ESXi 5.1.0 Installation.

At this point, I also had a USB stick inserted on the motherboard to install to, in addition to the 250GB hard drive.  I planned to install ESXi to the USB stick, and use the 250GB for VMs.  I'm going to add 4 hard drives later and try to add them to the NAS via Raw Device Mapping (RDM).

The install took a while, but completed with a few inputs from me (disk, location, verification, etc.).  I removed the install media and rebooted to a 60 day trial version.  Unfortunately, I had not connected the server to the network, so the IP address was 0.0.0.0, then 169.254.241.82.  It noted that DHCP failed.  I plugged in a cable, and it picked up an address in a minute or two.

I connected from my workstation to the address listed.  It pointed me to various VMware tools, including the vSphere client.  I already had the current version:  VMware-viclient-all-5.1.0-1064113.exe.

I installed the client and logged in using the IP address and root user/password.  I had to verify/allow a security certificate. 

After logging in, I saw a note that the license would expire in 60 days.  There was a link, which took me to the VMware site, where I logged in.  I then saw that I had a license key for a 60 day evaluation.  It took me a while to figure out how to update the license, which I had requested earlier for evaluation.

To add the license, go to the Home view, then select Inventory.  This should show the host.  on the right, go to Software, then click on "Licensed Features."  It should show 60 days.










There is an "Edit..." link in the top right.  Click on that, then add the key.

I created a datastore using the 250GB disk, and then I was off making VMs!

SS4200-E Successful Boot From CF!

Based on the success I had installing OpenMediaVault to the PATA drive and booting after modifying some ATA modules, I knew that I was getting closer.  I saw that there have been problems getting Windows Home Server to boot from the PATA port on the SS4200-E, and I was looking for device.hints that would let NAS4Free (FreeBSD) recognize the PATA port.

This post has the answer, at least for a full install where you can edit the config files. 

I was able to install to the CF card using ATA/IDE Compatible mode in the BIOS instead of Enhanced.  I was also able to write the embedded NAS4Free image directly to the CF card.  You have to gunzip the .img file first because it is compressed.  I do this by adding the .gz extension, then using 7zip to extract.  The resulting .img file can be written using Win32DiskImager.

After writing the embedded image and changing BIOS back to ATA/IDE Enhanced, I booted.  At the first menu, I hit "5" to get to a prompt.  There, I entered these five commands:

OK set hint.ata.0.at="isa"
OK set hint.ata.0.port="0x1F0"
OK set hint.ata.0.irq="14"
OK set console="comconsole,vidconsole"
OK boot

This finally worked, and I finished booting NAS4Free from the CF card.  I wrote a new message of the day and rebooted to see if it would stick.  I added the two SATA disks and formatted them because GRUB had got on by accident at some point.

After the reboot, I interrupted the process to drop to the prompt and typed in the hints again.  I booted, and saw the new MOTD.  The config stuck!

The post suggested updating /boot/loader.conf and /boot/device.hints.  The loader.conf changes really seemed to be to set up the serial console, which was done through the webgui.  The hints were the important ones, so I made a new /boot/device.hints file, edited it through the web page, and rebooted.  I only added the three ata hints.  I rebooted, but it did not work.

I booted again and added the hints manually.  I checked the file manager, and the /boot/device.hints file was gone.  I saw in this post that the file should actually be /cf/boot/device.hints, but it would disappear after each upgrade.

I added the three hints to the existing device.hints to /cf/boot and rebooted.  This is what it looked like before editing:

# $FreeBSD: release/9.1.0/sys/amd64/conf/GENERIC.hints 235926 2012-05-24 19:24:31Z bz $
hint.fdc.0.at="isa"
hint.fdc.0.port="0x3F0"
hint.fdc.0.irq="6"
hint.fdc.0.drq="2"
hint.fd.0.at="fdc0"
hint.fd.0.drive="0"
hint.fd.1.at="fdc0"
hint.fd.1.drive="1"
hint.atkbdc.0.at="isa"
hint.atkbdc.0.port="0x060"
hint.atkbd.0.at="atkbdc"
hint.atkbd.0.irq="1"
hint.psm.0.at="atkbdc"
hint.psm.0.irq="12"
hint.sc.0.at="isa"
hint.sc.0.flags="0x100"
hint.uart.0.at="isa"
hint.uart.0.port="0x3F8"
hint.uart.0.flags="0x10"
hint.uart.0.irq="4"
hint.uart.1.at="isa"
hint.uart.1.port="0x2F8"
hint.uart.1.irq="3"
hint.ppc.0.at="isa"
hint.ppc.0.irq="7"
hint.atrtc.0.at="isa"
hint.atrtc.0.port="0x70"
hint.atrtc.0.irq="8"
hint.attimer.0.at="isa"
hint.attimer.0.port="0x40"
hint.attimer.0.irq="0"
hint.wbwd.0.at="isa"

I added:
hint.ata.0.at="ias"
hint.ata.0.port="0x1F0"
hint.ata.0.irq="14"

SUCCESS!!!!!  I can finally close this thing up and start experimenting.  After all that, I am leaning toward using OpenMediaVault anyway.  I installed it to a VM and added Plex easily.  The only downside is that it does not have an embedded version.

 
 

SS4200-E PATA Tests

I established that NAS4Free was not recognizing the PATA port in the SS4200-E using default BIOS settings.  I then tried OpenMediaVault (another FreeNAS fork), but ran into the same problem where the CF card in the CF-IDE adapter was not seen, and then the laptop drive was not seen.

I switched ATA/IDE Configuration from "Enahnced" to "Compatible" in the BIOS and tried that.  This worked, but only one of the two SATA drives showed up.  It seems to only have a primary master and primary slave.

After switching back to "Enhanced," the system would not boot and complained mdamd had beens tarted with two drives.

After looking at this some more, I found the exact solution, at least for OpenMediaVault.

The post describes how to modify the ata settings using an editor.  The way to do it is to install while in compatible mode, boot, login as root, then add ata_piix and ide_generic to the /etc/initramfs-tools/modules file.  Update the system with 'update-initramfs -u' then reboot and reset the BIOS back to compatible.  The update-initramfs comand creates a new /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64 file. The command after logging in as root were:

# echo ata_pix >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
# echo ide_generic >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
# update-initramfs -u
# reboot

I did this, and it worked.  Now I am booting off the PATA drive and can see both SATA drives.  Something similar to this should work for NAS4Free.  I just need to find the equivalent commands and file to update.  One option I've seen that may be relevant is to provide device.hints.  Or maybe this option to update the boot image will work as well.

SS4200-E NAS4Free Not FInding PATA

I received a 1x to 16x PCI-E adapter so that I could run a video card in my SS4200-E.  It worked perfectly, and I was able to watch the whole boot sequence, as well as run the NAS4Free installer from the LiveUSB stick.  I got the latest - 9.1.0.775.

I tried to install to the CF on a CF-IDE adapter, but the installer did not show the disk, even though it was recognized by the BIOS.  I then tried a laptop PATA drive using an adapter to an 80 pin ide cable.  The BIOS saw the drive, but the installer did not.  Finally, I tried a DOM (disk-on-module) plugged into the PATA port.  I have already installed the EMC Lifeline software that comes with the device to this DOM on this machine, so I know it works.  The NAS4Free installed did not see the DOM either.

My conclusion is that the NAS4Free (FreeBSD) OS is not recognizing the PATA port.  I think that something can be done in device hints, but I'll have to research FreeBSD some more to find out.