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PE2950 running ESX 3.5, Solaris 64-bit virtual host won't boot.
The server is a PE-2950 with dual Xeon 5450 series 3.0 GHz procs.
When trying to run Solaris 10 in 64-bit mode, the boot process dies almost immediately and does an instant restart. The install process appears to go properly all the way to the first restart. After that, it gets to the OS mode selection screen. Then when the normal start option is chosen, it tries to start load the OS. If manages to put 3 lines of text to the screen then freezes for 1 second and restarts.
I have enabled VT in the BIOS as directed to allow the Xeon's to work in 64-bit mode. The BIOS is back level, and I am working to update it to the current release. Are there any other BIOS configuration changes that need to be made?
Has anyoen gotten this combination to work? I am already running Windows and Linux on the ESX host, but Solaris 10 refuses to run.
I've already spent 2 days on the phone with VMWare support. I even uploaded the VM images to them and they run fine on their hardware, so it is either my VMWare install, or the hardware it is running on. The VMWare support team inspected my installation and didn't see any issues, so that leaves the hardware/configuration.
Thanks for any assistance,
Clint
When trying to run Solaris 10 in 64-bit mode, the boot process dies almost immediately and does an instant restart. The install process appears to go properly all the way to the first restart. After that, it gets to the OS mode selection screen. Then when the normal start option is chosen, it tries to start load the OS. If manages to put 3 lines of text to the screen then freezes for 1 second and restarts.
I have enabled VT in the BIOS as directed to allow the Xeon's to work in 64-bit mode. The BIOS is back level, and I am working to update it to the current release. Are there any other BIOS configuration changes that need to be made?
Has anyoen gotten this combination to work? I am already running Windows and Linux on the ESX host, but Solaris 10 refuses to run.
I've already spent 2 days on the phone with VMWare support. I even uploaded the VM images to them and they run fine on their hardware, so it is either my VMWare install, or the hardware it is running on. The VMWare support team inspected my installation and didn't see any issues, so that leaves the hardware/configuration.
Thanks for any assistance,
Clint
chiefmojo
7 Posts
0
February 29th, 2008 00:00
ccone
4 Posts
0
February 29th, 2008 01:00
How are you checking whether or not ESX is picking up VT support? That could be my issue. I know it wasn't enabled when we installed the ESX software. Then I enabled it in the BIOS when we had this problem with Solaris.
Thanks!
Clint
chiefmojo
7 Posts
0
February 29th, 2008 02:00
ccone
4 Posts
0
February 29th, 2008 12:00
So I take that to mean that VMWare doesn't recognize that I have the VT flag enabled? I looked at the cpuinfo file and saw no reference in the list of flags that looked like it would be related. Here is the list of flags:
flags:
fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov
pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm nx lm
So... I wonder if I have to re-install VMWare for it to pick up that VT is enabled. It was not enabled when VMWare was initially installed and I turned it on after digging for a resolution to this problem.
Clint
ccone
4 Posts
0
February 29th, 2008 18:00
The answer to my question boiled down to compatability.
While VMWare supports running ESX 3.5 on the PE2950... and it supports the Xeon5450 processors in other servers... They do not support running ESX 3.5 on a PE2950 running 5450's.
My manager is *really* ticked about this. More at the person who made the recommendation (not me, thank heaven), but looks like we are going to have to come up with new processors...
Clint
chiefmojo
7 Posts
0
February 29th, 2008 21:00
With any luck they'll actually get around to fixing it. There's no technical reason why it wouldn't work -- all the bits are there. I think the lesson here is to adhere to the HCL -- the hypervisor is clearly really, really picky about what it will support. I can't blame your boss for being angry. It's just one of those things you learn the hard way unfortunately. Lord knows we've had our stumbles implementing ESX in our environment, but that's always going to be the case with a new platform. Still, it seems like this is one area of ESX that isn't as mature as it could be. Hopefully 4.0's hardware detection will be a little more sane.
chiefmojo
7 Posts
0
February 29th, 2008 23:00