Install XPEnology (DSM) 5.1 on ESXi 6 (HP MicroServer Gen 8)

My installation record. As of today, DSM 5.2 is out. Thanks to XPEnology team, bootloader now support DSM 5.2

Basically follow official documentation:

http://www.xpenology.nl/vmware-esxi-installatie/
http://www.xpenology.nl/installation-dsm-5-1/
http://xpenology.me/downloads/

and somebody’s tutorial

http://seiler.it/vmware-esxi-5-5-installation-hp-proliant-microserver-gen8/
http://www.chiphell.com/thread-867588-1-1.html

 

ESXi (vShpere 6)

For me, my iLo web interface does not support after POST (boot up), so I used unetbootin to expand the HP-VMware ISO file to USB drive.

install vSphere 6 client, manage storage

– got create datastore failure:

Call “HostDatastoreSystem.QueryVmfsDatastoreCreateOptions” for object ‘ha-datastoresystem’ on ESXi [host] failed.

– failure due to my old SSD contains existing partition info: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2007328

solution:
enable SSH access on vshpere
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=1003808

find disk from #ls -lah /vmfs/devices/disks/ or vSphere client
Then fix and review (should be your own value of naa.xxxxxxx)

reference:

http://www.vexperienced.co.uk/2012/01/02/error-adding-datastores-to-esxi-resolved-using-partedutil/
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008886
http://serverfault.com/questions/537101/how-to-delete-old-linux-partition-with-esxi

 

Installation of DSM 5.1

Then follow the XPEnelogy EXSI version offical installation guide
http://www.xpenology.nl/vmware-esxi-installatie/

– Fail to boot up, “Missing Operating System” error. due to DSM overwrite partition and boot disk info

http://xpenology.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5255
“IDE (0:0) is important because this is the boot disk that starts up XPEnoboot
Non-persistent is important because it prevents the non-booting situation after you do the DSM install. Technical explanation is during DSM install all hard drives get repartitioned including the XPEnoboot drive, the non-persistent setting makes these changes temporary and after a reboot the original XPEnoboot boot partition is returned.”

My fix was delete the VM, re-create VM, set IDE (XPEnoboot_DS3615xs_5.1-5022*) to “non-persistent”, then follow the installation process

after installation complete, boot disk failure again! it’s okay, just shutdown the vm, and start it again, it will load the initial image that boot info does not overwritten by DSM.

– create raw disk mapping

ref: http://xpenology.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2147
use SSH & vsphere client

vsphere: Configuration > Storage Adpaters > HP Dynamic Smart Array B120i RAID Controller > Details
select the targeted disk > right click, copy Identifier to clipboard

SSH to ESXi console.
# vmkfstool --help -z –createrdmpassthru /vmfs/devices/disks/…

– install open-vm-tools
download “open-vm-tools_bromolow-5.1_9.10.0-2476743-1.spk” from http://xpenology.me/downloads/, see link in http://xpenology.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5294

Go to “Package Center” > “Settings” and tick the box “Any Publisher”
Manually install with the downloaded file.

15 Responses to Install XPEnology (DSM) 5.1 on ESXi 6 (HP MicroServer Gen 8)

  • showgood

    Thanks for the post!
    but for some reason when I try to install esxi 6 with HP customised image, ESXI always complain “no network adapters” and then reboot.

    I’m also using HP micro server Gen8 as well.
    maybe you could help me with that? thanks a lot!

    Reply
    • HanG

      I haven’t seen “no network adapters” error message. I used “HP Custom Image for ESXi 6.0.0 GA” :: VMware-ESXi-6.0.0-2494585-HP-600.9.2.38-Mar2015.iso, which is okay for me.

      Maybe you check your BIOS setting first, or see if it is okay on ESXi 5.5.
      Or update to latest HP firmware.

      Reply
    • Costi

      I had the same issue with “no network adapters” on ESXi HP custom image. You are most likely running with 2GB RAM. you need an upgrade.
      I had the stock 2GBs and added one more stick with 8GBs and now it’s working.
      The problem is that nobody specifies it is the insufficient, so I had to dig a lot.

      Cheers.

      Reply
  • showgood

    thanks. my iso is from Jun and the iso you using is no longer available. I will give ESXi 5.5 a try.

    Reply
  • Costi

    Mate, how do I add a raw HDD to the DSM?

    Thanks.

    Reply
  • Jacky

    Hi,

    May I ask how can I migrate from xpenology barebone to xpenology on esxi? Will I lose my existing volume if I migrate?

    Thanks
    Jacky

    Reply
    • HanG

      It is a while ago, I can’t remember 100% and I have backup my data before the migration.

      My setup was barebone (USB + HDD ext4, no SHR/RAID). When I migrated to ESXi, I use RAW disk mapping on ESXi, then after installation success, re-create volume on DSM, so I guess data is still on HDD. You would better check with others to confirm this.

      Reply
  • Jacky

    Thanks HanG. Not sure if I understand correctly. Do you mean I can use RAW disk mapping without deleting the data?

    Reply
    • HanG

      yes, no need to delete data by RAW disk mapping, because I guess DSM will recognise the existing/old volume.

      I checked the official website, DSM will remove existing data during volume creation, so don’t create a new volume.
      https://www.synology.com/en-global/knowledgebase/DSM/help/DSM/StorageManager/volume_diskgroup_create_volume

      There is another guys seems existing data is okay.
      http://xpenology.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5858#p35762

      you can give a try. unplug the data disk, keep the old xpenology OS USB in safe location. Install ESXi on another USB, install xpenology, plugin data disk back. If fail then still possible to rollback to old xpenology.

      Reply
      • Jacky

        Thanks again HanG. It looks like if I added the existing to RDM and VM then it will recognise the volume. Will give it a try and get back. Have a nice day!

        Reply
        • Jacky

          Hi HanG..

          I tried to map RDM to the VM in web UI and got the following error.
          “The disk capacity specified is greater than the amount available in the datastore. Disk space overcommitment can consume all space in the virtual disk and block the virtual machine. Increase the datastore capacity before proceeding or enter a smaller disk size.”

          May I ask if you have experienced the same before? Thanks

          Reply
          • HanG

            Hi Jacky,
            Sorry I haven’t experienced that.

  • Jacky

    Hi HanG,

    I was using AHCI and when I start the VM I got the following error: Cannot open the disk ‘/vmfs/volumes/539108b1-84fd7835-a999-3ca82aa02be0/disk1.vmdk’ or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.

    May I ask if you have any solution for it?

    Thanks a lot
    Jacky

    Reply

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