Cisco UCS C220 M3 LSI RAID Controller Issues

[CarsonDavis56998]

Hello,

    I am very new to Cisco UCS and have just purchased a refurbished UCS C220 M3 server that I am trying to set up for the first time. I am trying to install VMware ESXi v7 onto it. However, I have read that the raid controller must be configured and set up before you can install an OS.  When booting the server up to create and configure the Mega LSI Raid controller, I notice that it does not give me the ability to go into this setting like I have seen in other videos when you hit (Ctrl + M) upon early bootup. When I boot the server, I can only see the options to go into F2 setup, F6 Boot Menu, F8 CIMC Config, and F12 Network Boot. If nothing is selected from the prompt, the server then fails to boot to anything and gets stuck on this screen as it tries to find a media to boot from. Is there something I am doing wrong, or should I do differently to get into the Raid Controller?

Please let me know if any other details are needed. Thanks!

[Steven Tardy]

See:

https://community.cisco.com/t5/unified-computing-system/b200m3-with-2600-series-processor-and-esxi-7-0/td-p/4120554

VMware ESXi 7 does NOT have a supported driver for the LSI 9271 controller.

The LSI RAID controller number as the LSI 9271 from the Cisco C220 M3 spec sheet:

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-rack-servers/c220m3-sff-specsheet.pdf

Then check the LSI 9271 PID controller on the VMware Compatibility guide:

https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=io&details=1&partner=5_bpartner&releases=518&deviceTypes=13&page=3&display_interval=10&sortColumn=Partner&sortOrder=Asc

Searching ESXi 7.0 you can see VMware does NOT support the 9271, but changing to ESXi 6.7 and controller 9271 IS supported.

Try ESXi 6.7.

[CarsonDavis56998]

Thanks for the response. I will be sure to use the compatible version of VMware. However, I still can not log into the UCS LSI mega raid controller utility tool upon server boot up. Do you perhaps have some direction you could perhaps provide me with?

[CarsonDavis56998]

I just tried to bypass configuring my raid since it is not working and continue installing VMware on the box; however, during the installation process, VMware could not find a drive to install the OS. Could this be an issue with my raid controller card or HDs? I have noticed an amber light on the warning sign on the front-facing pane of the chassis but unfortunately, I can not log into the CIMC to get further details on this warning sign as I do not have the needed flash player software to access the mgmt GUI.

[Kirk J]

We need to confirm 100% what 'raid' controller you actually have.

When you go into the CIMC, and the PCI adapters list, please report what devices are listed.

Control+M is for the embedded controller (not supported by ESXi), and also has to be enabled for the option rom (control +m) to be presented.

To run ESXi on these older M3s, you need to have a physical PCI raid controller such as the 9271, 9266, 2008M-8i , etc

Control+H is the option rom utility for the regular raid controllers, assuming one is present, and that the boot mode is legacy (vs UEFI)

I think if you run the embedded controller in UHCI(jbod) mode, then the installer may see the drives, but of course there will be no raid.

This makes assumption the disks you are using are on spec sheet (or very similar disk models supported by the LSI controllers)

Kirk...

[Kirk J]

As long as you can set a valid IP on the CIMC via the physical console, please see https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/sw/cli/config/guide/2-0/b_Cisco_UCS_C-Series_CLI_Configuration_Guide_201/b_Cisco_UCS_C-Series_CLI_Configuration_Guide_201_chapter_011.html for various commands you can issue via SSH to work around the flash/browser issues.

Kirk...