Configuration and monitoring of IBM Server RAID Controller running ESX5.0

[Bruce123]

We have a number of servers running ESX5.0 and ESX5.1 (mostly IBM but some HP).

 

Currently we manage these with vCentre, which alert us via email when a disc fails (or goes predictive).

 

The issue is, without shutting down the (IBM) server and going into the BIOS, there seems to be no way for us to view how the RAID is configured or make changes (e.g. ensure that a newly replaced disc is configured as the global hot spare).

 

With a bit of web searching I found a VMware (VIB file) module for MegaRAID, which I assume should allow MegaRAID installed on a Windows machine to remotely admin the RAID on a ESX server.

 

We want to try this module on a test IBM server, before installing it onto the production servers.

 

But when I go to download ESX-i 5.0 from VMWare's website it only shows "VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 5.0", is this the same thing?

 

Also, I would be interested to know how other people manage the RAID on their VMWare environment?

 

Kind Regards,

 

Bruce.

[Bruce123]

For further info:

 

The reason for this is that we recently replaced a disc which was on predictive fail. This was the global hot spare.

 

We need to know if the new disc was automatically assigned as the global hot spare, or whether it needs to done manually (I believe that depending on how the RAID was setup originally, it could be either).

 

The only way that we can determine this would be to shutdown the server, go into the BIOS and check, and we would rather not have to schedule this downtime unless it is necessary, especially not every time we replace a failed disc.

 

The file I downloaded from VMWare's website is : megaraid_sas-6.608.16.00-5.x-3270419

 

Many Thanks,

 

Bruce.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Bruce123