How to manage/monitor RAID array on ESX host

[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.

[sted]

in the case of at least dells you can mange it by booting into the lifecycle controller and using the gui there to make changes