USB as a Main Storage device

scottalanmiller

Hate to ask this question because I have heard horror stories, but is your bios/server firmware at the most current version? I've seen in the past where updating has fixed odd bios issues.

Edit: @scottalanmiller beat me to it.

Outdated BIOS could easily be the issue.

scottalanmiller

@Mike-Ralston said:

I might have to, I can't access the BIOS and the UEFI has now "Died", so I'm not sure what else to do.

Something is definitely, seriously wrong.

Mike Ralston

@scottalanmiller I'm having it run a system diagnostic now. The UEFI unlocked on the 4th go, but there's no option to turn it off.

art_of_shred

Or, maybe it's just not supported.

Mike Ralston

@art_of_shred said:

Or, maybe it's just not supported.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Dashrender

@art_of_shred said:

Or, maybe it's just not supported.

I guess I'm lost on what you are trying to do, exactly?

Are you trying to use a USB drive as a datastore for ESXi? or some other hypervisor?

scottalanmiller

@Dashrender said:

@art_of_shred said:

Or, maybe it's just not supported.

I guess I'm lost on what you are trying to do, exactly?

Are you trying to use a USB drive as a datastore for ESXi? or some other hypervisor?

Exactly.

thanksajdotcom

@scottalanmiller said:

@Dashrender said:

@art_of_shred said:

Or, maybe it's just not supported.

I guess I'm lost on what you are trying to do, exactly?

Are you trying to use a USB drive as a datastore for ESXi? or some other hypervisor?

Exactly.

I don't think it's possible. I think you can use an external HDD like that, but not a flash drive.

Dashrender

What's the problem? Does ESXi not see the drive as a place you could put a VMDK?

art_of_shred

It's to host a Xen Server, correct?

Mike Ralston

@art_of_shred said:

It's to host a Xen Server, correct?

Yes.

Mike Ralston

@Dashrender said:

What's the problem? Does ESXi not see the drive as a place you could put a VMDK?

Well, XenServer specifically tells me that Virtual Drives aren't enabled when I attempt to install to it. IT sees the USB just fine.

art_of_shred

Hmmm... so, maybe it's not supported?

Mike Ralston

@art_of_shred said:

Hmmm... so, maybe it's not supported?

Quite possible.

art_of_shred

How hard would it be to just get a single HD to put the OS on and then use the SAN for the datastores, or whatever Xen uses?

scottalanmiller

@Mike-Ralston said:

Well, XenServer specifically tells me that Virtual Drives aren't enabled when I attempt to install to it. IT sees the USB just fine.

Oh, this is new information. It is XenServer telling us this? We've been trying to diagnose the Dell hardware up until now. This might be a XenServer issue.

Mike Ralston

@scottalanmiller said:

@Mike-Ralston said:

Well, XenServer specifically tells me that Virtual Drives aren't enabled when I attempt to install to it. IT sees the USB just fine.

Oh, this is new information. It is XenServer telling us this? We've been trying to diagnose the Dell hardware up until now. This might be a XenServer issue.

Dell Hardware AND XenServer are telling us this.

art_of_shred

@scottalanmiller said:

@Mike-Ralston said:

Well, XenServer specifically tells me that Virtual Drives aren't enabled when I attempt to install to it. IT sees the USB just fine.

Oh, this is new information. It is XenServer telling us this? We've been trying to diagnose the Dell hardware up until now. This might be a XenServer issue.

Give this man a cookie!

scottalanmiller

@Mike-Ralston said:

Dell Hardware AND XenServer are telling us this.

When does each give the error?

Mike Ralston

@scottalanmiller XenServer works up until the point of selecting which drive to install on. It then says that Virtual Drives is not enabled, and tells me to go to BIOS to enable it. The Dell AutoInstall in the UEFI, does fine up until you select where to install the media, and it says that Virtual Drives is either not enabled, or not supported.