network adapter not recognize during esxi 5.x installation

fredmoo

when i boot up to windows 7, it recognizes the ethernet adapter, works fine no issue. this suggest the adapter and cable are fine.

however during installation of vsphere hypervisor 5.x, it says cannot detect network adapter.

what can this issue be?

thanks

tstrip007

Need more info. Your installing esxi on a server? Is the server listed on the HCL? I have run into some installs where I have needed a custom ESXI image.

fredmoo

i'm installing it as a bare-metal hypervisor. booting from the cd the .iso image. sorry, im new to virtualization. hcl = hard compatiblity list?

the desktop tower is dell optiplex 790.

tstrip007

You will need to see if the dell has a custom esxi image built for that specific server. If not you will have to build a custom image your self with the NIC driver pre loaded.

dave330i

Go to VMware Compatibility Guide: System Search and see if your NIC is listed. It probably isn't since ESXi can't find it.

Dell may have a custom image with the NIC driver added.

hiddenknight821

I have this whitebox with an incompatible NIC, and I tried to follow the link tstrip007 provided, but it overwhelmed me. So I figured I'm far better off getting a compatible NIC and call it a day. Mind you, I'm new to the virtualization arena.

I'm just curious to know if it is just that I'm not technically inclined enough to inject a driver in the image or is it really difficult to do so? My only frustration with the image injection tool was finding the right OEM.tgz, VIB, or Offline Bundle file for the NIC. How do we obtain them? Do we get them from the OEM or VMware?

joelsfood

I wouldn't be too frustrated with not being able to build a custom image. It's easier said than done, hiddenknight, and I've actually had to make them for other IT people in the past, even ones with years of experience with VMware administration. Really, it's not something you're likely to do in a production environment, as hopefully you'll always be running Vsphere on officially supported hardware. I've only had to add a nic driver once, and that was for a dual port Intel nic in Vsphere 4 (And I think Dell came out with a custom CD that included the driver less than a month later)

blargoe

I am going to go ahead and say that VMware probably isn't going to have a driver for whatever desktop class network adapter is used in the Optiplex.

Creating a custom image, once you have gone through the motions a couple of times, really isn't that bad, but it is not completely intuitive at first. The Converged Network Adapters that we ordered with our blade servers didn't have the nic driver in the default ESXi image, but I was able to obtain a supported driver and it to my own images that I create.

JeanM

1. Find out what chipset / driver is the onboard nic
2. Find out if it's supported by the ESXi you are trying to load
3. Google to see if you can find the driver needed for ESXi (sometimes you have to look at previous versions of ESXi too)
4. Create custom image with the driver for it
or
Install another nic that is supported

hiddenknight821

Finally found the article created by the site author that explained it beautifully. Turned out it was published months after I've last attempted it. Although, it's still darn near impossible if your NIC driver isn't listed in the V-Front Online Depot or on Google. Step 7 seems to be the the best solution.

scott28tt

What's the purpose of installing ESXi directly on the physical system? If you're looking to build a nested vSphere lab on top of that ESXi installation, why not install Windows and use VMware Player or Workstation to host the vSphere lab VMs?

dave330i

scott28tt wrote: »

What's the purpose of installing ESXi directly on the physical system? If you're looking to build a nested vSphere lab on top of that ESXi installation, why not install Windows and use VMware Player or Workstation to host the vSphere lab VMs?

Nested ESXi hosts perform better on ESXi vs. Player/Workstation. Mainly due to type 1 vs. type 2 hypervisor difference.

scott28tt

dave330i wrote: »

Nested ESXi hosts perform better on ESXi vs. Player/Workstation. Mainly due to type 1 vs. type 2 hypervisor difference.

Yes I appreciate that, but better it works more slowly than not at all

alias454

According to Dell's website that system has an Integrated Intel 82579LM LAN controller. I also found this after a quick Google search for "Install ESXI on optiplex 790" November | 2012 | Virtual Drive. Another alternative is to purchase a dual or quad port NIC from Ebay, which will give you some added flexibility in your lab setup. Something like this Dell Intel Quad Port Gigabit Ethernet Card H092P E66339 002 PCI E NIC Server | eBay