ESXi losing connection to Raid Controller

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Aguinaldo.SilvaJr

New Member
Sep 1, 2018
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Hello all,

I am having some trouble to fix the random lost of connection between ESXi and the built-in RAID controller in my Supermicro X8DTT-H system.

I have a couple of theses systems here and use them weekly to run some processes.

Supermicro X8DTT-H
LSI SAS2008 (SMC2008-IT) / IT-Mode
5 x Corsair Neutron GTX SSDs
ESXi 5.5.0 (Update 9919047)
2 x Windows 10 VMs per SSD

The host runs for a random period of time until eventually, lose the connection to the LSI Controller and consequentially to all the Storage Devices connected to the HBA.

- I changed the SSDs for different models (Consumer Grade OCZs and Samsung EVO 850 and 840), but eventually I face the same issue.
- Tried to run a single VM per SSD, but did not help

I have a couple of systems like this and face the same issue with all of them.

I attached the Recent Events from ESXi and some commands I ran via SSH.

Can anyone bring some light for me?
 

Attachments

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
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My first guess was overheating, but then I looked up the mainboard.
Do you run in a supermicro chassis?
 

Aguinaldo.SilvaJr

New Member
Sep 1, 2018
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Sorry for the late reply, I was gathering Informationg regarded the RAID Controller from Supermicro.

Apparently. This motherboard is part on an SYS-2026TT-DLRF which is using the BPN-ADP-E16-L 2008 SAS RAID controller. This model is EOL and the latest firmware version which was released for it is 16.00.01.00 which was released in 2013.

I have update and I will see if I can upgrade it even being EOL.

Regarded the Patches of ESXi, I have the latest patch applied.
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
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That's an LSI 2008 and an Expander Chip rolled onto one board. You should be able to cross flash it with LSI firmware though, at least the HBA side of it, get it up to ver 20 if you can. The problem could, of course, lie with the expander failing. To rule out a hardware issue for sure and certain, the only course of action is to swap it out and see how it goes :)
 

Aguinaldo.SilvaJr

New Member
Sep 1, 2018
10
0
1
That's an LSI 2008 and an Expander Chip rolled onto one board. You should be able to cross flash it with LSI firmware though, at least the HBA side of it, get it up to ver 20 if you can. The problem could, of course, lie with the expander failing. To rule out a hardware issue for sure and certain, the only course of action is to swap it out and see how it goes :)
Thanks for the reply.

At this point, I can not see the HW issue with the systems. And if it is, that would be the system being unable to run this configuration.

I have a couple of systems with the same components and FW versions all present the same issue.

I am also not able to find the firmware for this LSI 2008 Controller. Any help?
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
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These instructions are for the Dell boards, so ignore anything Dell specific, but the actual (cross) flashing process is the same. There are links there to the LSI firmware files etc as well. Not forgetting our own resource right here of course :)
 

Aguinaldo.SilvaJr

New Member
Sep 1, 2018
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Hello guys,

I have just upgraded the system for both. IT and IR mode and it went really smooth.

For now, I need to monitor how the ESXi hosts will perform.

Thank you for the help.