Installing the ESXi host on a Cisco UCS C220 server fails to recognize the RAID volume

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
When installing the ESXi host on a Cisco UCS C220 server, you experience these symptoms:

• The ESXi host fails to recognize the RAID volume.
• Individual disks on the host get listed.

Cause

This issue occurs when the embedded RAID controller is not supported by the ESXi host. As a result, the installation fails to recognize the RAID volume that you have created with this controller.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, use a PCIe or Mezzanine base controller for the installation. This is a list of supported Mezzanine and PCI RAID controllers:

Controller	Style	Maximum drives	SCPM	RAID levels	Required cables
CISCO UCS RAID SAS 2008M-8i: PID UCSC-RAID-MZ-C220	Mezzanine	4 Internal	No	0, 1, 1E, 10	4 drives: 1 mini-SAS (UCSC-CABLE3)
CISCO UCS RAID SAS 2008M-8i: PID UCSC-RAID-11-C220 (Includes RAID 5 and 50)	Mezzanine	4 Internal	No	0, 1, 1E, 5, 10, 50	4 drives: 1 mini-SAS (UCSC-CABLE3)
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9266CV-8i: The Cache memory of this controller is ECC-protected.	PCIe	4 Internal	SCPM	0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60	4 drives: 1 mini-SAS (UCSC-CABLE3)
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9271-8i: The cache memory of this controller is ECC-protected.	PCIe	8 Internal	No	0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60	4 drives: 1 mini-SAS (UCSC-CABLE1) 8 drives: 2 mini-SAS (UCSC-CABLE1)
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9271CV-8i: The cache memory of this controller is ECC-protected.	PCIe	8 Internal	SCPM	0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60	4 drives: 1 mini-SAS (UCSC-CABLE1) 8 drives: 2 mini-SAS (UCSC-CABLE1)
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9285CV-8e	PCIe	8 External	SCPM	0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60	Not sold by Cisco
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9286CV-8e	PCIe	8 External	SCPM	0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60	Not sold by Cisco

Note: The preceding list was correct as of November 3, 2014. If you find any error, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update it.

Additional Information

For more information, see USC C220 M3 ESXi Can't see a raid5.

Note: The preceding link was correct as of November 5, 2014. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.