Monitoring MegaRAID Controllers in VMware

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Many LSI RAID controllers are supported for operation with VMware ESX/ESXi by VMware.[1] Using the CIM provider integrated into the ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2, you can request status information regarding RAID.[2]

General Information

  • You will find the current CIM provider downloads for LSI next to the Support Downloads for the respective RAID controllers, such as here:
  • MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i (lsi.com) - download the VMWare SMIS Provider VIBCertified (OS:VMWare ESX 5.x) option from their Support & Downloads -> Management Software and Tools links.

VMware vSphere 5

After the CIM provider has been installed and the ESXi host has been re-booted, the vSphere Client will display information about the status of the RAID controller..

The required CIM provider will have to be installed on the ESXi 5.* host for monitoring an LSI RAID controller.

Installing the CIM Provider

Restriction (as of April 20 2012): The sensor for the battery will display the 'Battery Status: Unknown' warning for systems that do not have iBBU. LSI is working on a solution.[3]

The VSphere installation Bundle for the CIM provider may either already be integrated into an individualized ESXi image before the installation of the ESXi host or installed after the installation of the ESXi host:

The ESXi host will have to be re-booted, if the installation is done after the fact.

user@ubuntu-11-10:~$ esxcli -s 10.1.102.155 -u root software vib install -v http://IP/LSI_bootbank_LSIProvider_500.04.V0.24-261033.vib
Enter password: 
Installation Result
   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
   Reboot Required: true
   VIBs Installed: LSI_bootbank_LSIProvider_500.04.V0.24-261033
   VIBs Removed: 
   VIBs Skipped: 

MegaRAID Storage Manager

See LSI MegaRAID Storage Manager for VMware ESXi 5.5 servers.

VMware vSphere 4

You can request status information for the RAID controllers through the vSphere client.[4]

Additional Information

References

  1. VMware Compatibility Guide (filtered for LSI)
  2. VMware Infrastructure 3 Release Notes VMware ESX Server 3.5 Update 2 System Health Monitoring Through CIM Providers - More Common Information Model (CIM) providers are added for enhanced hardware monitoring, including storage management providers provided by QLogic and Emulex. LSI MegaRAID providers are also included and are supported experimentally.
  3. Virtual Power/ESXi: BBU error message on the System Health tab using LSI MegaRAID (Blog)
  4. ESX 4.1 and LSI Megaraid Storage Manager Now, the health in vSphere reports everything perfect, including degraded when I pull one of the hard drives.

Related articles

CacheVault Flash Cache
Setting the LSI RAID Monitoring Plugin on a 2012 Windows Server
Smartmontools with MegaRAID Controller