VMWare ESXi 5 Supermicro X8DTL MB LSI MegaRaid issues: SOLVED

While researching the hardware to purchase for a new VMWare server, I found that this SuperMicro X8DTL-3 Motherboard supports ESXi4, according to Supermicro’s web page. So I assumed it would work the the later version of ESXi (5).
However, upon receiving the server and trying to install ESXi 5, there was no local storage available with 2 SAS drives hooked up to the LSI Megaraid controller (black SATA ports).
I was able to plug in a SATA drive to the blue ports and then ESXi could see that as local storage.

Update: So the Supermicro site has a note (F) that this ESXi 4 compatibility is with “IT Mode”, and to get IT Mode the PDF manual says to hit ctrl-c in the bios, so i tried that (did it do anything?) booting up the installer again now… still no new local storage (just the SATA drive is listed, where are the SAS drives?)

Update 2: the PDF manual also says to “flash an IT mode firmware to the EEPROM” – I wrote to supermicro support and they sent me this link to download “an IT mode firmware” http://www.4shared.com/zip/CDEtiP5c/X8DTL3_IT_112310.html which I will now attempt to flash.

Update 3: I had to put those files onto a bootable USB stick, now trying the instructions:

Software RAID Flash Instruction.
================================

1) Before Flash the Firmware and BIOS, please erase all the flash part
first;
Boot to the Dos and run:
a:\>Clear.BAT
(It will clear all the content in the flash)

Note: Please reboot the system before doing the Firmware and BIOS flash.

2) Flash with BAT file: (Automatic flash)
a:\>***.BAT
(It will flash Firmware, BIOS and SAS address; but please manually type
in the address)

So I do these 2 steps (with the reboot in between) and it asks me to enter the full 64-bit SAS address. Another Email to support later and I find out that’s on a white sticker on the Mother board. Gratefully Supermicro support gets back to me with real answers in an hour or two. Frustrated that even after that, still no SAS drives showing up anywhere…

Update 4: I found in the manual there is also a physical jumper on the motherboard, after opening that the SAS drives are visible to the bios as potential boot drives. I also had to set the SATA bios settings to compatible / enhanced so that both the SAS and SATA drives are visible. Looks good, on to installing ESXi.
Looks like ESXi 5 is going to work, at least it’s seeing the SAS drives! I only lost about 1 day figuring this out. I am so happy it worked out!!

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