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I finally received in almost all the pieces to my big virtualization/storage project (minus some missing SAS cables). Well not a big deal since one of my pieces is a R720xd. The plan is to use this as a Veeam server and also a AD server that is not on the VM cluster. I also want to keep on of my licenses from my 3-pack free for a future R620 server to add to the cluster. So enter in ESXi 3.5.

I figured no big deal, download the ISO, boot the image, and install to the Dell IDSDM (Dual SD Card). Problem is ESXi is not seeing the any storage for it. It’s still building out the 16TB of physical storage, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why I can’t install to the SD cards.

Worse, and maybe this is because it’s been a while since I have been building out servers, but I am not seeing anywhere where I can re-initialize the SD cards. It’s recognized in iDRAC, so not sure what is going on.

What am I missing here?

@Dell_Technologies

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Don’t use ESX 3.5 at all install ESXi 5.1 free. That old version is not certified or probably even has the drivers for that Gen 12 server. You are only asking for headaches and possible security flaws.

There is NO benefit to using something that old.

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ESXi 3.x doesn’t support installing onto SD cards (I know - some were installed by the factory this way and are supported).

ESXi4 is the earliest version that supported this (and had the GUI for it).

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Honestly since I was thinking of simply and free on that box I wasn’t even thinking straight. :slight_smile: 5.1 it is.

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