cannot detect scsi drives with tinycore 3.1 on vmware

[quokka]

Hi

Tried upgrading from 2.11 to 3.1 today. With 2.11 I was using  vm-scsi-2.6.29.1.tcz so as to enable detection of one of my virtual hard disks. However this extension isn't available/functional for 3.1. Any chance of an update/workaround for this?

many thanks



edit:  oh uh...i may have found my solution here

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=6814.0

edit again:

nope spoke too soon....the proposed solution above does not work for me and tc 3.1....any ideas?

[curaga]

Well, what happens if you use the scsi-2.6.xxx extension on 3.x? Related dmesg output?

[quokka]

ok...firstly i will apologise for my noobness (day job=molecular biologist...i had to look up what dmesg meant!)...i will post here dmesg output from

(a) tinycore 2.11.5 with vm-scsi-2.6.29.1.tcz (this works fine and i can see my drive as /mnt/sda1)

(b) tinycore 3.1 with vm-scsi-2.6.29.1.tcz (cannot see drive in /mnt)

(c) tinycore 3.1with_scsi-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz (as above)

[curaga]

Case b is not even supposed to work, so scratch that.

Your old output does not mention the scsi drive at all, are you sure it is from the right system? And taken after boot, after you see sda1?

All three show a 1gb IDE hard drive recognized fine, though.

[quokka]

yes i think i posted the wrong thing for (a)...i am reposting demsg from (a) and (c)....redone and double checked...thx for ur patience

[danielibarnes]

vm-scsi-2.6.29.1.tcz was just a subset of the scsi drivers (BusLogic and LSI Logic) for 2.x. The scsi-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz extension provides that functionality for 3.x, so I've not released a new vm-scsi extension.

To duplicate your results, I tested the four SCSI controllers available with VMware ESXi 4.1:
1) BusLogic Parallel (works)
2) LSI Logic Parallel (failed)
3) LSI Logic SAS (failed)
4) VMware Paravirtual (works)

The default for Linux is typically #2, so that explains your failure. In order to fix LSI Logic, I think curaga will need to update the extension to include the 2.6.33.3 version of the files listed in the vm-scsi extension:

kernel/drivers/message/fusion/mptspi.ko.gz
kernel/drivers/message/fusion/mptscsih.ko.gz
kernel/drivers/message/fusion/mptsas.ko.gz
kernel/drivers/message/fusion/mptfc.ko.gz
kernel/drivers/message/fusion/mptbase.ko.gz

As an immediate solution, you can change your scsi controller to either BusLogic Parallel or VMware Paravirtual. Check the performance on each and go with what works best.

[quokka]

thx so much daniel(i)...

i followed the directions here:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1216

in order to change the scsi controller to use "buslogic"...

...and all is fine

and thx to curaga too.....

ciao

edit: replace "buslogic" in the vmx with "pvscsi" for the vmware paravirtual scsi controller

[curaga]

Fusion MPT? OK, added to my list.

[29anicolae]

Fusion MPT? OK, added to my list.

Hi Curaga, is there any chance to have an updated version of "2.6.33.3-tinycore" extension that will include MTP, or you will wait for another kernel release ?
I´m trying to use tinycore on Dell PowerEdge 2600 and the HDD detecting is failing. (PERC 3/Di, PERC 4/Di, LSI MPT SCSI Controller )
Thanks and keep up the good work !

[curaga]

I've no plans to add modules to the current extensions, for now. MPT will be enabled in the next build.

[zyurph]

Anyone able to get the current release 3.4.1 working on ESXi 4.1 I have tried "lsilogic"; "buslogic"; and "pvscsi".  None of these seem work. 

[danielibarnes]

I confirmed buslogic and pvscsi still work on TC 3.4.1 with ESXi 4.1. I am running that specific configuration. Make sure you are loading the scsi-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz extension.

It just occurred to me it would be a good idea to create a "scsi.gz" containing the necessary kernel modules. Using this file, it would be trivial to remaster a new .iso image that would work with all the vmware scsi controllers. I will look into this.

[danielibarnes]

According to this article, pvscsi is preferred over LSI Logic, especially for heavy I/O workloads.