UPDATED: 17/09/2009
I’m posting very rough notes for the moment. I’ll tidy them up when I get a chance.
Need to upgrade firmware to get ESXi 3.5 Update 2 to recognise the LP950 as an LP952
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1206849
LP950 BIOS update (FILE: RB171A0.PRG)
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=co-52871-1
LP950 Firmware Update (FILE: rc393a0.awc)
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=co-34288-2
Need Emulex LP6DUTIL.EXE and LP6DUTIL.DOC of which version 9.3a4 is included in the (unrelated) firmware package available here:
http://www.emulex.com/ibm/support/ess/lp1005.jsp
NEW LINK: http://www-dl.emulex.com/support/hardware/lp1005dc/fw/190a5/mf190a5_lp1005dc.zip
STAT FFFA0000 Error when flashing
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?admit=109447626+1222963603475+28353475&threadId=453907
Need MSA1000 Bootable software CD to configure arrays using web based ACU
At this point the arrays are configured and ESXi will recognise the external storage. However when trying to copy data to the data stores using VMWare Converter (P2V) it may fail at 2% with an error in the logs similar to:
… ‘P2V’ 2760 error … Task failed: P2VError UNKNOWN_METHOD_FAULT(sysimage.fault.NfcConnectionFault)”
or
… ‘P2V’ 5908 error … Task failed: P2VError UNKNOWN_METHOD_FAULT(sysimage.fault.PlatformError)
or
… ‘P2V’ 4400 error … Task failed: P2VError UNKNOWN_METHOD_FAULT(sysimage.fault.ImageProcessingTaskFault)
Alternatively, if after enabling SSH you try using WinSCP you may be *apparently* able to copy everything only for it to fail at 98% with the error “Function not implemented” or using “cp” at the unsupported command prompt may also copy small files but fail on large ones with the same “Function not implemented” error. Similarly, using the “Datastore Browser” feature in VMWare’s “Virtual Infrastructure Client” will fail within seconds of trying to copy a large file.
At this point you should double check the firmware on the MSA1000. Originally my MSA1000 was running an ancient v1.16 and I found that upgrading this to v4.48 fixed the problem. If you do this you may also need the latest (v8.02 at time of writing) MSA 1000/1500 software CD. v8.02 is available here: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=415598&prodNameId=443350&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=co-70653-1