Installation guide

C H A P T E R 2 Creating and Configuring Virtual Machines

Configuring a Virtual Machine to Use the

LSI Logic SCSI Adapter

ESX Server virtual machines can use virtual BusLogic and virtual LSI Logic SCSI

adapters. By default, virtual machines use the BusLogic adapter. However, new

Windows Server 2003 virtual machines are configured to use the LSI Logic adapter by

default.

You can add the LSI Logic SCSI adapter to any virtual machine by modifying its

configuration file. For an existing virtual machine or for a new Windows XP or

Windows 2000 virtual machine, further steps are needed in the guest operating

system.

Windows XP and Windows 2000 do not include a driver for the LSI Logic SCSI adapter,

so these guests use the BusLogic adapter by default. However, to use the LSI Logic

SCSI adapter with a Windows XP or Windows 2000 virtual machine, you must

download the driver from the Download Center at the LSI Logic Web site. Go to

www.lsilogic.com/support/ and look for the LSI20320 SCSI adapter driver for your guest

operating system. The files are in a WinZip archive.

Note: Linux distributions with kernels in the 2.4.18 series or later include a driver that

supports the LSI Logic adapter. If your guest has an older kernel and you want to use

the LSI adapter instead of the BusLogic adapter, VMware recommends you upgrade

the kernel packages to the latest version available for the distribution. You do not

need to download the driver from LSI Logic.

Adding the Adapter to the Virtual Machine’s Configuration File

For both Windows and Linux virtual machines, you need to modify the virtual

machine’s configuration file to use the LSI Logic SCSI adapter. For a new virtual

machine, complete the following steps before you install the guest operating system.

For an existing virtual machine with which you want to use the LSI Logic adapter, shut

down the guest operating system and power off the virtual machine before following

these steps.

Caution: Even though SuSE Linux 8.1 includes the correct driver for LSI Logic, due to

an error in a SuSE Linux process, the guest operating system must first be installed

with the BusLogic driver. Once the SuSE Linux 8.1 guest operating system has been

installed and boots, shut down the virtual machine and complete the steps below.

1. Connect to the service console and, using a text editor there, open the virtual

machine’s configuration file (.vmx).