Ubuntu JeOS

Why isn't the JeOS image SCSI-based?

Asked by Mike Frisch

VMware ESX requires SCSI-based VMs... I notice there is buslogic driver support in the included kernel modules, but the VMX describes an IDE disk. Thanks.

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Mike Frisch (mfrisch) said : 		#1

There seems to be some issues with the included BusLogic.ko driver. If enabled, it slowly iterates over all devices sd[a-z] before booting. I am not sure if this is proper behaviour (seems like not) but for the time being, I can understand why SCSI support isn't there.

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Jason Fiset (jasonfiset) said : 		#2

The LSIlogic driver should be used preferably. The LSI interface performs much better than a buslogic interface on ESX. Forget about fixing buslogic support and focus on getting LSI support into the kernel and initrd images.

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AlexGenaud (alexgenaud) said : 		#3

JeOS is designed to act as the foundation to a GUEST operating system. JeOS only needs to support drivers for a virtual machine. Since VMware, VirtualBox, and other virtualization environments can emulate a storage device (including a file) as if it were (virtually) an IDE device, then JeOS need not support SCSI.

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Mike Frisch (mfrisch) said : 		#4

VMware ESX does not support IDE-based virtual disks. If we expected to use JeOS based appliances in an enterprise VMware environment, we need support for SCSI-based virtual disks.

Also, I notice in the Hardy -virtual kernel that there is support for mptscsi (the SCSI HA supported by ESX) so this question will most likely be moot once Hardy-based JeOS is official.

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Jason Fiset (jasonfiset) said : 		#5

OMG...does anyone use ESX? Alex, the workstation versions of VMware are not the only version of VMware on the market. I've been chasing this bug for a few months now. There was a big deal made about this appliance and how it would be the perfect platform for building a virtual appliance but if something basic like a SCSI driver can't be added so that it will run on an enterprise platform like ESX then I guess I'm wasting my time. This product was over promised and under delivered.

On ESX, VMware emulates a storage device (including a file) as if it were (virtually) a SCSI device. If I had a nickel for every person that tried to tell me it was fine with IDE... I'm more than a little disappointed that this product shipped the way it did as I was really looking forward to building an appliance for a project I'm working on but instead I built it using Solaris. Solaris worked. This doesn't. *And* this is not solved so whoever marked this question as solved should reconsider changing the status.

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Nick Barcet (nijaba) said : 		#6

We believe this problem is solved in the current developement version of Jeos Hardy. Let us know if you are still having problems.

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Mike Frisch (mfrisch) said : 		#7

I am still experiencing installation problems with Hardy JeOS, but yes, it appears the MPT SCSI support is enabled and functional. I was able to successfully build some appliances based on JeOS. Thanks!

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virtualjmills (jmills-vmware) said : 		#8

> I am still experiencing installation problems with Hardy JeOS ...

What specific problems are you encountering at this point? Do they still occur with the final release (~ April 24, 2008) as well?