Sad looking DL380G5
Yes, we all know that the HP/HPE DL380 G5 is not on the VMware Hardware Compatibility list, the last ESXi supported operating system was either 4.1 – 5.0, depending upon your Xeon version. But these make ideal lab servers, and one very important function is if you remove the spinning rust disk drives from the disk carriers, you can swap them directly for consumer SSDs. So this makes an ideal test vSAN. 8 SSDs, and if you happen to have enough DL380G5, and we do…. you can build a larger cluster!
VMware HCL
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0 does install and run on the DL380 G5, see here – INSTALL ESXI 6.0 ON A DL380 G5 – YES IT WORKS, but for shits and giggles, I want the latest and greatest 6.5!
DL380 G5 running ESXi 6.0
and if you try to install ESXi 6.5 on a HP/HPE DL380 G5 with a Xeon 51xx series you will get the following error message
CPU_SUPPORT ERROR
from the VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5 release notes
CPUs removed...
You will see the Xeon 51xx series has been removed from the code, and I also believe that more Xeon series will be removed with the next version 7.0 of ESXi, including all 52xx, 53xx and 54xx.
So I just happen to have some Xeon 5430, on my desk as coasters!
Not a matched pair of Xeon 5430
This pair are not matched…. I don’t think the world is going to come to and end…so, swap them and all will be fine…and the DL380G5 makes this simple, unlock the heat sink bar, unclip the processor clips, remove and replace…
So here you go, ESXi 6.5a on HP/HPE DL380 G5 -” IT WORKS!”
ESXi 6.5 on DL380G5
A quick tip, download the last firmware disk from HPE Firmware 10.10, and update your DL 380G5 before you swap the processors! In fact I found this server, had never had any firmware upgrades still on stock firmware!
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