Running esxi on lacie 5big


If you are wondering if its possible so install esxi5 on a 5big (office) ,the answer is yes.

The way i did it, was to place the disc on a laptop with a esata connector
Then i installed esxi without any special option’s

After setup i placed the disc back into the 5big, and it did NOT startup
After some trail and error i was sure i needed to reset the netwerksetting, but there is no vga output so you need to do this blind.

I simulated the network reset on a other esxi system and i wrote down all the keyboard sequences.

The blind reset is:

0- hook up a USB keyboard on your 5big
1- wait until the system is started (wait 5 minutes, just to be sure)
2- press {f2}
3- press {enter} {enter}
4- press 4 times {down}
5- press {enter} {f11} wait 5 seconds, {enter}
6- press {esc}, wait 5 seconds, {f12} {enter} {enter} {f11}

Now the system wil reboot and if you have a DHCP server running, you will see that your 5big wil get a IP number, and you can connect

Because this system has only 2 Gb memory and not expandable, its not a very useful environment for a Esxi server.

At this time i’m not using the Lacie as a Esxi server, I made a downgrade to WHS2003
See this link for info: http://www.digisaster.com/?p=286

I will post some printscreens of the running esxi environment as soon i have the esxi bootdisc found.

 

Downgrade your Lacie 5big office to WHS 2003

Downgrade your Lacie 5big office to WHS 2003

I got a nice Lacie office box as a replacement for my old server
My old server was using 120 Watt power, This one only use 40Watt.

This box is running Windows Homeserver 2011 and i was very disappointed about this OS
I was used to work with WHS 2003, and i love this version. Its simple, and it can be used to backup up almost any OS like XP, Windows 2003, Windows 2008 both 32 and 64 bits

For WHS 2011 backup, you need to install framework 4, and it will not even backup a 2003 file server.

So i was wondering if there is a (legal) way to install WHS 2003. I know there was a 5big release with the name “5big backup” and this one is running 2003
I did search on the Lacie site and found this

http://www.lacie.com/support/drivers/driver.htm?id=10209

I just wanted to play it safe, so i swap the drive for a black testdrive and try to setup the server with the downloaded 5big backupserver recovery
To my surprise it just worked, and now i have my server running with WHS 2003