VirtualRealization: Mac Pro 6,1 rack environment running VMware ESXi 5.5 (with Fiber connectivity to VNX)

With the recently addition of Mac Pro 6,1 to VMware's hardware compatibility I was eager to replace our exiting old Power Mac G5 towers in our environment.

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=server&productid=37841&vcl=true

Prerequisites:

Mac Pro bios version MP61.88Z.0116.B05.1402141115

If your Mac Pro has an older boot ROM then just upgrade the Mac Pro to Yosemite (OS X 10.10) which contains the update to be applied to the Mac Pro.

https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=915041082&mt=12&ls=1

vSphere 5.5 P03 is required

Currently the latest version of ESXi available on VMware download is only 5.5 update 2 so you have to include the required patch version onto the update 2 ISO. To do this perform the following steps:

Download the latest ESXi 5.5 Update 2 Driver rollup

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=ESXI55U2&productId=353&rPId=7389

Download the offline bundle for ESXi Update 2 patch 3

the zip file can be downloaded from VMware patch portal
Search for build number 2302651 or just get the latest which is available.
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2096281

Next you need to convert the offline bundle zip file into an ISO file to be placed on bootable USB stick. To do this I used the VMware Image Builder which is available as part of PowerCLI.

After you installed PowerCli open the application
Change to folder location where zip file resides
Run command to add the offline bundle:

'add-esxsoftwaredepot .\ESXi550-201412001.zip'

Run command to see the image profile:

'get-esximageprofile'

Select the ESXi-5.5.0-20141204001-standard which include VMware tools and security patches.

Run Command:

'New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile "ESXi-5.5.0-20141204001-standard" -name "ESXi55u2-P03-MACPRO" -Vendor MACPRO66'

Now you can create the ISO file with running command:

'Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi55u2-p03-MACPRO" -ExportToISO -filepath H:\VMware-ESXi-5.5u2-P03-MACPRO.iso'

This file can now be places on a bootable USB.

I use Universal-USB-installer or UnetBootin to place the ISO on the USB.

Boot ISO from MAC

press and hold the "ALT" key on keyboard to boot the USB.

Rest is the same basic installation as with any regular Intel based server

Here is a list of all the hardware items used to in our environment:

Sonnet xMac Pro rackmount enclosure.

This the most valuable piece of equipment and I highly recommend this if you planning on placing your Mac Pro's in a server rack.
Comes with 3 x PCIe slots available through thunderbolt which provide 20Gbps throughput and flexibility which is unmatched and can now add extra network and even Fiber connections for storage.
Do yourself the favor and check them out:

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/xmacproserver.html

UPDATE:

Sonnet just announced another card expansion which is a self-contained three-slot PCIe expansion system that mounts inside the xMac Pro enclosure and connect to second 20 Gbps Thunderbolt 2 bus
This will provide us with full redundancy which is very exciting news.
http://www.sonnettech.com/news/pr2015/pr033115_expansionedition.html

APPLE Mac Pro 6,1

12GB memory
Intel Xeon CPU E5-2697 v2 @ 2.70GHz
only purchase small memory size to be replaced with Transcend

Transcend 128GB Kit for Mac Pro

Transcend is great and provides certified 128GB memory for Mac PRO
Tried and tested on our end and it works!
http://www.transcend-info.com/About/press/10559

Intel I350-T4

4 port network card. We actually have two card installed in Sonnet.
This card is VMware compatible but not Sonnet however it works great without issues

1 x Atto Celerity FC-81EN Fiber Channel adapter

1 port Fiber connection
This card is Vmware compatible as well as Sonnet which made it the best FC option.
http://www.attotech.com/products/product.php?cat=1&scat=1&prod=3&sku=CTFC-81EN-000
Fiber attached to Brocade switch and VNX 5600

APC AP7731

Since there are no dual power supplies on Mac Pro we purchased this APC switched rack PDU which takes two single-phase 220V drops and can switch power if you have a failure on one of over This provides redundancy even though you only have one cable. However if the power adapter fails on hardware you are out of luck.

Some gotchas experienced:

- We tried to run the updates for ESXi through VMware update manager and this caused the onboard NICs on Mac Pro to not be recognized anymore. Re-installed the old version to resolve this. Current build is 2302651

- To add storage on VNX a rescan does not seem to work so we had to restart the Mac Pro in order to pick up the LUNs.

- We initially installed all the PCI cards and then installed ESXi. This cause the network cards numbering to go out of whack. What we had to do was remove all the cards and power on ESXi and let it complete the startup. Then shutdown and add a single PCI card and power on again, Do this one at a time in order you want starting from bottom. Should fix the network port order.

UPDATE: created a new blog to show how within vCloud Director to run a MAC OS X and Windows VMs within the same vAPP

http://virtualrealization.blogspot.com/2015/04/vcloud-director-running-mac-os-x-and.html

Here are some photos of our build: