There is a native driver on Win2008 to support the PERC 4e/Di controller but, in Win2008 R2, Microsoft has remove any support for devices that use scsiport (like PERC 4 controllers); Microsoft only wants to support storport.

Does this mean there isn't a workaround to install windows 2008 on a PowerEdge with a PERC 4e/Di controller?

I just purchased 3 2850's with this in mind. :-(

I am attempting to install Win Server 2008 R2 and cannot get the installation to use the RAID drivers off the Dell site. I'm getting the same error as above referencing non-signed drivers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I could install windows 2008 but not 2008 R2.

I tried different solutions :

- Install 2008 R2 and load the driver taken from 2008 or from lsi.com : doesn't work

- Install 2008 and upgrade to 2008 R2 : doesn't work

- Install VMWare ESX and install 2008 R2 in a virtual machine : doesn't work (now it's the CPU)

So I installed it on an Optiplex to do my tests and I'm waiting for the new EqualLogic server to replace my 2850.

My PE 2850 is 2 years old and already out-of-date ...

That's all I can tell you, sorry if it doesn't help.

I could install windows 2008 but not 2008 R2. I tried different solutions : - Install 2008 R2 and load the driver taken from 2008 or from lsi.com : doesn't work - Install 2008 and upgrade to 2008 R2 : doesn't work - Install VMWare ESX and install 2008 R2 in a virtual machine : doesn't work (now it's the CPU) So I installed it on an Optiplex to do my tests and I'm waiting for the new EqualLogic server to replace my 2850. My PE 2850 is 2 years old and already out-of-date ... That's all I can tell you, sorry if it doesn't help.

As mentioned before; Microsoft doesn't want you to use miniport drivers. You'll have to use a newer raid controller than the PERC4, which means you need at least a Poweredge 2950.

The 2850 supports x64, but not Virtualization Technology (VT), so you cannot run x64 Virtual machines with ESX 3.x, and you cannot run ESX 4.x at all as it requires VT to be able to use any VM (it may not even install, but I'm not sure about that).

Note: the Equallogic array you're getting is a storage solution; it's not a replacement server. I can store virtual machines if you want, but you still need a server to connect (via a vlan or dedicated switch) to the storage on the Equallogic solution. Do you have a 2950 or newer model server on order as well? If not, your Equallogic solution won't help you.

Yes, I understood that, I was answering the other guy to tell him it's not possible to install 2008 R2 on a PE 2850.

And for the Equallogic the solution, I will buy a new server of course.

Thks for the post.

Thank you very much for your reply. 

It does not seem aceptable that a machine that is only 3 years old can no longer run the current OS. Both Dell and Microsoft are large enough that things like this shouldn't happen. Either Dell wasn't looking far enough into the future or Microsoft pulled a fast one on them.

It seems we should push one or both for a workaround.

Brian

The 2850 was already available in 2004 (not sure exactly when it started shipping, but definitely in 2004 or earlier). So the design process probably started at least 12 months before the release date. Over the course of the shipping time of any manufacturer's server changes are rare and usually minor (adding support for newer processors and maybe memory, but rarely for completely new architectures like SCSI to SAS). So, you may have purchased the server 3 years ago, but the design is 5+ years old.

With Windows 2003 Microsoft introduced support for storport drivers. Over the years (updated service packs and storport.sys drivers), Microsoft has changed to recommending storport drivers. Some info on storport drivers is available here and here (both from Microsoft).

I'm not sure if SCSI can even do storport drivers at all when I scan through those 2 documents.

Windows 2008 (pre-R2) already got rid of SCSI clustering support by setting certain requirements that plain SCSI cannot do (2008 only supports clustering with SAS, fiber channel, and iSCSI storage) and strongly recommended using storport drivers as they allow for better performance. And now Microsoft seems to have chosen to discontinue support for scsiport/miniport drivers completely, which isn't too surprising as they starting pushing storport drivers in Windows 2003, when the technology wasn't even there yet (e.g. when the 2850 was a common shipping server and most of the bigger server manufacturers didn't offer SAS yet).

Yes, your server may only be 3 years old, but the design is 5+ years old and you're trying to run an OS on it that's so new it hasn't even been released yet.

Touche! and well said.

Although embarassing, I do feel obligated to post this. After the release os SP2 for Server 2008, I went to the website and downloaded Server 2008 R2 and was confusing the two. When I returned today and review after your last post I see it is actually still only a Release Candidate.

Thanks for everyone's time.

However, now that R2 has been released officially, the problem still exists.  I can understand that as technology changes, eventually software will come out that cannot/will not run on older machines, but the part of your explanation of why 2008 R2 will not run on the 2850 does not make sense to me, given the following:

- Dell has released a PERC 4e/Di driver for R2.

- Dell lists R2 as a supported OS on the 2850 (http://advisors.dell.com/advisorweb/iDriveMatrixView.aspx?redirect=1)

It would seem there is a way, but we are waiting for the "how" to trickle down from Engineering?