Q: Xserve 1,1 SAS controller (backplane) in Xserve 2,1 and vice versa
This might perhaps be interesting for some other Xserve users who own Xserve 2,1 with RAID controller and Xserve 1,1 with non-RAID controller and think about using VMware ESXi with the Xserve 2,1:
VMware ESXi does not support drives connected to a Xserve SAS RAID controller.
So I decided to test, if a non-RAID SAS controller from an Xserve 1,1 works in an Xserve 2,1.
Yes, it works without any problem - natively using OS X 10.7.5 and also with VMware ESXi.
The SAS RAID controller taken from the Xserve 2,1 also works in the Xserve 1,1 without any problem.
Tested with Mac OS X 10.6.8 Server and OS X 10.7.5
Of course I also tried to use ESXi on the Xserve 1,1, but (I think because of 32 bit EFI) it does not complete the boot process. The Xserve 2,1 is also not offically supported by VMware ESXi, but it works.
Hope this helps some other Xserve users.
Posted on Jul 17, 2016 5:20 AM