Hi all.

I have 3 Dell R810 servers with QLE220 HBAs.

The problem with the HBAs is that the ESXi 5.1 cannot recognize them.

The first thing you'll answer is that those HBAs are not officially on the HCL, and I'm aware of that.

However my servers are only 2 years old  and I'm guessing I'm not the only one with the problem.

Dell says that they oficially support ESXi 5.1 on this type of server ,and yes, in my install i have used the dell customized CD/DVD.

However there are no drivers for those HBAs on that CD/DVD.

I have looked all over in the forii and discussion groups all over the Internets, and thus far I have found the following links mildly helpful:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/328090

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXi5X-QLOGIC-qla2xxx-9345401vmw&productId=229#product_downloads

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/168414

and this is where I downloaded the driver bundle for ESi 5.x from Qlogic:

http://driverdownloads.qlogic.com/QLogicDriverDownloads_UI/SearchByProduct.aspx?ProductCategory=39&Product=937&Os=167

I installed it using Update Manager and it installed allright, however there was no mention of the driver for my HBAs.

I then cruised the Internets for a different solution. And found the following solution:

http://andysworld.org.uk/2011/09/20/tweaking-esxi-50-adding-un-supported-hardware-to-vmware-vsphere-esxi-50-adding-a-qle-220-to-esxi-50/

which applies to ESXi 5.0 and even though it seems like a hack, it did make sense.

However in the process I seem to have hit an obtacle in that when trying to run the

tar -xvf scsi-qla.tgz (i.e. scsi_qla.v00)

I get a :

tar: invalid tar magic

error message.

I sense that the solution lies somewhere in this direction, however I'm baffled by this error.

I understand that VMware may have implemented a driver signing option in 5.1 to prevent tampering or rooting, however I must stress that

I'm really desperate on this.

Please don't tell me go sort it out with Dell or the guys that sold you the servers.

Thanks in advance.