The OWC Helios Expansion enclosure seems to be the cleanest way to obtain PCIe expandability on the Mac platform: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunderbolt/PCIe_Chassis/Mercury_Helios/
-- Edmund White From: Gilbert Wilson <gilb...@watchhouse.org<mailto:gilb...@watchhouse.org>> Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at 9:42 AM To: Stephen Potter <s...@unixsa.net<mailto:s...@unixsa.net>> Cc: "tech@lists.lopsa.org<mailto:tech@lists.lopsa.org>" <tech@lists.lopsa.org<mailto:tech@lists.lopsa.org>> Subject: Re: [lopsa-tech] Macs and vSphere On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 6:03 AM, Stephen Potter <s...@unixsa.net<mailto:s...@unixsa.net>> wrote: On 3/25/2014 7:57 AM, Jonathan wrote: I realise that no currently-produced Apple kit is on the vSphere HCL. My question is whether you have any experience of the new Mac Pro with vSphere, including multiple NICs and FC connections. The response from our local suppliers has been "let us know how you get on". Jonathan- I've checked internally and on the VMware community pages. No one is able to get ESXi to install and run on the 6,1 MacPro so far. We are working on supporting the next major version of ESXi on the MacPro 6,1, but unfortunately, not specifically 5.5. Additional to your question, the MacPro 6,1 has no internal expansion slots, so you are limited to the built-in: 2 GigE ports, 4 USB3, and 6 Thunderbolt ports, so it wouldn't have the expansion you are looking for. There are limited expansion options with the thunderbolt interface. It's not what most sysadmins are use to with Dell, HP, etc, but you can certainly get multiple NICs and FC. But, I have no idea if VMware has drivers for the pci-e cards that are tested/approved to work over thunderbolt. Your best bet at this point in time is to use the current production Mac Mini as a test platform for your requirements. You can fit it into your datacenter by using a case or mount from a third party. Sonnet makes a more expensive 1u case that can accommodate pci-e cards internally by using the thunderbolt connection on the mini (for your ethernet, fiber channel, etc needs). If you need more cards or expansion options they have a ~3u (can't remember exact size) expansion case that can fit more kit. Less expensive rack mount options that don't have pcie capability are made by H-Squared and MK1 Manufacturing. While the mini isn't on the VMware HCL I hear a lot of mac admins have been happily using them in production as testing platforms for software patches, etc on the macenterprise email list. You can probably get more information over there. MacTech Magazine has had a few articles on esxi on Macs, with the mini being a target for their tinkering. I believe they link to the article that Stephen posted. Hope that helps! Gilbert Wilson
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