The problem with our Adaptec controller was that ESXi didn't support it out-of-the-box. It was supported in general but the driver was not included. We thought that the new ESXi 6 could contain the driver, but it didn't. So we had to create our own ESXi image with the Adaptec driver.

We thought it shouldn't be a problem because there was much documentation about custom images:

https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/04/using-the-vsphere-esxi-image-builder-cli.html
http://www.virten.net/2015/03/esxi-6-0-image-for-intel-nuc/
(DE) https://www.thomas- krenn.com/de/wiki/Individuelles_ESXi_5....

Some problems:

• We tried to create an image for version 6
• We used the free version of ESXi with all its limitations

A problem was that the documentation references an "offline software depot". You can download the offline depot for the paid version but it's not available for the free version - not as simple download. No offline deplot means no custom image - right? Not right, because it's also possible to use an online depot.

The problem was that the documentation didn't contain a full description. We found some hints in different blogs but no complete description.

Here are the steps how we created our custom ESXi 6 image with Adaptec 6805 driver:

Downloads

• ESXi

  https://my.vmware.com/en/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6

• PowerCLI 6

  https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=PCLI600R1

• Adaptec driver

  http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/detail.php?deviceCategory=io&productid=19667

Useful PowerCLI Documentation:
https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/index.jsp#...ve-EsxSoftwarePackage.html

Image creation

• Install PowerCLI 6 (and all required dependencies)
• Unzip the Adaptec driver to e.g. C:\temp\VMServer6\
• Run PowerCLI as Administrator (sometimes, first launch of PowerCLI isn't working - simply close/run again)
• Execute following commands
  # Preconfigure
  Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
  cd c:\temp\VMServer6\

  # Use online depot
  Add-EsxSoftwareDepot https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
  # Add offline bundle for adaptec driver
  Add-EsxSoftwareDepot aacraid-6.0.6.2.1.41024-offline_bundle-2915492.zip

  # Check added depots
  $DefaultSoftwareDepots

  # Lists all ESXi-6.* profiles
  Get-EsxImageProfile -Name "ESXi-6.*"

  # Sets the base profile
  New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard" -name "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec" -Vendor "rjahn@SIB" -AcceptanceLevel "CommunitySupported"

  # Lists all included drivers
  Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Name "*aacraid*"

  # Adds adaptec driver from offline bundle
  Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec" -SoftwarePackage scsi-aacraid

  # Creates boot image
  Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec" -ExportToISO -filepath C:\temp\VMServer6\build\ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec.iso

  # Creates Bundle
  Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec" -ExportToBundle -filepath C:\temp\VMServer6\build\ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec.zip

Version numbers may be different, but the procedure should work for you as well. The online depot:
https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

was the most important thing. All other steps can be found in the standard documentation.