That’s right, the Datto SIRIS Virtualization Storage Controller is HOT.
Have you heard of the Datto SIRIS Virtualization Storage Controller? It’s another available option for configuring a Virtual Machine is setting the Virtualization Storage Controller. The Virtualization Storage Controller option provides five disk controller drivers that may be chosen from for use in the virtual environment. Read about it here.
While rarely encountered, there are several Blue Screens of Death (BSoD) that could occur when a VM’s disk controller drivers that fail to function properly. Generally speaking in regards to any Virtualization Hypervisors (hosts), one of the most commonly encountered boot errors in this category are the FATAL NO BOOTABLE MEDIUM errors. Changing the Virtualization Storage Controller will help to overcome these types of BSoDs in the event that they are encountered.
AHCI SATA Driver
Right before each ShadowSnap backup completes, a Hardware Independent Restore process, or HIR, is performed. When the HIR Process is performed on the backup image it injects the AHCI SATA Controller driver into the Virtual Machine backup.
By injecting the AHCI SATA Driver into the VM backup during the HIR Process the Datto SIRIS avoids the overwhelming majority of STOP 7B BSoD errors for VMs. It is theoretically possible however that a protected system has a compatibility issue with the AHCI SATA Driver therefore options to change the Virtualization Storage Controller Driver are made available.
Changing the Virtualization Storage Controller
Selection of the Virtualization Storage Controller is available from the Advanced Options for each Protected System in the Agents Tab.
Note: Once the Virtualization Storage Controller has been changed for a Protected System it will always remain selected unless changed in the Advanced Options page.
Note: The Storage Controller can also be changed from the Local Virtualization Tab under Adjust Resource Allotment.
Virtualization Storage Controller Types
The Datto SIRIS Advanced Options page provides five storage controllers to chose from:
- ICH6 – IDE
- PIIX3 – IDE
- PIIX4 – IDE
- LSILogic – SCSI
- AHCI – SATA
Each of these storage controllers are natively installed in various OSes, therefore it is best to select a storage controller that is native to the OS of the protected system.
Operating System | ICH6 – IDE | PIIX3 – IDE | PIIX4 – IDE | LSILogic – SCSI | AHCI – SATA |
Windows XP – SP3 | x | x | x | x | x |
Server/SBS 2003 | x | x | x | x | x |
Vista | x | x | x | x | x |
Windows 7 | x | x | x | x | x |
Server/SBS 2008 & r2 | x | x | x | x | x |
We hope this article on the Datto SIRIS Virtualization Storage Controller was helpful. Please contact us with any questions.