It is possible to gather DSA data from an IBM server running ESXi without having to boot with a bootable CD or reboot the server at all.

From any machine, Windows or linux, you can run the latest release of the DSA tool, then reference the ESXi server using commandline parameters when running the DSA tool.

Enable remote technical support in ESXi

In order for this to work, you need to put the ESXi server in remote technical support mode. This is done via the ESXi console.

Gather DSA data using a VM on the server (or via any other system)

Once activated, download and run the latest tool on your favourite platform (for Windows, choose the Windows version, etc.). Rather than opening running it by simply launching the application, fire up a command prompt and launch it with parameters.

>ibm_utl_dsa_dsyt85t-3.40_portable_windows_x86-64.exe --vmware-esxi user:password@ip-address

This will collect the DSA info through SSH.

Notice

Not all information is available through this method. Certain RAID controllers cannot have their logs read through ESXi. In this case, you have to reboot and use the built-in preboot DSA tool.