jdmlight

I was thinking about running them off of the 512GB cache drive on a cache-only share. I will have a couple of extra SSD's as a part of this consolidation though, so if it's recommended to run the VM's off of their own SSD's I can certainly do that. The Blu-Ray drives are for my MakeMKV containers to rip my DVD/BD's for Plex. As far as the M1015, I remember that this was recommended as a faster alternative to onboard SATA. Granted, that advice was from when I originally built an UnRAID box ~8-10 years ago, so it may not apply anymore. I may keep it anyway for convenience - I've got 8 3.5" hot swap bays and 6 2.5" hot swap bays, plus the 2 Blu-Ray drives. So if I do keep the card, I could leave everything plugged in for ease of adding drives in the future.

Decided to go with the Frankenbuild option. I purchased one of the same motherboards that Lime Tech uses in their lab, the Asrock Z87 Professional: https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASRock-Fatal1ty-Z87-Professional-LGA-1150-HDMI-SATA-ATX-Intel-Gaming-Motherboard/142626520306?hash=item213533fcf2:g:vgkAAOSwLdBaNDRE Now to await its arrival, and continue on with this as a build thread. So I'm going to end up with the following specs after all is said and done: Rosewill RSV-R4000 Intel i7-4790k Noctua NH-D14 Asrock Z87 Professional 4x8GB DDR3 RAM IBM M1015 flashed to IT mode - I'm thinking about doing performance testing comparing this card to the onboard SATA ports to see if it's necessary. Radeon R9 270x for Gaming VM Radeon R7750 for Productivity VM 2x LG Blu-Ray Drives 1x 512GB Samsung Evo for cache 1x 2TB Toshiba P300 (parity) 1x 2TB WD EARX (might replace while I have everything open) 1x 2TB Seagate Barracuda ST2000 2x 1TB Hitachi HTS721010

I’m looking at consolidating my desktops, and potentially upgrading my unRAID setup in the process. My current unRAID setup is as follows: UnRAID 6.1.9 Asrock 970 Extreme4 1x8GB DDR3 RAM AMD FX-8150 IBM M1015 flashed to IT mode 2x LG Blu-ray drives 1x 2TB Toshiba P300 (parity) 1x 2TB WD EARX (plan to replace soon, it’s slow and old) 1x 2TB Seagate Barracuda ST2000 2x 1TB Hitachi HTS721010 1x 500GB WD5000BEVT (through Unassigned Devices plugin for Dockers storage) I currently use it for: Plex Handbrake MakeMKV Unifi Controller Backups of other computers General storage And everything has been running wonderfully for the past 6 years or so, with drive upgrades/replacements along the way. Only real hiccup I had was when I moved and broke off the USB stick. I replaced it with a Cruzer Fit so that doesn’t happen again. Now I’m looking at doing VMs to consolidate my computers a bit. My two other desktops are the following hardware: Gaming PC/HTPC Intel i7-4790k Asrock Z97E-ITX/ac Radeon R9 270x 2x8GB DDR3 512GB Samsung 960 Evo Productivity Desktop AMD FX-6300 Asrock 970 Extreme4 Radeon R7750 single-slot 1x8GB DDR3 RAM 256GB Samsung 960 Evo Running monitor and USB cables from my unRAID box to the other two locations will not be a problem. The productivity desktop is right adjacent to the closet with my unRAID server, and I have a bunch of Cat6 run to my family room that I can use for HDMI and USB extenders. So I’m thinking about three possible builds, from least expensive to most expensive upfront cost: Build 1 ($0): AMD FX-8150 Asrock 970 Extreme4 4x8GB DDR3 RAM (from various PCs) IBM M1015 flashed to IT mode 2x LG Blu-ray drives 512GB Samsung 960 Evo (install SSD as cache, move Dockers to cache, remove 500gb 2.5” drive) Radeon R9 270x for gaming PC VM Radeon 7750 for productivity VM Build 2 (~$100-150) Intel i7-4790k Purchase a used/refurbished socket 1150 motherboard, as new ones aren't available anymore 4x8GB DDR3 RAM IBM M1015 flashed to IT mode 2x LG Blu-ray drives 512GB Samsung 960 Evo (install SSD as cache, move Dockers to cache, remove 500gb 2.5” drive) Radeon R9 270x for gaming PC VM Radeon 7750 for productivity VM Build 3 ($700) New processor (~$300) New motherboard (~$200) 2x8GB DDR4 RAM (~$200) IBM M1015 flashed to IT mode (not sure if this would be necessary) 2x LG Blu-ray drives 512GB Samsung 960 Evo (install SSD as cache, move Dockers to cache, remove 500gb 2.5” drive) Radeon R9 270x for gaming PC VM Radeon 7750 for productivity VM And I would then sell the components that I’m not using, so I would recoup some of the cost. So this is essentially a CPU/motherboard question: do I keep the FX-8150 build as is, change to the i7-4790k and purchase a not-mITX motherboard, or go for all new? And if I do go for all new, what should I pick? My shortlist is the i7-8700k, Ryzen 1800x, or Xeon E3-1245v6 (with ECC RAM).

I'm not trying to pass any PCI devices, but I'm giving 5.0 a shot just in case that's the problem.

Well I got rid of the HPA (a good thing to do anyway), installed unRAID 5.0-rc8a, and checked parity booting directly off of the unRAID flash drive (not using ESXi). That was successful, but when I try it under ESXi, it still PSODs. I double and triple checked the msiEnabled flag. Maybe I'm not editing it the right way. I currently: [*]Browse to the unRAID.vmx file in the Datastore Browser [*]Download the unRAID.vmx file to my Windows machine [*]Add the msiEnabled line with Notepad++ [*]Upload the modified unRAID.vmx file using the Datastore Browser [*]Start up the unRAID VM and start a parity check After the parity check has been running for a few minutes, it PSODs. All I can figure is that maybe I'm not editing the .vmx file correctly. I have attached my .vmx file to see if maybe I messed something up. (I added .txt at the end since .vmx isn't an allowed file attachment type) Maybe I should try recreating the unRAID virtual machine? EDIT: Found this post, someone with the same motherboard I have and the 4-core version of my processor: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=22553.msg201025#msg201025 He had trouble with ESXi 5.1, I'm going to try 5.0u1 like he has. unRAID.vmx.txt

I'm trying to rebuild my unRAID build from its own dedicated hardware to ESXi, as I'd like to consolidate some of my test boxes (and play with ESXi more before I take the VCP certification test). I'm essentially doing an ATLAS clone, but AMD based instead of Intel based. I've followed Johnm's excellent tutorial on all of the little hacks and things necessary to get everything working, but I'm still getting purple screens. Here's my setup: unRAID 4.7 ESXi 5.1 Processor: AMD FX-8150 Mobo: AsRock 970 Extreme4 SATA controller: AOC-SASLP-MV8 (passed through to unRAID) NIC: 2-port Intel PCIe RAM: 2x8gb G-skill 1600 Ripjaws PSU: Corsair TX650v2 unRAID HDDs: 2 WD Greens (one is parity), 2 Hitachi Deskstar 7200rpms, 1 Samsung F4 ESXi HDD: 160gb Seagate drive for datastore (using mobo SATA) All works great if I boot directly into unRAID. (In fact, I'm really excited about the new Supermicro controller, I've never gotten parity speeds around 100MB/s before. They were around 50-60MB/s with onboard SATA.) The flash drive and hard drives are taken from my normal unRAID server. When I boot the unRAID VM under ESXi and try a parity check, it PSODs with less than 3% of the check complete. I've checked and re-checked settings (especially the MV8 hack), I've tried IDE and AHCI mode on the onboard SATA, still no luck. I'm going to try a clean install of ESXi with the onboard SATA on IDE mode, then on AHCI mode to see if that makes any difference. Any ideas? I've attached my syslog from unRAID if that helps (grabbed right after boot before it PSOD'd). Ignore the warnings about APCUPSd, the UPS serial isn't plugged in to the new server yet. Edit: I'm going to try unRAID 5. Small snag though, need to get rid of the HPA on one of my drives. I'll report back tomorrow after it's rebuilt. Stupid Gigabyte motherboard... syslog-2012-12-12.txt

A Corsair TX650 may be overkill for my needs, but it sure works great. Thanks for all the help!

Once you are booted and accessing the shares the flash drive is not involved AT ALL. It is very unlikely to be your problem. Your issue sounds a lot more like bad RAM, or a bad CPU heatsink or a bad power supply to me. I'd start with a memory test preferably overnight. Double check in the BIOS that the memory clock-speed, timings, and voltage are set correctly. Very often the BIOS gets it wrong if left to set those parameters automatically, especially on premium RAM. Joe L. Well thanks for that advice. I ran memtest for 24 hours without issue. However, I opened my case (with the power on), wiggled some cables, and found out that at least one of the wires coming from the power supply is bad (hard drive attached to it turned off/back on when I touched it). So my power supply is bad. This was the first inexpensive PSU I've ever bought, and I'll never buy a cheap one again. Now I'm off to go buy a nice Corsair or Seasonic single-rail PSU.

I think I found the problem. So I uncommented unMenu from my go file, and my array booted just fine. I could access the web GUI and shares for a few minutes. But then everything would freeze again. I decided to copy everything off of the flash drive, reformat, and copy it all back on. Copying files off of the flash drive went as expected, somewhere around 20-30 MB/s. Reformat took forever though, and files copied back on at around 300 KB/s. So I think my flash is getting close to the end of its life. How do I transfer a plus license from this flash drive to a new one?

I ran chkdsk first because it wouldn't hurt to run that anyway. No errors. I let memtest run for 3 hours (~10 passes). No errors. I'll let it run overnight just to be sure. It seems to freeze in exactly the same place every time, but once it did get farther. Still froze on downloading a file with something related to Perl though. From what I remember, I had installed unMenu and FEMUR. I don't think I had any other addons installed, though it's been a while since I configured this server. Is there a way to look at what addons I have installed? Alternatively, is there some sort of "safe mode" that I could use to disable all addons? Or an easy way to disable them? While browsing my flash, wouldn't you know it: I've got a syslog! This would be the syslog from when I moved to the new motherboard until now. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14888703/syslog-20110809-232553.txt

So I have a strange problem with my unRAID server. I noticed today that I was unable to access any of my shares, nor the web interface, nor telnet. I then went and connected a monitor and keyboard to my server and made sure it was connected properly (it had the correct IP address and could ping other computers). I was able to perform a safe shutdown (with the powerdown command), but upon reboot it gets stuck here: I apologize for the awful quality image, I couldn't find my real camera so I had to use my iPod Touch. I am using unRAID 4.6. I can't get access to the syslog unfortunately, unless it's stored on the flash somewhere. I haven't had any recent hardware changes, the most recent was about two months ago when I swapped motherboards so that I could use a smaller case - I moved from a full ATX to a microATX motherboard and case. I would say I was pretty much through the second test level from the hardware compatibility list: I had five drives (4 data 1 parity), had successfully completed a parity check initially, then at least one more (I try to run a parity check once a month). I certainly copied at least 10% of the data to/from the server. I don't believe that's the root of the problem though, as it ran fine for two months. I think I've posted everything about the problem that I can, but if I missed something please ask.

I know this topic is over a year old now, but I was wondering if you were planning on releasing a new version for Firefox 4? I have been using this plugin since its inception and I find it quite useful, but alas Firefox 4 doesn't like it.

Thanks for the quick and simple answer! I guess I'll be grabbing one of those serial headers. Edit: Grabbed one of those serial headers and set USE SERIAL PORT to YES. And that's all the configuration necessary. I like this new version of unmenu with built-in configuration options!

So I just bought this UPS (APC SN1000). It has a serial connection, and came with a USB-serial adapter bundled in the box. I've been trying to configure it with unmenu. (I'm using the USB-serial adapter bundled in the box) I just updated to the new version of unmenu (wow, look at all the new stuff! ), and tried setting the USE SERIAL PORT to YES instead of NO. Neither way worked. Therefore, my question is: is that USB-serial adapter provided in the box supported in unraid? If it is, how would I configure it? If not, would I be best to just get one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200515? (my motherboard has a serial header)

I know the Intel GigE adapter is compatible with unraid. IIRC it was also considered to be one of the best.

http://www.parts-express.com/projectshowcase/indexn.cfm?project=MagnaCumLaude

Unfortunately, with that Acer Aspire Easystore, if no one here has tried using it you'd have to buy it to see if unraid would work on it. How about this?: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=6482.0 $57 for motherboard, CPUs, and RAM. It's not fast, and it's not likely to be power-efficient, but it certainly is cheap. The Good Deals section is a good place to start.

I know the fan speed in my PSU is variable, and it mustn't be on high as I cannot hear it at all (I can see the fan spinning, so I know the fan didn't die ) So I'm probably fine then with PSU temperature? Sometime this summer I intend to do a couple of casemods to make things work better for unraid use. To-do list: Replace the side plexiglass piece that currently has a 120mm fan hole. I don't have a 120mm fan there, and I have nothing to cool in the PCI slot area, so it doesn't need air flowing in here. Build a 9-bay drive system for the front that will allow much easier access to the drives but be cooled with 120mm fans. The current drive cages work, but they're really a pain when it comes time to add/upgrade a drive... Restructure airflow somewhat to behave well with the 9-bay (probably 3 120mm fans) custom drive cage. I intend to try this with just the 200mm fan pulling air through the drives as was mentioned before, then if that isn't enough cooling I will work on another solution to balance intake/exhaust CFM. Try turning off the 120mm CPU fan. This should reduce noise a little, but my CPU should still run cool enough since I have such a large heatsink Buy all locking SATA cables. On a side note, I know most people have been reporting Samsung drives with abnormally low temperatures. I haven't found this to be the case with my new Samsung F3EG 2TB drive - it is always within a degree or two of my WD Green EARS 1.5TB. (and hooray I successfully upgraded my parity drive then upgraded one of the smaller drives in my array )

If you are somewhat handy, you could build your own rack. Parts Express sells rack rails in various lengths (go to their website and do a search for "rack rails"). I know Parts Express ships to Canada, but I do not know how much that would cost. Price without shipping on a 21U pair of rails is $28, so to get a 4-rail setup it would be $56 + shipping. If you DIY, you can make it whatever size fits your needs as well. An option to think about, as a rack technically is nothing more than a box with these rails on it - so construction would be relatively simple. If you want pre-made racks, I do not know of any places in Canada, and shipping from the US on a whole rack might cost a fortune.

There is nothing unscientific about it... I often check net case pressure with a punk or incense stick and just follow the smoke when placed near a case opening. Negative can be bad for the PSU temp, so be aware of it. Is there a way to monitor the PSU temp? All of the other system temps have various sensors attached to the motherboard, but does the PSU have a similar way of knowing its temperature? Also, if monitoring the PSU temp is in fact possible, do you know what is an acceptable temperature range? I have a Seasonic 80+ power supply that has a 120mm fan, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything (although since it's 80+ it should run cooler than a less-efficient supply). Its location in my Antec 900 basically is isolated from everything else in the case. I have the stock PCI slot covers that are mostly open, and since the PSU is right below these open covers, in all likelihood the PSU is drawing air from outside the case, through the PSU heatsinks, then back out the case. Is this an okay setup, or should I do something different to cool the PSU better?

Ambient is 20C. So the number of degrees these drives operate above ambient hasn't changed at all since the last test (parity check without A/C on a hot day). But since my ambient temperature is now 10C lower and will be constant, I'm not going to worry about these drives overheating. Even if I could decrease the difference between ambient and the drives' temperature, it wouldn't matter as these drives are operating in quite a safe temperature zone. I'm running a parity check right now (it's not really necessary, I just want to make sure everything is okay), and here are my current temps: Samsung F3EG 2TB: 26C (6C above ambient) Seagate 650GB IDE: 31C (11C above ambient) Western Digital EARS 1.5TB: 26C (6C above ambient) 6C above ambient for the two green drives and 11C above ambient for my hottest (7200rpm and about 3 years old) drive is still pretty good IMHO. I'm not sure how much room for improvement there is. Oh also, I know this isn't a very scientific method of testing, but I have negative case pressure: when I went to clean the dust off whilst putting in that new Samsung 2TB drive, the dust was on the outside of the few open grilles, indicating that air was flowing in wherever it had an opening.

Heh. Or I won't bother modifying anything now that our A/C got fixed. My new Samsung 2TB drive is running at 25C (parity), my Seagate 650gb IDE drive (usually the hottest drive) is running at 28C, and my WD EARS 1.5tb is running at 26C. (I upgraded my parity already to the Samsung 2tb, now unraid is rebuilding onto that EARS 1.5tb that was previously parity. All is going smoothly ) Sometime this summer I'll get a Plus license so I can use that 160gb drive as well. (I'm not in a rush, I just gained 1.34TB ) I'll post my temps in the morning when I run a parity check just to make sure that everything is peachy.

I don't believe unraid has support for fibre channel networks. Even if it did, you wouldn't see much speed benefit - unraid already doesn't even max out gigabit ethernet.

Sure it is. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001 My APC UPS also provides a Windows utility for measuring wattage. I should go measure how much power my unraid box is using. I remember it using around 80 watts before this box got repurposed to unraid. 80 watts * 24 hours * 365 days = 700.8 kWH. The average price per kilowatt-hour in the United States is $.12/kwh. Therefore, it costs me $84.10 per year to run my PC 24/7/365. That was when this box was equipped with an ATI Radeon 4670 and the Core 2 Duo was overclocked to 3.33ghz, running only one 650gb IDE hard drive, running Folding@Home on the GPU and CPU. Now, I don't have the Core 2 Duo overclocked, the Radeon 4670 isn't installed anymore, unraid uses much less CPU power than F@H, but I have a WD Green 1.5TB and a 160GB Seagate added. It'd be interesting to see how it compares.

I'll try that out! My CPU heatsink is a Xigmatek S1283 (read: huge), so I could probably turn its fan off and still get adequate cooling. (considering how non-taxing unraid is ) Hey, if it doesn't work, I can always turn the other fans back on.