timg11

I have read the section on Storage Management. I'm still not clear on how I would set up two SSD nvme drives as a mirrored cache / pool. ( cache = pool? or not?) Once mirrored the two SSDs act as one drive. How do I partition that as as primary drives for Windows and Linux VMs? Is there any further documentation on that?

I'm building an UnRaid system on a Dell T440, with an array of 5 12G LFF drives for 48G total bulk storage, and two Nvme drives of 512GB each. Unraid will host a Windows VM and a Linux VM. I was initially thinking one SSD would be dedicated as the boot drive for the Windows VM, and the other for the Linux VM. As I read the manual, I'm now thinking that the nvme should be used as cache - "Virtual machines will perform best when their primary vDisk is stored on a cache-only share" and "By default, Unraid will create two user shares for use with virtualization on Unraid. One share to store your installation media files (ISOs) and another to store your virtual machines themselves (domains). If you don't already have a share you use for backups, you might consider adding one as well to use for backing up your virtual machines." So UnRaid will create two shares for each VM. The primary vDisk should be configured as cache-only, which will force them to reside on the SSDs which are defined as cache. But the SSDs won't benefit from parity protection (although less likely to fail, still possible). So I will also create another share in the main LFF array and use it to back up the VM primary disks. Correct?

OK, that is certainly unusual, and maybe a bit risky but hopefully manageable. I read the article on the drives and saw the video. I'll acquire the Samsung Bar Plus. I will plug it into a 6" USB Extender to reduce the risk of it getting snapped off since it will be left plugged into the server.

One more question - what about multi-monitor? Can two video outputs and monitors be virtualized? The Windows system I'm virtualizing has two monitors with extend Desktop.

I keep reading that UnRaid boots off a USB flash drive. That is fine for an initial installation or recovery, but doesn't seem ideal for long-term use. Can I create a partition on an nvme drive for UnRaid to boot from on an ongoing basis (hopefully not to often

I've been reading this article to learn about hosting VMs in UnRaid. I'm familiar with virtualizing Windows and Linux in a host OS using a platform such as VirtualBox. When starting a VM, the display appears in a window as part of the host OS desktop. Does UnRaid work the same way? When I start Windows Server and Debian VMs in UnRaid, will I see those as windows in the UnRaid environment?

Thanks! I will look at those videos. If I wanted traditional RAID with hotswap, could I use a Dell PERC RAID controller with 5 drives and still use UnRaid for managing the NAS and two VMs?

I'm planning a server that will run UnRaid as a NAS providing a shared file system to Windows Server and Debian Linux VMs. I want the file system (user shares) from the parity-protected array to be available to the Linux and Windows VMs, as well as to other users over the LAN. From this documentation--- Assuming I create the "public bridge" for the two VMs, then I would see the Windows server at it's own IP, as well as the Linux server at its own IP, in addition to the IP of UnRaid's file system. So from another system on the network, I could see these hosts: 192.168.1.1 UnRaid NAS with hostname fileserver \\fileserver\share1, \\fileserver\share2, etc 192.168.1.2 Windows Server VM - Used to access windows server with Remote Desktop, etc. 192.168.1.3 Linux Server VM - Used to access Linux server with VNC etc. The Windows and Linux can mount shares just like any other device, at \\fileserver\share1, \\fileserver\share2, etc. Windows and Linux boot off of a separate SSD drive (or 2 drives) that are their configured a cache-only share - not part of the large Parity-protected array (built with rotating drives). These drives would not be shared on the network. So in terms of drives, the UnRaid system would have: USB Boot Drive for UnRaid itself NVme SSDs for VM boot drives (cache only) (Question - do these need redundancy too? A total of 4, two each for each VM, or two SSD total, each with two partitions, one partiion for each VM)? Parity-protected array (5 or 6 large drives for NAS)

@ChatNoir I'm using the explanations for RAID5 and RAID6 from Wikipedia - " block-level striping with (single or double) distributed parity" I want to have 5 or 6 16 TB drives that will give me 64 T of total storage with fault tolerance. The ability to have one drive fail, hot-swap replace it, and have the array rebuild itself. I have read that I should use an HBA controller to make this work with UnRaid. Is that type of fault tolerance and redundancy not possible with UnRaid?

I'm planning a server based on the Dell T440, with two CPUs. This a home/lab environment, not enterprise. I want to have two VMs - one Windows Server and one Debian Linux. I want UnRAID to manage a RAID5 array with drives to provide storage for both Windows and Linux. I received one suggestion - "you would want to utilize an HBA controller instead of a traditional hardware RAID array as that standard controller would not be able to run UnRAID" This post a few years ago suggested LSI. Is that still the best option? I think the T440 by default has the Dell PERC H730P Adapter. Given two identical processors installed in the T440, Is there any special consideration for memory? I understand the RAM can be dynamically allocated between processors so I'd probably start with two 16G DIMMs per processor for a total of 64G. I'll see how that goes and upgrade to more RAM if necessary. Are there any other considerations for UnRaid use of a two processor server?

As I've looked further, it does appear that Unraid could be the hypervisor, and could support a Windows VM and a Linux VM. Can you point me to a walk-through on how I would set that up so each VM could simultaneously mount and access the RAID array?

I'm new to Unraid. I'm designing a server to run Windows Server and Debian Linux in VMs. I want to create a RAID5 array and have the file system available to both OSs . I want everything to run on one server hardware system. I'm looking at using Proxmox as the hypervisor. If I have a VM for Windows Server, a VM for Debian Linux, under Proxmox, would I also add another VM for Unraid and they would all be peers? Or, would Unraid serve as the hypervisor, replacing Proxmox entirely? Then I would create the Windows and Linux VMs in Unraid, and they would both be able to mount the RAID filesystem?