redia

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Everything posted by redia

  1. Djboss, thanks for you answer, yeah I picked up the hooks. I was simply wondering if it could be done more automatically. bad habbits dies hard, I have a full process (with my own scripted part) which does already everything, but I used to run it on a workstation, and now I am considering moving all the processing part to my unraid which is (now) more powerfull.. I was just being lazy.. lol If you will conisder the second idea though my concept could make sense (depending on how you implement it) : imagine having multiple conversion preset (linked to independent folders), it would be amazing to have the file renamed based on the name of the preset, thus granting us clear vision on what is happening. anyway, I have been playing around with your docker over the week end and it has yet to fail me ,so again thank you Cheers, R
  2. first of all thanks for this docker, I really like it. The GUI works flawlessly and I use it when I want to tune something specific.. for the automated part I am only missing one thing, but maybe I am the one doing something wrong. I would love the result file to be renamed upon completion. in the remaining part of my process I use a flag to process the files and I would love to avoid having to go and manually add it. it would be something pretty simple abce.2x10.fghij.mkv ---> abce .2x10.fghij (flag).mkv in fact an exceptional added feature would be to have multiple watch folders, allowing us to have a specific preset/config applied per folder (for example I require less quality for some show than some action movies) but seriously thank you for your work. Cheers, R
  3. dgaschk, thanks. I will keep that in mind. R
  4. Joe L. thanks for taking the time to answer. I am aware of the reasons that could lead to a disk_dsbl red ball. that's why I am not worried. unfortunately I could not provide a smartctl prior rebooting because it would simply fail and I was too stupid to think of saving my syslog (( I am running 4.7 the hardware is pretty common for an unraid build norco 4224 supermicro sil8f 2 mv8 with a few wd20ears for data, 1x2GB seagate for parity, and a 500GB seagate for cache. nothing much running on my 4.7 except unmenu. I was wondering whether I should RMA the disk or not. I know the procedure to replace the disk (which I already did) and my array will be fine. fortunately I had run a parity check a couple of days ago so my data can be considered as safe/valid (discussion on this type of statement have been ongoing ) I was sharing my report hoping it would raise an obvious reason to the failure so I could RMA the disk. but from your answer I guess that I will have to be more patient on that. I guess (if you or someone else does not advise me otherwise) that I will preclear it and add it to my array. I will then watch it for futur failure. thank you again for your time, it is highly appreciated. Cheers, R
  5. hello everyone. I am having a problem with one of my drive. I have a spare drive to replace it. but before unplugging it I managed to run a smartcrl report. one detail that might be of use. I had to reboot my unraid before I could run the report. I would really appreciate if someone could comment on the results. Thanks for your help R smartresults.txt
  6. Tyrindor, if you want to go cheap take a look at http://wiki.eth-0.nl/index.php/LackRack it is an ikea hack... I have my doubt about have two 4224.. but it might give you some ideas. R
  7. just a quick feedback. I ordered 3 cards to be shipped to France. just received them thank you Seanant...
  8. spl147, I am really interested in getting a couple of m1015 once question though, do you agree in shipping to europe ? France to be more specifically. if the answer is yes could you give me a heads up on the shipping price ? thanks in advance, R
  9. why does no one offer this kind of card in EU ?? I think I am going to cry R
  10. 100% agreed. unfortunately with the 5.0 being just released I am pretty sure people will forget about that. anyhow I will simply test on a w2k8r2 just to educate myself.. and I will share the results with you R
  11. Johnm, I should have a little bit of available time next week. do you want me to test the export from 4.1 restore to 5.0 ? I would be more than happy to help if it can save you some work.. this way you can focus on documenting the backup/restore procedure. without worrying about compatibility. name the type of VM you want to test... I could also look into the inventory restore (which I could document) some people may feel safer to have their config backed up even though I do not feel it is necessary in a 1 server config.. Cheers, R
  12. pantner, I cannot talk for Johnm, and as a matter of fact I would love to read his answer on that. but if this can help... you are totally right there is no visible backup process on the ESX itself. I am going to widen the subject and bring a few things I can think of on the table. I believe backing up the datastore as an entity would not make sense as per say because quite a few files are useless and would not need backup (namely all the swap files) Backing up the ESX installation. could make sense, although you have to keep in mind that a clean esx installation takes only a few seconds, specially in our scenarios were we are not building very complex system... it would only be a matter of reconnecting the drives with the datastore after the install (remember Johnm's comment on unplugging all the drives before installing ESX) and then add the VMs from the datastore to the inventory if your setup is more complex you can look into a vmware fling called inventory snapshot... http://labs.vmware.com/flings/inventorysnapshot.. it works pretty well. for VMs backup many options are available, but you first have to define what and how you want to backup things. 1. full machine backup -- it means you would backup all the disk (system + data) -- solutions like that goes two ways : ----- a. snapshot / backup vmdk files ----- b. turn off the machine / backup vmdk files ---------if you are a free tool user and do not mind doing some reading look for ghettovcb ---------it is a script which is being worked on by the vmware community for nearly three years.. but you have to be able to handle a few command lines... (http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8760) -- one thing is important : some services/application do not support snapshot.. this option can work as a miracle, but make sure you test it first 2. data only -- you can then rely on any backup system Cheers, R
  13. As promised a little while back. really sorry for the delay... I am really bad at documentation / layout... so feel free to take my procedure and reformat it. This is a very quick procedure to update your ESX(i) installation. [glow=yellow,2,300] be careful : - during the installation the server will be switched to maintenance mode - after the installation the machine will need to be rebooted this means that all your machine must be off before applying the patches. (or moved to another host if you have a cluster) not following this basic rule might lead to unwanted results.[/glow] preparation phase : 1. if not done yet install vSphere remote command line (aka as vSphere cli) - do not confuse it with the powercli - browse to : http:\\esx_ip - on the right side under For Administrators download windows version. - install it. 2. download the packages you want to install - from VMWARE .... go to http://www.vmware.com/patchmgr/download.portal .... select the ESX or ESXi version you want to update. (make sure you are downloading the correct version.. I spent 2 days wondering why packages were not applied because I downloaded the ESX version instead of the ESXi !!!) .... save the package on your HD - from any other provider .... any other zip package provided to you can be installed this way. .... if you have a doubt simply open the zip file... if it contains a .vib file + a metadata.zip you are fine. 3. run the cli and set a couple of variables - run the cli from your start menu. - a the command prompt enter all this (hint : copy paste does work in the cli) . . obviously you need to edit and enter the the information related to your system... . . be careful with the IP.. you do not want to mess with the wrong ESX host. . . I advise you to have a simple path... with no space or any special character..(i.e. d:\downloads\patches_ESX) set VI_SERVER=esx_ip set VI_USERNAME=root set VI_PASSWORD=password set VI_PATCH_PATH=path_were_the_patches_are_saved 4. Check the connectivity and the variables . before going further I like to run this command to check if the values I entered are right - in the cli enter : vicfg-hostops.pl --operation info . check the results... and if you are happy move on. otherwise check the variables [glow=red,2,300]WARNING WARNING WARNING You should shutdown all your VMs before proceeding to the next step WARNING WARNING WARNING [/glow] 5. entering the maintenance mode - in the cli enter : vicfg-hostops.pl --operation enter . you should get a success message 6. the update itself - in the cli enter : vihostupdate.pl -i -b %VI_PATCH_PATH%\patchfilename.zip . the update is applied . at the time of the writing the latest patch for ESXi 4.1 is : update-from-esxi4.1-4.1_update02.zip (aka build 502767) . the cli line would then be : vihostupdate.pl -i -b %VI_PATCH_PATH%\update-from-esxi4.1-4.1_update02.zip - you can chain the updates - if you have multiple updates you can put them all in the patch folder and run this command in the cli : . .... for /f %f in ('dir /b /ogen %VI_PATCH_PATH%\*.zip') do vihostupdate.pl -i -b %VI_PATCH_PATH%\%f 7. reboot the ESX host - in the cli enter : vicfg-hostops.pl --operation reboot 8. after the reboot you need to exit the maintenance mode prior to starting any VM - if your cli is still open simply run : vicfg-hostops.pl --operation exit - otherwise in the vSphere client right-click on the host / exit maintenance mode that's it you are done with the update. I hope this helps someone, Cheers, R
  14. about update. I wrote a quick esx setup (NTP) and update (patches) running only through the cli, so it is pretty simple. do you want me to post it here so you can include it ? Cheers, R anything that you feel that can help others. even I come back to the build notes when I forget something ok.. I did not want to hijack your topic. I will setup a clean computer and another esx and will come up with some upgrade path for the esx by monday. I will try to make as many screenshot as possible. Cheers, R
  15. about update. I wrote a quick esx setup (NTP) and update (patches) running only through the cli, so it is pretty simple. do you want me to post it here so you can include it ? Cheers, R
  16. as I mentioned in my previous post I got 4.7 to work.. I have no clue what happened and I was in a hurry so I forgot to keep a syslog... duh !! I have been following each beta, and there are pros and cons to all of them that's why I asked you.. but as 4.7 works.. I will patiently wait you are right I am currently using 2 mv8.. but I am thinking of getting a RES2SV240/2x M1015 combo to get 24 drives on passthrough, while I will keep the motherboard ports for other use... [even though I would like to see if I can dedicate a few port as passthrough... I will see if I can manage that without crashing my esx... if it happens, I don't care as I am running it from an USB key, so it is easy to revert ] I need two more cards for another machine.. so I can use my mv8 there as I won't be going esx there (no VT-d on the processor there) currently I am doing my test on a workstation were I am passing a sil3231. lol Cheers, R
  17. edit . please ignore this.. I formatted my 4.7 flashdrive.. re-created it... and now it works... beats me Johnm, ok I am going to sound like an idiot.... or an ignorant. I am starting my tests (for now using plop) when I use a 4.7 key.. and although it boots perfectly, I do not get any network. if I switch to beta5... works like a charm. I had the feeling that it should work with 4.7... so two things : 1. I once again was wrong... it does not work with 4.7 2. I am having a problem my bets are on 1... but once again I am turning towards you. Cheers, R ps : and the million dollar question. which beta do you consider being the more stable ?
  18. Johnm, thanks for your answer. I do understand your rationals and they make total sense. In case of a crash it is true that having the usb key available makes it easy. but how hard would it be to have an export of the vmdk whenever a modification is applied. this way it would be easy to rebuild the key in no time in case of a crash for the test purpose you are 100% right, plop is so much easier. I wish vmware would go a step further and allow us to boot on usb.. one thing that is keeping me away from plop is really not only the speed.. I also noticed that sometimes it would not pick my usb key no matter how long of a delay I would give it. once again your comments and experience are highly appreciated. Cheers, R
  19. Johnm, about your setup. I finally got around and am able to do some more testing before re-deploying my main unraid server. I was wondering instead of using plop why don't you install unraid on a hardrive, or even a vmdk. (http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=15417.0 or http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3846.0). wouldn't it make our life easier ? I tested plop a while back for another application... and booting was so ridiculously slow that I gave up. I do not know about the new version, so this is only a question. R
  20. ProfQ , thanks for such a clear and detailed report. I have a couple of ssh waiting for installation. having this will give me good direction for implementation. Cheers, R
  21. sorry for the late reaction/response.. for the people who doubted it. I just plugged a xeon in my box.. and as planned passthrough is now working like a charm... I hope this will save some trouble to some of you. Johnm, maybe you could add a line in the first page of your topic... all up to you.. Cheers, R
  22. Johnm & all, sometimes the simplest explanation is the good one. intel core i3 340 does not support vt-d.... I have to change my proc if I want to run passthrough. I have one x3470 ordered as I planned to upgrade my proc (going to build another unraid which does not need to be running esx anyway) I will let you know as soon as I receive it. Cheers, R
  23. you might have to enable VT-D on in the bios. It is usually disabled by default. Johnm, do you realize I am going to end up either hating you or marrying you !! lol being a dude, I guess I have no choice but to hate you ! I had indeed the vt disabled (I love ipmi, I could check it from home)... I had setup the bios correctly on the computer that I used to prepare the key... not on the one I actually tested them.. duh !!!!! unfortunately the key connected is the vmware so I will have to wait until tomorrow to see if it does work how many time will I have to thank you ? Cheers, R
  24. Johnm, I will follow your lead on the usb. been messing around this afternoon with a couple of usb key (4.1 & 5.0) just to see how it works. you are absolutely right. now I have to see for the MV8... I did not have time to look into that, but they do not appear in the configuration/storage adapter... I had to run before I could check the pass-through I will try to see if I find anything about the m1015 running on unraid 4.7. I would rather keep it on 4.x until final 5 is out. Cheers, R
  25. Why not? That was the intention. Just like unRAID, it's read into memory at boottime and that's it.... no frequrnt updates unless you make a lot of config changes! Jimwhite, thanks for your comment. I am testing this fact. but I believe you and Johnm are right.. I don't know why I had a misconception that there was some writing on the esx partition for memory management. but obviously and from all the reading I am doing I was wrong I found some details on the partitions (therefor the minimum size for the key) for esx 4 (http://www.vcritical.com/2009/08/if-vmware-esxi-4-is-so-small-why-is-it-so-big/) but not yet for 5.0 I compared it to the footprint I had for a 4.1 and it is pretty similar. I will see if I can quickly test a 5.0... Cheers, R