adminmat

Thank you @ecuster and @StevenD, this is invaluable help. Agreed, it does not make sense to run any VMs in unRAID if I can in ESXi. StevenD, is there a specific method you use to boot from ESXi or unRAID or do you just choose this in the BIOS / IPMI when the time comes? Amazing news on the VM Tools and thanks for the info on 6.6.7 🙏 One more thought: I've noticed that VMware management doesn't accurately show the memory usage for a VM. How do you guys best manage memory usage/allocation? By tracking the memory levels from within each VM and adjusting/reallocating accordingly?

Reaching out to those with experience for clarification for this new build. Tagging a few of the pros here: @doron, @uldise, @ptmuldoon, @StevenD🙏🙏 I have a couple other low power servers running services on ESXi. I like the idea of keeping them all under one management application while stretching the resources of this new build. Or is it best for this noob to place unRAID on bare metal and learn it first. (note: i have not run unRAID before) Hardware of new server: Supermicro X10SRM-TF (bifurcation ✔️) E5-2690 V3 32GB RAM (soon to be 128GB) 2 x 1TB m.2 NVME SSD on PCIe adapter AOC-SLG3-2M2 3 x 8TB WD HDD via LSI SAS9200-8e-HP in external iStarUSA boxes (room for EVGA GT710 GPU - not sure why I have this🤷🏽‍♂️ Questions: 1 - Are there performance impacts doing this, if so what? 2 - Is there a trick to setting up shares in ESXi for the unRAID disks? 3 - Is it difficult to migrate to a bare metal unRAID instance from unRAID on ESXi? (ya know... after the panic sets in) 4 - Are there issues with GPU pass-through when unRAID is on ESXi? 5 - Are there other pass-through issues? 6 - Is there a version of Open-VMware-Tools for the latest version of unRAID 6.7.2? 7 - Are the custom Open-VMware-Tools available in the Community Applications? 8 - Do I just use two separate, physical USB drives for boot? One for ESXi and second passed through to unRAID (PlopKExec)? 9 - Does running on ESXi make managing IOMMU groups any different than unRAID on bare metal? (this part scares me) 10 - Is viewing and managing VMs on unRAID as easy as using VM Remote Client (VMRC) and VMware vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA)? 11 - Anything I'm missing? (bonus question😉) if this is a go I'll probably purchase a VMUG license. thank you 🙏

ok, dumb question here. With my Supermicro X10SRM-TF that's on the way with a E5-2690 v3 that I'll potentially get... How do I access the BIOS menu etc with no graphics card? Or do I need a graphics card to run it? Or do I attach a monitor to the VGA? If so can I install unRAID using the VGA output? Sorry again. I only have experience with "Gaming" motherboards 😥

Got it. As long as it works I guess the error message doesn't matter. I assume you are using other VMs in ESXi or why not just run unRAID on bare metal?

Ok Well this looks interesting. Too bad it's not available anywhere: https://www.newegg.com/asrock-rack-x399d8a-2t-supports-amd-ryzen-threadripper-processors/p/N82E16813140037 Threadripper board with all the goodies. May have to upgrade when it's released.

Why is it not a good idea? Because the setup is difficult? I'm really curious if you run into issues with IOMMU and hardware passthrough while using EXSi with unRAID. What are you experiences?

Thanks for the detailed info. I had looked at Ryzen and Threadripper but it seemed there were issues with Linux and hardware passthrough? With recent BIOS updates. But wow, you really get a lot of power in that package. The 1950X @ 3.4 GHz and a 21830 passmark. The Xeon i'm looking at same cost used with less cores and lower clock. Am I overreacting to the issues I hear about Ryzen and unRAID? So about 10 mins ago (LOL) I ordered a SuperMicro X10SRM-TF. This is single CPU, Micro-ATX (2011-v3) mobo with 2 x 10 GbE ports and IPMI. Lots of room for expansion. Got it with 32GB ram for ~$350. Still need a CPU. I do like how friendly the intel boards are with vurtualizing etc. I think this will be a good start then I can add as I figure out what I'm missing. Thanks for the history lesson. This year I bought my dad an M.2 NVME SSD and a PCIe card for his older IBM workstation (Loyalist... he worked for IBM for 35 years). He was quite impressed with the speed increase. I think he was using HDDs.

@testdasi Hello and thanks for the response. Question specific to Plex and transcoding. I have very limited knowledge on the subject but should I assume that if I'm using a graphics card such as a GTX 1050ti or a P2000 the CPU is relieved of the workload? I'm considering a 2 x E5-2680 v3 which should give a total of 24 physical cores, passmark around 36000 albeit a clock speed of 2.5 GHz. I think it will give me some room for "growth" unless i'm missing a limitation of this system. I already have a dedicated i7-8700k gaming PC with a 1080Ti so I wont use the new system for games. I may run ESXi on this new build and run unRAID as a VM. Is that currently stable? Yes, I wish I could provide more info on what dockers and VM's i'm going to run but I'm just getting into this. I do run ESXi on my little Dell 9020m with Ubuntu and Unifi Video. Works well but is using 6GB RAM. I have to figure that out. Another question: What is the Cache unit you have listed in your signature? Is it like an NVME drive?

Thanks @ashman70 for the response. I'm generally hearing the same thing. I'll add a GPU for any Plex work. Now when you say cores, are you referring to physical cores? Or does the threading help with this? So the 14 core E5-2683 v3 will have 24 cores to distribute?

I'm trying to narrow down my CPU search. I'll probably run a bunch of Dockers. Don't know if I'll get into Plex yet but probably only have 3 users ever. What's more important for Dockers & VMs? Number of Cores /Threads or overall speed? Comparing these: E5-2683 v3 = 17369 passmark 14 cores E5-2690 v3 = 18487 passmark but has 12 cores Ryzen 7 3700X = 23879 passmark but has 8 cores

I've read about the 1 meter limit for SATA data cables. But if I use a 2 meter SAS cable from my server to case, then .5 meter SAS to SATA breakout cables do you still think I might risk losing signal? I could just add the another SAS expander in the DAS enclosure and power it with one of these but don't you think that's an overkill?

Hello, this is my first post. Please excuse me if it's not the appropriate forum. I'm putting a couple HDD JBOD enclosures in my DIY cabinet rack. I'm a little confused as of how to best connect the JBOD to the server which will set a few feet away. Here's a pic of the mini server cabinet. I've will use (2) 4-bay iStarUSA Trayless HDD Hot-swap Racks. The server is Micro-ATX in a small case, running UnRaid, set next to this cabinet. The cable will have to run 4 feet from server to JBODs. So I was thinking of this method (in order from Server PC --> the iStar enclosure SATA ports): Method 1: an LSI 9200-8e 6Gbps in the server 8 lane PCIe slot --> (2) SFF-8088 cables running --> an SFF-8087 to External 8088 mini adapter --> SFF-8087 to SATA 3 breakout cables --> the (8) SATA ports on the JBOD boxes. Does this make sense? Also, I'm a little confused on how best to power the iStar JBOD enclosures. They have a built-in fan controller and LED control already. They just need 2 SATA power runs per box (total of 4 SATA ports to power) Is there any way to run power from my server PC? or must I add a PSU at the JBOD enclosures? If so how do I power it on and off?