Trying to find out a list of supported hardware before buying the Pro license.

[AllGamer]

As most here I'm an IT guy running my own home lab, to stay up to date with the latest stuff.

 

I'm currently running ESXi 6.x and realized VMware is dropping support on ESX 7.x for my maxed out ThinkServer with 192 GB RAM, Dual Xeon, Redundant power supply, and hotswapable hardware RAID.

 

Part of the reason I was considering upgrading to ESXi 7.x was to run Win11 with proper emulation support, as in not using the registry hack to bypass the TPM2 check. Even with the registry hack to install Win11 on ESX 6.x it still gives trouble.

Other than the hard drives becoming old and running out of space with 8TB, everything else is running great and fast on that server.

 

So I started looking for alternatives to VMware ESXi and was also pondering if Unraid has emulation for TPM2, to run Win11 Pro without using the registry bypass key hack.

 

Another thing I was unable to find, is if Uraid is compatible with the LSI 9240/9260/9270/9280/9286 series RAID controller to manage RAID configuration and get the alerts when the disks are failing.

Or perhaps Unraid will simply bypass the MegaRAID BIOS altogether and just see the drives independently, then use Unraid to create a RAID volume?

Edited November 17, 2022 by AllGamer

[Hoopster]

1 hour ago, AllGamer said:

Another thing I was unable to find, is if Uraid is compatible with the LSI 9240/9260/9270/9280/9286 series RAID controller to manage RAID configuration and get the alerts when the disks are failing.

Or perhaps Unraid will simply bypass the MegaRAID BIOS altogether and just see the drives independently, then use Unraid to create a RAID volume?

unRAID (as the name suggests) does not support RAID for data array disks.  It provides protection against failed drive(s) via a single or dual parity drive implementation.  Pools (different than the data array) do support some RAID configurations and it is possible for a pool of one or more disks to be designated as "cache only" which means the data only lives in the cache pool.  Write caching is one potential use for a pool so that terminology lives on.

 

Setting up unRAID does require at least one drive assigned to an array slot, but that could be anything and, technically does not even have to be used for data storage.

 

unRAID does not support RAID controllers.  It can utilize SATA/SAS controllers in IT mode and many LSI, and clones, cards can be flashed with IT firmware even if they were designed as RAID controllers.  In fact, I have a Dell H310 (LSI 9211 clone) flashed to IT mode in my unRAID server.

 

Here is a discussion of recommended disk controllers for use with unRAID.

 

unRAID disks each have an independent file system and need to be seen as individual disks.  This makes it possible to read any unRAID data array disk independently outside the array if that becomes necessary.  Supported files systems are XFS and BTRFS with a ZFS plugin.  ZFS eventually will be supported natively.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Hoopster

[tjb_altf4]

2 hours ago, AllGamer said:

Part of the reason I was considering upgrading to ESXi 7.x was to run Win11 with proper emulation support, as in not using the registry hack to bypass the TPM2 check. Even with the registry hack to install Win11 on ESX 6.x it still gives trouble.

TPM support was added to allow Win11 VM support in Unraid version 6.10, you just need to choose the bios for the VM with TPM support (OVMF TPM).

 

Also know the trial version of Unraid is fully unlocked, but time limited, so you can test your hardware and the Unraid OS out before committing to a license.