ATLAS My Virtualized unRAID server

[c3]

 

My two biggest problems was i somehow managed to fill one SSD with hidden files.. i had to  shove it into a windows box and clean it. then try the migration again.

 

The other issues was that all of my old VDMK's were thin provisioned. when I moved them, they converted to thick and filled up my SSD's. Now i have to do some moving to get it all balanced.

 

The RAM however was transparent.  I just stuck it in and it saw 32GiB.

I also noticed that after i did that, my VM consoles got faster. they used to lag bad under 7 or 2008.

I hardly ever use that feature due to lag. I tend to use RDP.

 

I really should have just formatted my ESXi flashdrive and started all over. deleting and migrating a few  VM's if fine.  but 25+ VM's is a pain. At least all of these SSD's are fast.

 

 

 

vmkfstools –i disk0.vmdk –d thin disk0-thin.vmdk

 

[dikkiedirk]

Thank you for this thread Johnme and all others who contributed. 

 

Followed your guide on ESXI and all went smooth. To make it even easier you could include the guide for making a vmdk of the usb stick and a link to vmtools, first thing I did and made everything very easy.

 

Im currently rocking this hardware:

Supermicro motherboard X9SCM-F

Intel Xeon Quad-Core E3-1240 3.3GHz 8MB, 80W, LGA1155

SM 8GB DDR3 1333MHz ECC/Unbuffered (MEM-DR380L-SL01-EU13)

IBM ServeRAID M1015 LSI9220-8i 46M0861 (IT Mode)

 

So Im running 3 VMs, UNRaid, WinXP and a 2008 Server.

How would you or anyone else recommend the resource allocation?

Sorry Im new to ESXI.

 

/Robert

 

Hi Robert,

 

I'm planing on going the same route.

Do you currently run only one 8 GB stick? Is this also rebranded Samsung memory?

[dikkiedirk]

Hi John,

 

Do ESXi and unraid both boot from a memory stick? Will I be able to transfer my current unraid setup to ESXi?

 

Are there less pricy alternatives to the SSDs you mention, also with this garbage collection feature?

[BetaQuasi]

Hi John,

 

Do ESXi and unraid both boot from a memory stick? Will I be able to transfer my current unraid setup to ESXi?

 

Yes and Yes.

 

Are there less pricy alternatives to the SSDs you mention, also with this garbage collection feature?

 

There are only a couple of vendors with SSD's based on the Marvell chipset - Corsair is one, Plextor is another.  Both are almost identical pricewise - the Corsair has the edge in the independant tests.  Some of the cheaper alternatives have garbage collection (Corsair Force 3 for example) but it is pretty average and nowhere near as good as a Marvell-based SSD or an OS that supports TRIM.

[dikkiedirk]

John,

 

Is this the right memory:

 

http://www.ebay.nl/itm/SAMSUNG-8GB-2RX4-PC3-10600R-REGISTERED-ECC-DDR3-1333-M393B1K70CH0-CH9Q4-/190669021781?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c64c26255

NO.

 

That is registered memory. that will not work.

 

There seems a preference for Samsung, but what about this:

 

http://www.takeitnow.nl/product/6531397

 

or

 

http://www.takeitnow.nl/product/3197871/?c_id=1042&utm_source=m4n&s2m_indirect=1

 

or

 

http://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_nkw=M391B1G73AH0-CH9+&_trksid=p5197.c0.m627

[Johnm]

Hi John,

 

Do ESXi and unraid both boot from a memory stick? Will I be able to transfer my current unraid setup to ESXi?

 

Are there less pricy alternatives to the SSDs you mention, also with this garbage collection feature?

 

Yes, you can even boot from your unraid flash instead of ESXi and it should work if you wish to bypass esxi for testing.

unraid is pretty forgiving when it comes to moving it.

 

 

 

You do not need SSD's. you can use spinners.

SSD's will always get better and cheaper over time.

 

[Johnm]

 

 

There seems a preference for Samsung, but what about this:

 

It is a little early in the am right now (still waiting for the coffee to brew).

The Samsung is what is being made for OEM's like Dell and HP. but hynix is making some and so is Kingston. it should be getting easier to find. It should also be dropping in price soon.

it all has lifetime warranties.

I would not say one is better then the other... I usually get Kingston. this time around, I got Samsung.

Just make sure it matches the Specs.

[dikkiedirk]

 

 

There seems a preference for Samsung, but what about this:

 

It is a little early in the am right now (still waiting for the coffee to brew).

The Samsung is what is being made for OEM's like Dell and HP. but hynix is making some and so is Kingston. it should be getting easier to find. It should also be dropping in price soon.

it all has lifetime warranties.

I would not say one is better then the other... I usually get Kingston. this time around, I got Samsung.

Just make sure it matches the Specs.

 

The 8 GB modules are still pretty pricey here:

 

http://www.memoryc.com/search.html?q=KVR1333D3E9SK2&x=17&y=8

 

I think the 16 GB is a kit of 2 8GB modules and the 8 GB is a kit of 2 4GB modules. I hope these are the right ones.

 

Do I need 8 or 16 GB or 32 GB. I might be running Unraid, WHS, and a separate SABNZB downloadstation. This may grow, but then I might get me a RPC-4224 first.

 

[Wimpie]

You could try:

 

http://simmcity.nl/nl/ddr3-1333mhz-registered-ecc/2114-kvr1333d3e9sk2-16g-0740617197488.html      € 204.79

 

or

 

http://www.zercom.nl/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=184000    € 232.7

 

 

 

[dikkiedirk]

Thanks Wimpie (Dutch I presume). But I don't like to buy from companies who don't have stuff stocked. And Zercom is a different (bad experience) story. Simmcity has that memory listed as REGISTERED, don't know if that is right.

[Wimpie]

Thanks Wimpie (Dutch I presume). But I don't like to buy from companies who don't have stuff stocked. And Zercom is a different (bad experience) story. Simmcity has that memory listed as REGISTERED, don't know if that is right.

 

From Vlaanderen.

 

At "meer informatie", the X9SCM is listed as compatible. Just e-mail them, I had a good experience with them.

 

Zercom is just a box handler (dozenschuiver), they are not bad if you keep this in mind (did a RMA and other things with them, also ok experience (for me)).

 

[dikkiedirk]

I might opt for 1 8GB if possible stick, and wait till prices drop. Do you own a X9SCM too? What is your experience? Also running ESXi with Unraid?

[Wimpie]

I might opt for 1 8GB if possible stick, and wait till prices drop. Do you own a X9SCM too? What is your experience? Also running ESXi with Unraid?

 

I have more or less the "default" Johnm setup, just no sas expander, but 3 M1015's (bought at ebay). It runs only unraid (v5.0b12a) at the moment, the hardware is rock stable, unraid sometimes does a time-out when copying to an almost full disc (no harm done, just need to restart the copy). Other than that I have no problems.

 

I intend to install ESXi, but I need to find some time to work on it.

 

[dikkiedirk]

I might opt for 1 8GB if possible stick, and wait till prices drop. Do you own a X9SCM too? What is your experience? Also running ESXi with Unraid?

 

I have more or less the "default" Johnm setup, just no sas expander, but 3 M1015's (bought at ebay). It runs only unraid (v5.0b12a) at the moment, the hardware is rock stable, unraid sometimes does a time-out when copying to an almost full disc (no harm done, just need to restart the copy). Other than that I have no problems.

 

I intend to install ESXi, but I need to find some time to work on it.

 

Did those M1015 come with PCI brackets? I need a couple of Full Height brackets. Do you know where to get them from?

[Johnm]

 

Do I need 8 or 16 GB or 32 GB. I might be running Unraid, WHS, and a separate SABNZB downloadstation. This may grow, but then I might get me a RPC-4224 first.

 

You could probably get away with 8GB, but 16 would be better.  the biggest bottlenecks in ESXi are Datastore IO and RAM.

32GB is honestly a bit to expensive for the average person right now.

[Johnm]

FAIL

 

Scratch that... EPIC FAIL!

 

FAIL 1: yesterday one of my datastore Spinners went offline... not a huge problem. No clue why.. But,  I had to reboot. It came back up from reboot.. ~whew~ that is the one drive I could loose, but would like to keep it if i can.

 

The next.. FAIL2.. unRAID said no parity drive installed!!

What the heck... A 2 week old Hitachi 7200 3TB drive is a victim of click death...

Whatever... I had 3 new Seagate 7200 3TB drives I just precleared..

 

Epic FAIL. I go to rebuild parity with a new Seagate ... click clack.. click clack.. click clack.. its rebuilding at a horrid rate.. 14MB/s and clicking and clicking...

 

that sucker precleared  at a crazy fast speed. 160MB/s average. topping at at about 195MB/s and bottom ant about 109....

 

After a full night of rebuilding parity it was only at 22%.. (I'll have to look at the smart reports and run another preclear.

I gave up and swapped it for another Seagate. and it precleared at about 85MB/s and was done by the time I got home from work..

 

Here is the real Kicker.. I got an RMA for the Hitachi... They said it is under warranty as an internal drive. but I decided to call tech support for a an RMA. I called it in as an internal and they said it is an external. if i ship it back they wont fix it.. Live and learn.

it looks like I'm out $110 for a new paperweight.  i did stress test it before i broke it open but it still went tits up in under a week... FML... EPIC FAIL!

 

At least I'm back up and running .. but that was a costly lesson.. hitachi does not honor warranties on busted open externals.. even if the website says it is covered... i took and gamble, i lost.  My first Hitachi failure would be the one I cant returns..

[cpshoemake]

hitachi does not honor warranties on busted open externals.. even if the website says it is covered... i took and gamble, i lost.  My first Hitachi failure would be the one I cant returns..

 

That's a bummer.

 

For whatever it's worth now, Seagate does accept RMAs for internals removed from externals. I just completed one a couple weeks ago.

 

For 10 bucks they'll even send you the replacement drive first with a shipping label. I prefer this because I'm always worried they'll blame my packing method for the damaged drive.

[BetaQuasi]

That sucks about Hitachi - I've got to question that policy tbh, at the end of the day, the drives inside those enclosures are no different to the ones without.  Would make me steer clear of that manufacturer on principle!  (I'm a Seagate fan anyway)

[dikkiedirk]

 

Do I need 8 or 16 GB or 32 GB. I might be running Unraid, WHS, and a separate SABNZB downloadstation. This may grow, but then I might get me a RPC-4224 first.

 

You could probably get away with 8GB, but 16 would be better.  the biggest bottlenecks in ESXi are Datastore IO and RAM.

32GB is honestly a bit to expensive for the average person right now.

 

Even more so when you live in the Netherlands with that expensive Euro (and a broken-down government).

Expect to pay over 200 Euros for 16 GB

[Johnm]

I just noticed http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=W1333EB8GM

$102.99 for 8GB Micron based sticks. these should work just fine at a better price then what I paid.

[Wimpie]

 

Did those M1015 come with PCI brackets? I need a couple of Full Height brackets. Do you know where to get them from?

 

Just look at any other old PCI/PCIx ide/raid/sata card. I think you will have 50% chance it will fit.

[dikkiedirk]

Do you guys just use the Intel-supplied standard cooler for the E3-1240, or an alternative like SNK-P0046A4?

 

 

[dikkiedirk]

I just noticed http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=W1333EB8GM

$102.99 for 8GB Micron based sticks. these should work just fine at a better price then what I paid.

 

Don't know if they ship to Holland. Add-in p&p and its close to what I pay locally I think.

 

I have to add $59 shipping cost. Too bad.

[dikkiedirk]

FAIL

 

Scratch that... EPIC FAIL!

 

FAIL 1: yesterday one of my datastore Spinners went offline... not a huge problem. No clue why.. But,  I had to reboot. It came back up from reboot.. ~whew~ that is the one drive I could loose, but would like to keep it if i can.

 

The next.. FAIL2.. unRAID said no parity drive installed!!

What the heck... A 2 week old Hitachi 7200 3TB drive is a victim of click death...

Whatever... I had 3 new Seagate 7200 3TB drives I just precleared..

 

Epic FAIL. I go to rebuild parity with a new Seagate ... click clack.. click clack.. click clack.. its rebuilding at a horrid rate.. 14MB/s and clicking and clicking...

 

that sucker precleared  at a crazy fast speed. 160MB/s average. topping at at about 195MB/s and bottom ant about 109....

 

After a full night of rebuilding parity it was only at 22%.. (I'll have to look at the smart reports and run another preclear.

I gave up and swapped it for another Seagate. and it precleared at about 85MB/s and was done by the time I got home from work..

 

Here is the real Kicker.. I got an RMA for the Hitachi... They said it is under warranty as an internal drive. but I decided to call tech support for a an RMA. I called it in as an internal and they said it is an external. if i ship it back they wont fix it.. Live and learn.

it looks like I'm out $110 for a new paperweight.  i did stress test it before i broke it open but it still went tits up in under a week... FML... EPIC FAIL!

 

At least I'm back up and running .. but that was a costly lesson.. hitachi does not honor warranties on busted open externals.. even if the website says it is covered... i took and gamble, i lost.  My first Hitachi failure would be the one I cant returns..

 

Sorry to hear about those drives. What type/model external drive was it? And what drive was inside?

 

[c3]

.. but that was a costly lesson.. hitachi does not honor warranties on busted open externals.. even if the website says it is covered... i took and gamble, i lost.  My first Hitachi failure would be the one I cant returns..

 

I wish everyone would read this. I have been warning that checking a serial to validate warranty just says the entire unit is under warranty. An external enclosure has the same serial number as the drive inside, but the manufacturer does know it was not a bare drive.

 

As warranty period drops, this is less and less an issue, but it is nice to know you are giving up the warranty when you break that seal. Don't live in denial that you are going to get away with fraud.