ATLAS My Virtualized unRAID server

[dikkiedirk]

Very helpfull everything in the previous post! Thanks a lot @ Johnm, BobPhoenix, siamsquare

[BobPhoenix]

Also need some help...how do you install vmtools on Unraid? My server isn't 24/7 on and would like to be able to shut it down without allways having to go to the Unraid menu and do it there!

My ZFS array shuts down without a problem but it has the tools installed!

 

thanks

I just followed this bullet:

• For all version of unRAID, put the .tgz file in /extra on your flashdrive - this method is recommend for unRAID before 5.0b11 and any user who uses VMXNET3
  

On Zeron's thread here.

[siamsquare]

Also need some help...how do you install vmtools on Unraid? My server isn't 24/7 on and would like to be able to shut it down without allways having to go to the Unraid menu and do it there!

My ZFS array shuts down without a problem but it has the tools installed!

 

thanks

I just followed this bullet:

• For all version of unRAID, put the .tgz file in /extra on your flashdrive - this method is recommend for unRAID before 5.0b11 and any user who uses VMXNET3
  

On Zeron's thread here.

 

Thanks,

 

Used the .TGZ install but needed to edit the Go file as I received an error in VMsphere when shutting down!

 

 

[ashaneil]

Hi Guys,

I built myself an Atlas clone with pretty much the same hardware (SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O LGA) as on 1st page except for the amount of RAM. I have a 2x4Gb kit. I was wondering if anyone had installed Kingston 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 Server Memory Intel Model KVR13E9/8I stick by itself. It would be great if I can install a single 8Gb stick for now and leave my last slot open for future.

Thanks for the input. Cheers!

[dikkiedirk]

I have a my unraid server running on a X9SCM-F with 2 M1015 and a Areca ARC1200, 15 array disks and cache.

 

How do I create a ESXi VMdk from this setup? Do I need additional drivers for ESXi?

[Johnm]

Hi Guys,

I built myself an Atlas clone with pretty much the same hardware (SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O LGA) as on 1st page except for the amount of RAM. I have a 2x4Gb kit. I was wondering if anyone had installed Kingston 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 Server Memory Intel Model KVR13E9/8I stick by itself. It would be great if I can install a single 8Gb stick for now and leave my last slot open for future.

Thanks for the input. Cheers!

 

I believe it will run fine in single channel mode.

I am on vacation so i cant test it myself. sorry.

[Johnm]

I have a my unraid server running on a X9SCM-F with 2 M1015 and a Areca ARC1200, 15 array disks and cache.

 

How do I create a ESXi VMdk from this setup? Do I need additional drivers for ESXi?

 

I'm sorry, I am not quite sure what your question is.

 

if you are asking how to convert your baremetal unRAId to virtual, you need a flash for esxi and a hard disk on your motherboard port (or an additional controller) for an ESXi datastore. Make sure you unplug all the unraid drives before installing ESXi to prevent data loss.

[dikkiedirk]

Yes I want to convert my current server setup to ESXi. And I want to boot unraid from harddisk, so that the USB stick is only used for the unraid license. I guess that the packages and plugins also remain on the stick? How do I create a vmdk for that, and what needs to be copied from the USB stick to the vmdk. Do I need another VM for that?  Do I need additional drivers for the ARC1200 or is that available in a upgrade pack. Must I setup ESXi first so that all hardware is Recognized and all controllers can work in pass-through? I use a laptop drive as datastore, it is on the SATA port on the motherboard.

 

What is needed to create a vmdk from scratch?

[Inssomniak]

Thanks for this awesome tutorial!!!

 

I just finished my build --  I had an existing unraid system I wanted to migrate to vmware esxi 5.0.0 U1.

 

everything worked perfectly!  Unraid just kept going right off where it was when it was a physical machine! 

Used the raw device mapping, for 3 drives, plop, boot from usb.

 

On a side note the PCI passthru is cool!  I reused a 15 year old sound card for another VM as a sound card to a winxp machine! That was very cool!.

 

 

[dikkiedirk]

Thanks for this awesome tutorial!!!

 

I just finished my build --  I had an existing unraid system I wanted to migrate to vmware esxi 5.0.0 U1.

 

everything worked perfectly!  Unraid just kept going right off where it was when it was a physical machine! 

Used the raw device mapping, for 3 drives, plop, boot from usb.

 

On a side note the PCI passthru is cool!  I reused a 15 year old sound card for another VM as a sound card to a winxp machine! That was very cool!.

 

Maybe I use the plop method too, but would rather go for a vmdk. I am trying to find where I read about it. I guess I need a crash-course vmdk building.

[dheg]

It's actually on this thread,  although it has grown to unreadable limits,  which is a good sign actually

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[BobPhoenix]

When I setup my vmdk boot drive I set it up as an IDE harddrive of either 1 or 2 GB don't remember am at work.  Connected it as a second drive to a Windows VM along with the USB boot flash for unRAID.  Formatted the vmdk with FAT32 from that Windows VM.  Edited the .bat file to include the F option on the syslinux line to force the boot creation.  Then I copied the USB flash drive contents to the vmdk just to keep them consistent.  Renamed the vmdk to "HDDBOOT" from "UNRAID".  Then I shut down the Windows VM and disconnected the vmdk and usb flash drive from the Windows VM and connected them to the unRAID VM.  Then booted unRAID from the vmdk just like I have been ever since.  This is all from memory but I believe it to be accurate.  Not sure I needed to start the vmdk labeled as UNRAID since it is only the .bat file that checks for that - not the syslinux command.  I could have just manually entered the syslinux command (actually did that for the first of my unRAID VMs) rather than editing the .bat file.

[dikkiedirk]

How do you set up a vmdk boot drive? Create a 2 Gig vmdk image in winimage? I was aiming to create 2 VMs at first: unraid and Windows 7. I guess I first need to setup ESXi that all controllers are recognized and in pass-through. I have 2 M1015s and a ARC1200. I hope I don't need any additional drivers.

[BobPhoenix]

How do you set up a vmdk boot drive? Create a 2 Gig vmdk image in winimage? I was aiming to create 2 VMs at first: unraid and Windows 7. I guess I first need to setup ESXi that all controllers are recognized and in pass-through. I have 2 M1015s and a ARC1200. I hope I don't need any additional drivers.

I setup in ESXi a drive (vmdk) that was 2GB in size in ESXi (ADD/CREATE a drive for the VM).  I did it as an IDE drive but that may not be important.  Then I connected that drive (2GB vmdk) to a Windows VM as a 2nd HDD and booted the Windows VM.  The drive showed up as an UNFORMATTED 2GB drive.  I used the Windows VM to format the drive with a FAT32 file system and label of UNRAID.  Then I edited the unRAID "Make_Bootable.bat" file (assuming I am remembering the name correctly) so that the line containing the syslinux command contained an additional parameter of "f".  Then I ran it (the bat file) and it made the drive bootable.  You could also just issue the syslinux command directly with the same parameters as the bat file but with the addition of the "f" parameter (f=force).  Once that was done I copied the USB Boot drive files to the vmdk 2GB drive to make their content the same.  Then disconnected the drive (2GB vmdk) and usb drive from the Windows VM after I shut it (Windows VM) down.  The Windows VM was setup with a virtual HDD boot drive on the datastore.  It was also an IDE but that really doesn't make a difference.  If you have a WORKING Windows VM is all you need.  My datastore is currently on a 300GB WD VelociRaptor and the Windows VM is Thin Provisioned and 80GB in size max currently using 30GB ON DISK.  I use it to run the Windows version of SageTV.

[dikkiedirk]

Thanks Bob, will try that. First running a parity check and then a upgrade to 5.0RC8a

[Johnm]

Thanks for this awesome tutorial!!!

 

I just finished my build --  I had an existing unraid system I wanted to migrate to vmware esxi 5.0.0 U1.

 

everything worked perfectly!  Unraid just kept going right off where it was when it was a physical machine! 

Used the raw device mapping, for 3 drives, plop, boot from usb.

 

On a side note the PCI passthru is cool!  I reused a 15 year old sound card for another VM as a sound card to a winxp machine! That was very cool!.

 

niiiice (Like mike tyson from hangover)

[Johnm]

How do you set up a vmdk boot drive? Create a 2 Gig vmdk image in winimage? I was aiming to create 2 VMs at first: unraid and Windows 7. I guess I first need to setup ESXi that all controllers are recognized and in pass-through. I have 2 M1015s and a ARC1200. I hope I don't need any additional drivers.

 

You can do just like Bob suggested.

You can also use winimage method. create your flash first. then make of an image with winimage and boot from that.

[dikkiedirk]

Does it matter how the vmdk and usb stick are labelled? My unraid usb stick is labeled "UNRAID".

[BobPhoenix]

Does it matter how the vmdk and usb stick are labelled? My unraid usb stick is labeled "UNRAID".

The usb stick needs to be labeled UNRAID.  The VMDK something else doesn't matter what as long as it isn't UNRAID.  I have two unRAID ESXi servers both with VMDK boot drives.  One is labeled BOOT the other is labeled HDDBOOT.  I keep forgetting to relabel them to be the same - I like it to be consistant but isn't necessary.

[dikkiedirk]

Can I run some tests beforehand in ESXi to check if all controllers are working as expected in pass-through and unraid will work perfect under ESXi?

[BobPhoenix]

Can I run some tests beforehand in ESXi to check if all controllers are working as expected in pass-through and unraid will work perfect under ESXi?

I don't know of any maybe Johnm does.  I never worried about it.  I made a copy of my USB stick first before I switched to ESXi.  Then I setup the unRAID VM making sure that the USB stick was passed to the VM on the Virtual USB controller, the boot VMDK was connected to a Virtual HDD controller for the VM and I had my real HDD controller (M1015) passed through to the VM.  Then I booted and watched the unRAID boot progress until the login prompt came up on the VM console.

[Johnm]

Honestly. I just built the esxi and created up my unraid VM with plop and my flash at first to just test it.

I think i ran a few passes of memtest and then ran a parity test with "no correct"

 

 

it is real easy to go back if there is a problem. just pull the ESXi flash and boot the unraid one..

 

 

After it was stable, then i replaced plop with the HDD boot.

[dikkiedirk]

Yeah, well I hope all turns out good. While the M1015s work"out of the box" I am no so sure about the ARC1200. Oh well, will be another challenge.

[Johnm]

I needed a driver for my arc1222. it was pretty easy to get installed.

 

[dikkiedirk]

Went ahead, 2 M1015s and 1 ARC1200 in passtrough.

 

Booting unraid resulted in an error, like shown.

 

What have I done wrong? Can it be fixed? What does 002:00:0 mean?

 

I think it was my fault. Yes, sure it was.

Must the 2 M1015 and ARC1200 first be added as SCSI0,SCSI1 and SCSI2 and PCI device 0, PCI device 1 and PCI device 2 or vice versa. I'm afraid I did something wrong there. There is a lot to learn here!! But that's part of the fun. Or is there no need to add SCSI devices and are the PCI devices enough?

 

I went the plop-way for now. The box boots just fine, now. I removed the PCI devices and added them again.

 

unraid started with array started. Gonna play around a bit now.