SuperMicro C2SEE and ESXi for unRAID and ZoneMinder - but doesn't support VT-d?

[pfennigcat]

I have unraid running quite happily on a SM C2SEE with a Celeron E3300 and 4GB ram.  I have that much RAM because I was hoping to also use the system with VMWare ESXi to run a ZoneMinder linux VM.  I just started experimenting (putting ESXi on a separate HD, etc, without touching my unRAID drives yet) and it seems that the ESXi thinks my system doesn't support VT-d, which will be necessary for me to do VMDirectPath passthrough of my PCI based 8-port camera capture card to the ZoneMinder VM.  The C2SEE docs say it does support VT-d, and I have Intel Virtualization Tech enabled in the BIOS.  ESXi still won't let me even try.

 

So before I go through a lot of learning to set up Raw Device Mapping to get unRAID running as a VM, can anyone tell me whether it's possible to get around this stumbling block with my hardware?  Is the problem that my Celeron E3300 doesn't support VT-d even though my chipset does, and I'd need to get some sort of server level Xeon to get VT-d working?  I'd prefer not to just replace my hardware, but I'd also like to only have one 24/7 box running.

 

Thanks,

Pfennig

[prostuff1]

I have unraid running quite happily on a SM C2SEE with a Celeron E3300 and 4GB ram.  I have that much RAM because I was hoping to also use the system with VMWare ESXi to run a ZoneMinder linux VM.  I just started experimenting (putting ESXi on a separate HD, etc, without touching my unRAID drives yet) and it seems that the ESXi thinks my system doesn't support VT-d, which will be necessary for me to do VMDirectPath passthrough of my PCI based 8-port camera capture card to the ZoneMinder VM.  The C2SEE docs say it does support VT-d, and I have Intel Virtualization Tech enabled in the BIOS.  ESXi still won't let me even try.

 

So before I go through a lot of learning to set up Raw Device Mapping to get unRAID running as a VM, can anyone tell me whether it's possible to get around this stumbling block with my hardware?  Is the problem that my Celeron E3300 doesn't support VT-d even though my chipset does, and I'd need to get some sort of server level Xeon to get VT-d working?  I'd prefer not to just replace my hardware, but I'd also like to only have one 24/7 box running.

 

Thanks,

Pfennig

http://ark.intel.com/products/42771/Intel-Celeron-Processor-E3300-(1M-Cache-2_50-GHz-800-MHz-FSB)

 

short answer... find a new processor.  Your processor support VT-x but not VT-d

[pfennigcat]

I'm not sure how to find an appropriate processor.  I would generally expect a 'server CPU' to be more likely to support VT-d, but the ARK page for the Xeon E3110 for example (which is one of only two LGA775 Xeons still available on newegg) doesn't even list a yes/no spot for VT-d the way that the Celeron does:

http://ark.intel.com/products/34694/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3110-%286M-Cache-3_00-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB%29

 

Would any LGA775 Xeon support VT-d? Or can anyone recommend a specific processor (preferably cheaper than a ~$200 xeon)?

 

I did search ARK with this URL and got a selection of processors:

http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced/?s=t&VTD=true&Sockets=LGA775

In theory this should be the complete list of processors that would work for me mobo, which probably points to a C2D E8400 at the lowest end.

[prostuff1]

I'm not sure how to find an appropriate processor.  I would generally expect a 'server CPU' to be more likely to support VT-d, but the ARK page for the Xeon E3110 for example (which is one of only two LGA775 Xeons still available on newegg) doesn't even list a yes/no spot for VT-d the way that the Celeron does:

http://ark.intel.com/products/34694/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3110-%286M-Cache-3_00-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB%29

 

Would any LGA775 Xeon support VT-d? Or can anyone recommend a specific processor (preferably cheaper than a ~$200 xeon)?

 

I did search ARK with this URL and got a selection of processors:

http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced/?s=t&VTD=true&Sockets=LGA775

In theory this should be the complete list of processors that would work for me mobo, which probably points to a C2D E8400 at the lowest end.

 

I run a Q9300 on my Supermicro C2sbc-q and that works with VT-D without issue.  If you are going to do ESXi then I suggest a CPU with 4 cores