MaxMe: My New Server


Recommended Posts

Yes it was... (thank john  :D).

 

Last couple of weeks I have been very busy with my real work and I had no time to "play" with the server.

 

I hope by next week I will start the virtualization path....

 

At the moment the server is a little too loud for me.. I will experiment with different fan speed (now, all are running at maximum speed) and see what I can do.

 

Hope to get back with more news soon.

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
  • Replies 66
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

would you mind sharing/posting your vba procedures?

Not at all... but consider it is quite a mess (I'm not a programmer).

I will post it as soon as I made a small guide (you need to create an adhoc view in unmenu with a specific list of column in a specific order)

 

I know I'm late on publishing the excel... Sorry for that. I just started again using the server.

I'll try to make it available ASAP.

 

Link to comment

I did the VMware installation following the instruction from Johnm (thanks everything was perfect)

 

At this stage I want to create 2 Virtual Machine:

1) Windows (probably 7)

2) UNRAID

 

I would like to ask for yours comments about:

1) I have two NIC on the motherboard and I was thinking to have one dedicated to UNRAID (pass through) and one shared (virtual switch)

2) The 3 SAS (24 HD) cards will be dedicated to UNRAID (pass through)

3) On the SATA ports of the motherboard I have 2 HD installed, one is the VMWare datastore, the other should be the cache drive for UNRAID (Is it possible?)

 

Unfortunately I have very few time to spare on working on the server as the real world is pretending much of my attentions.

 

I will keep you all posted.

Link to comment

I did the VMware installation following the instruction from Johnm (thanks everything was perfect)

Not a problem.. You are Welcome.. I'm glad it still comes in handy.

 

At this stage I want to create 2 Virtual Machine:

1) Windows (probably 7)

2) UNRAID

 

I would like to ask for yours comments about:

1) I have two NIC on the motherboard and I was thinking to have one dedicated to UNRAID (pass through) and one shared (virtual switch)

Honestly, I did the same thing at first.

I then realized most of what I push from the other VM's never leave the server.

I should say, Most of the traffic is internal to the ESXi box, especially between my usenet VM, my freeNAS and my unRAID. using a single NIC with the ESX VLAN and set up all my guests with the 10GiB virtual cards was what worked best for me. if I had the unRAID on it's own card i would have to use the physical switch and loose bandwidth. Again, this will depend on your personal build and needs. Again that might change in the future, but for now it is how I do it.

Plus 10GiB cards are starting to come down in price.. now we need cheap 10GiB switches... Maybe In a few years...  hmmm..

 

2) The 3 SAS (24 HD) cards will be dedicated to UNRAID (pass through)

3) On the SATA ports of the motherboard I have 2 HD installed, one is the VMWare datastore, the other should be the cache drive for UNRAID (Is it possible?)

You could.. but it would be much easier to put it on one of the m1015's that are on an 8x slot. there is more then enough bandwidth for full speed cache drive WHILE running a parity check (unless it an all SSD array) on those cards.

Unfortunately I have very few time to spare on working on the server as the real world is pretending much of my attentions.

 

I will keep you all posted.

Link to comment
  • 5 months later...

At the end I decided to change my SAS CARDS and moving to M1505...

 

I should get them by the end of the week, Hope I will be able to go on with the virtualization project.

 

Cheers

Max

 

Why the change?

 

Because the AOC-SAS2LP_MV8 is not compatible with ESXi... I also contacted the supermicro support and they confirmed.

 

Cheers

Max

Link to comment

At the end I decided to change my SAS CARDS and moving to M1505...

 

I should get them by the end of the week, Hope I will be able to go on with the virtualization project.

 

Cheers

Max

 

Why the change?

 

Because the AOC-SAS2LP_MV8 is not compatible with ESXi... I also contacted the supermicro support and they confirmed.

 

Cheers

Max

 

Hi Max, please bear in mind this is my first post, and I'm new to unRAID...

 

I'm currently testing unRAID under ESXi 5.1 as a replacement for my old FreeNAS rig, following Johnm's excellent tread, and the mentioned hack by gfjardim.

 

In that thread the older SASLP card is used, but the same procedure is applicable for the SAS2LP. Or at least it works for me :)

 

After adding the card as a passthru device to your VM, open the .vmx file and check for the pciPassthru lines, you need the deviceId and vendorId.

 

Use those when adding to the /etc/vmware/passthru.map file and it should work, getting the cards presented to your VM.

 

Regards

Mikael

 

 

Link to comment

Thanks Mikael I'll try.

 

Actualy I'm still struggling with passthrough.

 

I got M1505 card and flashed to IT Mode (no problems at all).

 

Then I restarted scratch installing ESXi 5.1

 

When I try to make the M1505 cards available in passthrough, after I selected the cards in "hardware / advanced settings", I keep seeing the message: "Changes made to some of the devices below will not take effect until the host is restarted". I did reboot/shutdown, completely power off / on of the server but the message stays there...

 

Not yet giving up but close...

 

Cheers

Max

 

Link to comment

Thanks Mikael I'll try.

 

Actualy I'm still struggling with passthrough.

 

I got M1505 card and flashed to IT Mode (no problems at all).

 

Then I restarted scratch installing ESXi 5.1

 

When I try to make the M1505 cards available in passthrough, after I selected the cards in "hardware / advanced settings", I keep seeing the message: "Changes made to some of the devices below will not take effect until the host is restarted". I did reboot/shutdown, completely power off / on of the server but the message stays there...

 

Not yet giving up but close...

 

Cheers

Max

 

VT-d is on in your bios?

 

Link to comment

Thanks Mikael I'll try.

 

Actualy I'm still struggling with passthrough.

 

I got M1505 card and flashed to IT Mode (no problems at all).

 

Then I restarted scratch installing ESXi 5.1

 

When I try to make the M1505 cards available in passthrough, after I selected the cards in "hardware / advanced settings", I keep seeing the message: "Changes made to some of the devices below will not take effect until the host is restarted". I did reboot/shutdown, completely power off / on of the server but the message stays there...

 

Not yet giving up but close...

 

Cheers

Max

 

VT-d is on in your bios?

 

Thanks, I did check and it is.

When VT-d is disable it is not possible at all to configure passthrough (edit button disabled).

 

Cheers

Max

 

Link to comment

 

Thanks, I did check and it is.

When VT-d is disable it is not possible at all to configure passthrough (edit button disabled).

 

Cheers

Max

 

I knew that to be the case, but I thought it was worth a check.

 

I have seen this issue before but I'm drawing a blank on the answer. I have even had this myself.. when I added  4x m1015's it a took a few tries to get ESxi happy..

 

Link to comment

 

Thanks, I did check and it is.

When VT-d is disable it is not possible at all to configure passthrough (edit button disabled).

 

Cheers

Max

 

I knew that to be the case, but I thought it was worth a check.

 

I have seen this issue before but I'm drawing a blank on the answer. I have even had this myself.. when I added  4x m1015's it a took a few tries to get ESxi happy..

 

Thanks.. I think this is a good suggestion, I'll try with just one card and not all three at the same time...

Link to comment

As for the drive temperatures of the Hitachi 4 TB, they are at least 7 degrees up from all my other drives, direct after boot up.

This temperature difference seems to stay that way during use.

 

I cannot imagine that direct after bootup and start of unRaid (till the gui is up) the HDD is that busy so it warms up,  and all the other drives do not. (i have 7 of them in different 5:3 bays, and 1 is parity, rest are data - all show higher temperatures than all other drives)

Link to comment
  • 5 weeks later...

* Just noticed in this pic you only have the left "MOLEX" power connectors plugged in?

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/x0vvmlWqGSD-cw7LA6YPBwr0UjbvvNR7w7Q0RfvhR0M?feat=directlink

 

Why is this? do you not need to use all 12?

the second port is redundant. only one port is needed. the rumor is that it is for redundant PSU.

Yet, i know of no redundant PSU so wired.

of my 3 Norco's, i have 1 single wired and 2 doubled wired (knowing that both are on the same rail)

I used to run them all single wired. I just wanted to make sure that I have good connections on the plugs.

backplanes.

lXE62s.jpg

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.