--it seems so tempting to be able to have my NAS box do many other things.  For those who have run it here, how do you feel about it?  How has it performed for you?

Flawless.

--it seems so tempting to be able to have my NAS box do many other things.  For those who have run it here, how do you feel about it?  How has it performed for you?

 

It most certainly has! With the right hardware and PSU.

Should I be able to migrate, at a later date, my existing unraid array hard drives to a new motherboard (and controller if needed) for use with unraid under esxi?

 

Also, what version of ESXI do I get?  Didn't they replace that with VMSphere or whatever?  (Sorry I'm so newb lol!)

 

The system I currently have my unRaid server on does not have a CPU that supports virtualization, so I know I at least need a new processor.  It also only has 2GB of RAM which I know isn't enough for an ESXI machine.

 

My current client computer has a core2duo intel lga775 processor (2.66ghz) which does support virtualization (In fact I've run vmware on it under my Mac OS X.)  It's using GA-P35-DS3L gigabyte motherboard which has proven to be a good motherboard for a hackintosh.  Would this motherboard and processor be suitable for an ESXI machine for unRaid?--because I'm thinking about upgrading my client computer to a new system.  I am getting an IBM br10i controller card soon and hopefully that would work fine under esxi as well.

 

With respect to PSU, I didn't realize certain PSU work better for certain operating systems.  What kind of PSU do I need for ESXI?  I have a fairly large one I bought a few years back to support a video card that sucked a lot of power--it's pretty high capacity.

Yes. I used to have my unRaid in a Centurion case. Got me a norco 4224 along with all new innards (mb, psu, etc)

 

I'm using ESXi 5.

 

Check out JohnM's thread http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14695.0 it has excellent information which is what I based my current server on.  Been working great for me.

Should I be able to migrate, at a later date, my existing unraid array hard drives to a new motherboard (and controller if needed) for use with unraid under esxi?

 

Also, what version of ESXI do I get?  Didn't they replace that with VMSphere or whatever?  (Sorry I'm so newb lol!)

 

The system I currently have my unRaid server on does not have a CPU that supports virtualization, so I know I at least need a new processor.  It also only has 2GB of RAM which I know isn't enough for an ESXI machine.

 

My current client computer has a core2duo intel lga775 processor (2.66ghz) which does support virtualization (In fact I've run vmware on it under my Mac OS X.)  It's using GA-P35-DS3L gigabyte motherboard which has proven to be a good motherboard for a hackintosh.  Would this motherboard and processor be suitable for an ESXI machine for unRaid?--because I'm thinking about upgrading my client computer to a new system.  I am getting an IBM br10i controller card soon and hopefully that would work fine under esxi as well.

 

With respect to PSU, I didn't realize certain PSU work better for certain operating systems.  What kind of PSU do I need for ESXI?  I have a fairly large one I bought a few years back to support a video card that sucked a lot of power--it's pretty high capacity.

 

If you want to go the Virtualization/ESXi route you probably need another CPU and/or  (server) motherboard.

 

I don't think that for a OS you need a specific PSU, but server motherboards demand certain PSUs. Many users use a Seasonic or Corsair (carefull!, not all) PSU?

I went ahead and installed ESXi 5 on my Gigabyte P35-DSL motherboard with 2.66gz core2duo processor.  I installed it to a spare thumb drive and installed a spare 500gb test sata hdd (for the datastore).

 

It seems to work great with this motherboard--it even recognizes the 1 gigabit realtek nic on this mb.  I installed it and it got a IP address for it from my DHCP server.

 

I then installed the vSphere client on windows and made a Windows XP VM and installed it.  It worked.

 

Side question: I was a little surprised to find out I couldn't access the Windows XP machine from the host it was installed to, but only the client on my other computer running windows.  Of course the graphics were slow over the 1gb network. Is there any way using esxi (perhaps with a different license) to access the video card and keyboard on the esxi host itself?

 

Anyways back to unRaid and esxi-- I have a question.  Do I need to create a datastore for each 2tb hard drive to be used in the array or can I do a pci passthrough to my onboard sata ports as well as the IBM br10i sata ports?  I'd like to simply unplug the HDD from my existing unraid array and plug them into the new exsi machine and do a pass through.

 

Any help would be appreciated thanks. 

 

 

ESXi host video/keyboard access - that's what most of us use IPMI-enabled boards for, so we can see the console over the network.  You rarely need to do this though - there is no way of seeing your VM's video etc from the console, only from the vSphere client and remote desktop.  The first can be slow if you haven't installed VMware tools in the guest OS yet (highly recommend doing so.)  Even after VMware tools is installed, you're probably better off accessing your VM's via RDP.. it's a whole lot quicker.  If you're only going to have a few, take a look at a free license of RoyalTS (www.code4ward.net) to make RDP life really easy!

 

Re: passthrough - I'm not sure if your motherboard has VTd and whether that processor supports it (I'm guessing it doesn't though) in which case you cannot pass through any controllers to any VM.  I believe you can still do the RDM method though - have a read of Johnm's Atlas build in the UCD section.

Yeah I played around with ESXi 5 more on my P35-DSL and the motherboard doesn't support pci passthrough.  It has no VT-d setting in BIOS and I assume it bridges all the PCI together and cant' separate it.

 

I think I'm gonna put the ESXI thing on hold because I'd have to invest quite a few dollars in hardware to run it.  The whole idea is to save money with the esxi by combining servers but this requires a significant initial investment in capable hardware and RAM.

 

I can actually use this core2duo 2.66ghz processor for a few more years I think.. there is no real bottleneck for me.  It plays all my HD movies with 25% proc utilization and I dont do gaming on it.

In answer to your high level question - yes running under ESXi 5 has been fine.

 

Anyways back to unRaid and esxi-- I have a question.  Do I need to create a datastore for each 2tb hard drive to be used in the array or can I do a pci passthrough to my onboard sata ports as well as the IBM br10i sata ports?  I'd like to simply unplug the HDD from my existing unraid array and plug them into the new exsi machine and do a pass through.

 

You have two options here. You can create raw device mappings 'fake vmware virtual drives' if you like, that pass-thru direct to the disks underneath. This still keeps the ESXi virtulisation layer there. No special requirements other than ESXi generally supporting your hardware.

 

Full pass through of the disk controller(s) to a specified guest. ESXi will then lose sight of those disks and your guest will see the disks and controllers exactly as if they were directly connected. This also removes (most of) the virtualisation layer. You can get smart info / disk temps etc.

 

To do the latter (VMDirectPath I/O) you need a CPU, Motherboard and disk controller trio that supports VT-d (intel) or AMD-Vi (AMD).

 

I use VT-d as I have an intel board and CPU. I don't know if things are better in the year since I bought all my kit but this is a complete minefield. VT-d is generally billed as a CPU feature. And it is, you need to find a CPU that supports it using the Intel model matrix. *However* your motherboard does still need to support it. You'll need to find a motherboard that has the VT-d option in the BIOS. This is generally (enterprise boards aside) completely unlisted as a feature and you may find yourself having to download the motherboard manual and reading through all the BIOS options to see if they mention or have a screenshot of a VT-d enabling section.

 

Even once you've overcome this hurdle ESXi has to have support for your board / chipset *and* whatever disk controller you're planning to pass through also has to be supported for VMDirectPath I/O.

 

Also remember VT-d passes through the entire controller. So if, for example, you wanted to have your motherboard SATA controller have the ESXi boot drive *and* have some disks for unraid that you wanted to pass through using VT-d - you'd be out of luck as you couldn't pass that controller through and still have ESXi use it as the boot drive.

 

So lots of things to consider.

 

VMDirectPath I/O is by far the better solution and saves messing around with creating RDM's but is a pain with regards to finding the right hardware and having enough discrete controllers such that you can give them over to the unraid guest in their entirety.

 

The IBM M1015 controllers are popular for this reason. They're cheap, well performing and supported by unraid (just) and VT-d.

 

The short cut to making all this work is either by spending a fortune on known vmware HCL enterprise kit or by wading through the builds on this forum and seeing what bits people have already used with success.

 

Hope this helps, I think I've given you alot of stuff you already know going from your original question - but it just all tumbled out so you'll have to take it as a whole

Side question: I was a little surprised to find out I couldn't access the Windows XP machine from the host it was installed to, but only the client on my other computer running windows.  Of course the graphics were slow over the 1gb network. Is there any way using esxi (perhaps with a different license) to access the video card and keyboard on the esxi host itself?

 

No, you can not access the video card and keyboard of a guest (Windows XP) from the host console. Using IPMI does nothing to solve this. You can, with the right hardware, pass through a video card to a guest, but you will still need to remotely access the guest (Windows XP).

 

Virtualized requires substantially less investment than multiple computers. Contrary to statements made previously, VT-d can be found in many desktops. Look for machines with Q9400 from 4 years ago, aka Dell Optiplex 960.

Contrary to statements made previously, VT-d can be found in many desktops. Look for machines with Q9400 from 4 years ago, aka Dell Optiplex 960.

 

As mentioned the CPU side of things is easy. You go look it up in the intel / amd matrix and pick accordingly based on vt-d support. It's the motherboards end of support that is the trouble.

 

Especially if you're not going for an enterprise board to keep costs down.

If I understand all this:

To run unraid in ESXi it is best,easiest or only way, to put your data,parity and cache disk on a HBA (M1015 or MV8) in passthrough.

ESXi host video/keyboard access - that's what most of us use IPMI-enabled boards for, so we can see the console over the network.  You rarely need to do this though - there is no way of seeing your VM's video etc from the console, only from the vSphere client and remote desktop.  The first can be slow if you haven't installed VMware tools in the guest OS yet (highly recommend doing so.)  Even after VMware tools is installed, you're probably better off accessing your VM's via RDP.. it's a whole lot quicker.  If you're only going to have a few, take a look at a free license of RoyalTS (www.code4ward.net) to make RDP life really easy!

 

 

This RoyalTS must it be installed on a datastore or in Windows? Are there any restrictions to this free license? How is it setup to access VMs in RDP.

RoyalTS is just a nice GUI for RDP in Windows.  It will hold credentials etc in an encrypted master file and allow you to easily switch from VM to VM.  In essence, it's no different to the regular Microsoft RDP client - it just adds a whole lot of nice features and usability on top.

Contrary to statements made previously, VT-d can be found in many desktops. Look for machines with Q9400 from 4 years ago, aka Dell Optiplex 960.

 

As mentioned the CPU side of things is easy. You go look it up in the intel / amd matrix and pick accordingly based on vt-d support. It's the motherboards end of support that is the trouble.

 

Especially if you're not going for an enterprise board to keep costs down.

 

Not much cheaper than a 4 yr old Dell desktop.

--it seems so tempting to be able to have my NAS box do many other things.  For those who have run it here, how do you feel about it?  How has it performed for you?

 

 

100% reliable.

I have both baremetal and virtual unRAID servers. Both run equally as far as speed and reliability.

If anything, I find the Virtual unRAID to be more flexible and easier to manage.

 

If done correctly, you can even pull your ESXi flash out and the server will still boot up to unraid for testing.

 

the downside as mentioned, price for the hardware.

if you're planning on building 2 or more servers [nas or app servers]. putting them all on one (slightly more expensive box) will still save you a ton of cash in the end. you can also put more then one unRAID server on a single ESXi box.