August 3, 201213 yr I am seriously thinking about building an Atlas clone and virtualizing with ESXi. Right now I have two unRAID servers on 24/7 (one with 10 data + 1 parity and the other with 9+1) and my desktop PC running 24/7 to handle SickBeard, CouchPotato and Sab. The main reason for the desktop staying on is to update the XBMC library after SickBead completes a download. So I am looking at 3 computers on constantly that I could whittle down to one by virtualizing. I’m not Linux savvy and the most I’ve done with virtualizing is install and play with Ubuntu and Mint in VirtualBox a couple times. My initial intentions would be to run unraid, and Windows 7 for SB,CP and Sab. I’ve been researching this for a couple weeks now and I have a few questions (forgive me if some of these have been previously discussed. It’s been a lot to absorb and I’m sure I’ve forgotten some things I’ve already read). 1. Just so I totally understand this, I assume that the datastore for the Win7 VM would essentially be my C: drive and contain all the data for that VM? 2. I’ve read about using pass through for the HBA controllers (I have two IBM M1015’s) and I understand that you have to pass the entire controller to the OS and that’s the only OS that can then access it. It looks like the X9SCM-F-O has two separate onboard SATA controllers. Can I pass the 4 x 3Gbps controller through to unRAID and use the of the 2 x 6Gbps controller for the datastores ? 3. I’ve read some people talk about using a separate NIC for each VM, but it seems more people are doing the virtual switch instead. (I assume that means that ESXi is handling the network traffic management via a single NIC?). Which is the best route and why? 4. A big concern for me is the hoops you have to jump through to get a UPS working. I currently have an APC UPS and it handles both servers without issue. I’ve read about people using scripts to shut down the different VM’s and then being concerned about whether or not the UPS will then shut itself down. I haven’t seen any follow ups on that. Does the UPS shut itself down and everything power back up on it’s own once power is restored? I don’t really know how to write a script, but are the ones necessary very complex? I really don’t like the idea of being without the UPS. That’s all I have for now, but I’m sure I’ll end up with more as I get further into this.
August 3, 201213 yr 1. Just so I totally understand this, I assume that the datastore for the Win7 VM would essentially be my C: drive and contain all the data for that VM? Datastore is a term used to explain the storage as the virtualization server (ESXi, Xen, etc) see's it. A virtual machine would be created on the datastore and the space you allocate on the datastore for it would be your C:\ drive in your Win7 VM or however else you want to partition it. There can be multiple virtual machines on the same datastore up until the point you run out of space. 2. I’ve read about using pass through for the HBA controllers (I have two IBM M1015’s) and I understand that you have to pass the entire controller to the OS and that’s the only OS that can then access it. It looks like the X9SCM-F-O has two separate onboard SATA controllers. Can I pass the 4 x 3Gbps controller through to unRAID and use the of the 2 x 6Gbps controller for the datastores ? If I understand you right, yes. When you pass through a controller ESXi no longer can use it. If you don't pass it through, then ESXi can use it. 3. I’ve read some people talk about using a separate NIC for each VM, but it seems more people are doing the virtual switch instead. (I assume that means that ESXi is handling the network traffic management via a single NIC?). Which is the best route and why? The internal VMware switch is 10gbe, and the VMXnet3 NIC is 10gbe. That is a good reason to put everything on one vSwitch and have one NIC plugged in externally....Inter-VM traffic runs at 10gbe. You can do it the other way but it is a PITA and there are only a few use cases you would want to do it that way.
August 3, 201213 yr The x9scm only has 1 inboard sata controller. The cougar point controller controls all 6 ports. You can not split it for pass through. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
August 4, 201213 yr Only that disk replacement is a more complex chore. Pass through is really the best method - if you weigh up the cost of a dedicated controller vs the amount of time you will spend if you use RDM, it's a no brainer IMHO.
August 4, 201213 yr Author The x9scm only has 1 inboard sata controller. The cougar point controller controls all 6 ports. You can not split it for pass through. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks for the info. In my casual perusing, I didn't see any make or model of controller(s) listed on NewEgg or Supermicro's site and I assumed multiple controllers since there are different speeds for different ports.
August 10, 201213 yr Author I have one more question. Since I will be combining two separate unRAID servers into one, is the best course of action to run parity checks on both servers before dismantling and if both return no errors then put all the data drives into the new build and just rebuild parity? Are there any other things I should do or be mindful of?
August 10, 201213 yr I have one more question. Since I will be combining two separate unRAID servers into one, is the best course of action to run parity checks on both servers before dismantling and if both return no errors then put all the data drives into the new build and just rebuild parity? Are there any other things I should do or be mindful of? Yes 1. I would check parity and make sure everything looks good to go 2. Dismantle old computer 3. Set up new VM unRAID in ESXi 4. Add data drives back in 5. Make sure things look good 6. Add in Parity drive 7. Run parity check on new hardware Rinse and repeat for the other unRAID computer.
August 10, 201213 yr Author Just to be clear when you say "7. Run parity check on new hardware", you mean rebuild the parity, right?
August 11, 201213 yr Just to be clear when you say "7. Run parity check on new hardware", you mean rebuild the parity, right? Depends on if you are combining the two unraid servers. Or he is suggesting you run 2 VMs (independent) unraids. Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2
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