Advice on conversion from unRAID server to ESXi with unRAID vm

[Tybio]

You can see my hardware in my sig.

 

I've run into some limitations running so many plugins on unraid and having VMs on my desktop for work..I have stuff scattered all over the place and it's getting quite out of hand.  With the hardware I have, there is really no reason to limit the server to just unRAID use.

 

I'm a fairly advanced tech person, and I think I have a good idea how to do this...mostly following these steps:

 

1> Move all the unRAID drives to the MV8's and off the motherboard.

2> Add a drive to host the ESXi virtuals

 

Where I'm not sure of the process is how to /convert/ from booting unRAID to booting ESXi with the least risk of data loss.  Anyone got any pointers?

[SidebandSamurai]

Hi Tybio

 

I might refer you to this thread here in this forum:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14695.0  It will explain everything.

 

Norco RPC-4224

>> Nice Case

 

SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O // Xeon-1275V2 //8GB ECC DDR3

>> This motherboard is excellent and the basis of my build (still in the purchase stage for me).  Others have built ESXi servers on this board including the OP in the above thread.  I would raise your memory from 8GB to 16G or 32G (max for this board as well as the trial license for ESXi).  The more memory the more flexibility you will have.  You will have to turn on  Vx-D to pass the hardware through to the VM.  The above thread will take you through the whole process.  You will also need a couple of drives for ESXi data store.  I say a couple because you will probably want to mirror them.  1TB or even 500GB will be fine.  If you find 2TB on special, you could use a couple of them.

 

I would like to caution you that you SHOULD NOT install ESXi with your unRaid drives plugged in.  The drives will be ERASED during the ESXi install.

 

2x AOC-SASLP-MV8, Corsair TX850M,  W/ APC 1300VA

>> Looks good here.

 

Drives: 1x4TB, 7x2TB, 2x3TB, 1x.5TB Cache Drive

16TB  of 88TB Installed (based on 4TB drives)

>> The more drives the better I aways say.

 

The above thread is some 65 pages, so there is a lot of reading and a lot of info.  It should answer most of not all your questions.

 

Good Luck!

 

--Sideband Samurai

[Johnm]

You can see my hardware in my sig.

 

I've run into some limitations running so many plugins on unraid and having VMs on my desktop for work..I have stuff scattered all over the place and it's getting quite out of hand.  With the hardware I have, there is really no reason to limit the server to just unRAID use.

 

I'm a fairly advanced tech person, and I think I have a good idea how to do this...mostly following these steps:

 

1> Move all the unRAID drives to the MV8's and off the motherboard.

2> Add a drive to host the ESXi virtuals

 

Where I'm not sure of the process is how to /convert/ from booting unRAID to booting ESXi with the least risk of data loss.  Anyone got any pointers?

 

With you're list of hardware, this should be a breeze.

you will need an additional flash drive for esxi to boot from and a harddrive for a datastore.

If you want to add the datastore drive to a backplane, you need a reverse breakout cable (I assume you have this) (some people mount the datastore drive internally)

More ram if you like. 8 is bare minimum. 32 if you can. ram goes fast. CPU, not so fast.

 

You dont mention it, but I can see your on 5x because if the  3tb drives.

 

best solution is to first move all of your drives to the MV8's and boot up plain old unraid and make sure there are no issues..

V5 will automatically handle the drive movement from MB to MV8 (you could run a parity check at this point with correct off if you're paranoid). if it boots fine you're good to move on to esxi.

 

I would pull the MV8s from the board or pull the sas plugs from the MV8's (you could pull the drive bays halfway out instead if thats easier because it is in a rack) bottom line is, ESXI will erase all hard drives it can see (i would pull the ESXi flash also, maybe even back it up in case)

 

mount the esxi installer iso via ipmi and install esxi to the esxi flash. unmount iso, reboot.

 

Create a VM for ESXi. do the controller hack twice. once for each controller. do the passthough config. reboot server. and then boot the VM with only one drive and see if unraid boots and sees it. if so shut it all down (i would not hot swap that many drives). reboot and you should be fine..

 

whole thing.... under an hour start to finish. a good way to spend a sunday.

[BobPhoenix]

I would pull the MV8s from the board or pull the sas plugs from the MV8's (you could pull the drive bays halfway out instead if thats easier because it is in a rack) bottom line is, ESXI will erase all hard drives it can see (i would pull the unRAID flash also, maybe even back it up in case)

 

mount the esxi installer iso via ipmi and install esxi to the esxi flash. unmount iso, reboot.

 

Create a VM for unRAID. do the controller hack twice. once for each controller. do the passthough config. reboot server. and then boot the VM with only one drive and see if unraid boots and sees it. if so shut it all down (i would not hot swap that many drives). reboot and you should be fine..

 

whole thing.... under an hour start to finish. a good way to spend a sunday.

What he said above but I think with the blue changes above.

 

I mentioned this in another thread but I only use WinSCP to modify the "passthru.map" file for the hack.  I update the .vmx files from the vCenter web console.  Look at the graphics in the attached archive.  Basically find the "Configuration Parameters" button on the Options tab - Advanced/General selection.  Then add the "...msiEnabled" key and value.  The graphics show the screens involved.

How_To_Add_VM_Configuration_Parameters.zip

[Johnm]

I would pull the MV8s from the board or pull the sas plugs from the MV8's (you could pull the drive bays halfway out instead if thats easier because it is in a rack) bottom line is, ESXI will erase all hard drives it can see (i would pull the unRAID flash also, maybe even back it up in case)

 

mount the esxi installer iso via ipmi and install esxi to the esxi flash. unmount iso, reboot.

 

Create a VM for unRAID. do the controller hack twice. once for each controller. do the passthough config. reboot server. and then boot the VM with only one drive and see if unraid boots and sees it. if so shut it all down (i would not hot swap that many drives). reboot and you should be fine..

 

whole thing.... under an hour start to finish. a good way to spend a sunday.

What he said above but I think with the blue changes above.

 

I mentioned this in another thread but I only use WinSCP to modify the "passthru.map" file for the hack.  I update the .vmx files from the vCenter web console.  Look at the graphics in the attached archive.  Basically find the "Configuration Parameters" button on the Options tab - Advanced/General selection.  Then add the "...msiEnabled" key and value.  The graphics show the screens involved.

 

yes, what he said..

 

thanks for the edits.. that's what i get for making a post while on a conference call at work..

[kevinsyn]

Was looking into this as well as was goina make a new post on this!

 

I was contemplating on fiddling around with this as well and upgrading my Unraid to ESXi with Unraid. Have you been able to successfully convert without any data loss?

 

CPU: Intel I3 2120 3.3Ghz

Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O

RAM: Kingston KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G 8GB DDR3 ECC Unbuffered Ram

Drive Cage(s): 4x Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B Hot Swap Bay

Power Supply: Corsair TX750M

SATA Extender: 2x Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 SATA Extender

 

Upgrading to 32GB ram and Xeon E3-1230

 

Have you had any problems with MV8and ESXi and have you tried this with 3TB harddrives as well? Any problems passing through the MV8? Any data loss when converting from MB->MV8 and plugging in MV8 to ESXi?

 

 

 

 

[Johnm]

Was looking into this as well as was goina make a new post on this!

 

I was contemplating on fiddling around with this as well and upgrading my Unraid to ESXi with Unraid. Have you been able to successfully convert without any data loss?

 

CPU: Intel I3 2120 3.3Ghz

Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O

RAM: Kingston KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G 8GB DDR3 ECC Unbuffered Ram

Drive Cage(s): 4x Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B Hot Swap Bay

Power Supply: Corsair TX750M

SATA Extender: 2x Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 SATA Extender

 

Upgrading to 32GB ram and Xeon E3-1230

 

Have you had any problems with MV8and ESXi and have you tried this with 3TB harddrives as well? Any problems passing through the MV8? Any data loss when converting from MB->MV8 and plugging in MV8 to ESXi?

You are correct in the CPU upgrade. that is the minimum I would use. (you really dont need larger for most people. only if you are doing heavy CPU lifting like a bluray ripping VM or an exchange server VM.)

The RAM upgrade is recommended but optional. 8Gb is minimum and limits how much you can with the system.

the  AOC-SASLP-MV8 pssthough in ESXi with a minor hack.

3TB (and larger) work just fine.

No data loss if done correctly.. Keep in mind that installing ESXi will format ALL drives it can find. including your unRAID drives if plugged in. make sure you have all hard drives except your datastore unplugged during install

 

 

[kevinsyn]

Was looking into this as well as was goina make a new post on this!

 

I was contemplating on fiddling around with this as well and upgrading my Unraid to ESXi with Unraid. Have you been able to successfully convert without any data loss?

 

CPU: Intel I3 2120 3.3Ghz

Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O

RAM: Kingston KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G 8GB DDR3 ECC Unbuffered Ram

Drive Cage(s): 4x Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B Hot Swap Bay

Power Supply: Corsair TX750M

SATA Extender: 2x Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 SATA Extender

 

Upgrading to 32GB ram and Xeon E3-1230

 

Have you had any problems with MV8and ESXi and have you tried this with 3TB harddrives as well? Any problems passing through the MV8? Any data loss when converting from MB->MV8 and plugging in MV8 to ESXi?

You are correct in the CPU upgrade. that is the minimum I would use. (you really dont need larger for most people. only if you are doing heavy CPU lifting like a bluray ripping VM or an exchange server VM.)

The RAM upgrade is recommended but optional. 8Gb is minimum and limits how much you can with the system.

the  AOC-SASLP-MV8 pssthough in ESXi with a minor hack.

3TB (and larger) work just fine.

No data loss if done correctly.. Keep in mind that installing ESXi will format ALL drives it can find. including your unRAID drives if plugged in. make sure you have all hard drives except your datastore unplugged during install

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

Any compatibility issues with the new IVY bridge processors? i.e E3 1245v2?  Worth the upgrade?

 

Also maybe thinking of purchasing SSD's for the ESXi Virtual as well.

 

Only thing scaring me to be honest is the data loss as I have about 15 drives and 30+ TB of stuff... Currently all my data drives are connected to the MV8's.

 

Worst case scenario, I should be able to just plug back in the unraid usb and boot that back to my original configuration assuming something terrible happened and couldnt get ESXi to work?

 

[Johnm]

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

Any compatibility issues with the new IVY bridge processors? i.e E3 1245v2?  Worth the upgrade?

 

Also maybe thinking of purchasing SSD's for the ESXi Virtual as well.

 

Only thing scaring me to be honest is the data loss as I have about 15 drives and 30+ TB of stuff... Currently all my data drives are connected to the MV8's.

 

Worst case scenario, I should be able to just plug back in the unraid usb and boot that back to my original configuration assuming something terrible happened and couldnt get ESXi to work?

Yes, there are people reporting a few issues passing though some cards in ESXi with the ivybridge CPU's unknown if it is a chip or software glitch.  best to stick to what the motherboard was made for.

also, save the money with a 12x5 chip. that adds the hd3000 graphics chip to the CPU that you cant use with that board. stick with a 12x0

 

If you on unRAID 5x, moving the drives to the card will require no user interaction. if you are on 4.x you have to do some extra work. since you mention 3TB drives. I would do that upgrade first.

you can even do that and test before going to esxi.

 

yes. at anytime, you can pull the esxi thumbdrive out and it should boot right to unraid (unless it finds a bootable HDD in the server)

 

read the first page of my atlas thread. it should cover all of your questions..

[kevinsyn]

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

Any compatibility issues with the new IVY bridge processors? i.e E3 1245v2?  Worth the upgrade?

 

Also maybe thinking of purchasing SSD's for the ESXi Virtual as well.

 

Only thing scaring me to be honest is the data loss as I have about 15 drives and 30+ TB of stuff... Currently all my data drives are connected to the MV8's.

 

Worst case scenario, I should be able to just plug back in the unraid usb and boot that back to my original configuration assuming something terrible happened and couldnt get ESXi to work?

Yes, there are people reporting a few issues passing though some cards in ESXi with the ivybridge CPU's unknown if it is a chip or software glitch.  best to stick to what the motherboard was made for.

also, save the money with a 12x5 chip. that adds the hd3000 graphics chip to the CPU that you cant use with that board. stick with a 12x0

 

If you on unRAID 5x, moving the drives to the card will require no user interaction. if you are on 4.x you have to do some extra work. since you mention 3TB drives. I would do that upgrade first.

you can even do that and test before going to esxi.

 

yes. at anytime, you can pull the esxi thumbdrive out and it should boot right to unraid (unless it finds a bootable HDD in the server)

 

read the first page of my atlas thread. it should cover all of your questions..

 

Thanks for the tip and tutorials John! Conversion went 100% smooth with no problems.

 

Have not run into any problem so far with X9SCM-F and updating to 2.00b using Ivy Bridge. Will report back if any problems arise.

 

Forgot that ESXi does not support 3TB drives (wanted to map cache/parity directly) so had to put those on the MV8 controllers. Running out of room so going to have to pick up another soon. But MV8 working flawlessly so far.

 

 

 

 

[MSattler]

Quick question, it's not possible to pass through the motherboard controller drives to the VM is it?  I'm thinking about going this route as I just upgraded to an Extreme 4 / i3 3225 setup.  I have a MV8 with 8 drives on it, and 2 drives on the motherboard controller.  The only downside I see is I would be losing the 8 ports on the motherboard if I cann pass those through.

 

Thanks!

[kevinsyn]

Quick question, it's not possible to pass through the motherboard controller drives to the VM is it?  I'm thinking about going this route as I just upgraded to an Extreme 4 / i3 3225 setup.  I have a MV8 with 8 drives on it, and 2 drives on the motherboard controller.  The only downside I see is I would be losing the 8 ports on the motherboard if I cann pass those through.

 

Thanks!

 

I read somewhere that passing the motherboard controllers can yield unexpected results?

 

But where would your datastore drives go if your passing the entire motherboard controller to VM?

[MSattler]

My thought would be to use the SD/USB card I'm booting off as my Datastore.  Realistically I would probably keep the unRAID VM(s) on the SD card <at least the vmx file etc, since there would be no vmdk file>, and boot other VM's I have on it from NFS.  At this point I already have an Dell XPS-8500 with 32GB Ram I use as a VMWare Lab, and it connects to a Synology DS-410 via NFS.

 

Although I was thinking more along the lines of being able to pass drives through, instead of the entire controller.  I'm guessing it wouldn't work like that. 

[Johnm]

keep in mind the I3 does not support VT-d (with the exception of one OEM only I3)

[MSattler]

keep in mind the I3 does not support VT-d (with the exception of one OEM only I3)

 

Good point, forgot about that. 

 

Think I'll keep it as is.  Thanks!