N40L ESXI/UnRAID VM build

[Dolphino2]

hi guys, just after a bit of advice.  I've got an N40L with ESXI installed from a flash drive.  I've set up the 250gb hard drive as the data store and have 3x2tb drives RDM'd ready for using in UnRAID.  Is there a way to install unraid basic without the need to an unraid USB stick?  I've followed instructions online to create an unraid vm, but it still requires the USB stick to be plugged in.  The problem being that the N40L doesn't appear to allow you to select the USB boot order, so it keeps booting the unraid stick before ESXI.

[Ford Prefect]

...I don't own the N40L or even dare to run an ESXi build on it (no vt-d).

But I can think of two possible solutions/workarounds for your problem.

 

1. insert the USB key after ESXi is up and running

2. undo the "make-bootable" flag of the USB-key....unRAID in a VM boots from a vdisk...it only needs a "disk" properly propagated by the udev service into /dev/disk-by-name or /dev/disk-by-label with the right label to mount it.

[Johnm]

Yes. you can just make a small VMDK on your data store. youll have to name it UNRAID and follow the steps as if it was a usb.

this only works on the free version. if you ever upgrade, you'll have to use a FLASHDRIVE for a GUID.

[Dolphino2]

Cheers for the help so far - there must have been an issue with the UNRAID vmdk i'd made.  Created it again from scratch, uploaded it to the ESXI box, and this time it worked a treat.  I've started pre-clearing the disks (3x2tb) and so far so good, except for the fact that the SMART Reports dont seem to be working when using the ./preclear_disk.sh /dev/sdX command.  I get the following back:

 

Pre-Clear unRAID Disk /dev/sda

################################################################## 1.13

 

smartctl may not be able to run on /dev/sda with the -d ata option.

however this should not affect the clearing of a disk.

smartctl exit status = 2

smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build)

Copyright © 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

 

Smartctl: Device Read Identity Failed (not an ATA/ATAPI device)

 

A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T permissive' options.$

Do you wish to continue?

(Answer Yes to continue. Capital 'Y', lower case 'es'):

 

Should this be happening?  All the disks are WD Green drives (WD20EARX) And show as passing the Preclear, but I cant see any of the usual stats.

[RustySpoons]

You wont get smart monitoring as you are not passing the actual drive through, I really wouldn't run ESXi and a file server in this way, also it will be a right PITA if a drive goes down and you have to swap it, not to mention the performance penalty.

 

I would just run unRAID on the N40L and put ESXi on a separate box with one or 2 disks for the VM's. Will run a lot quicker and a LOT more reliable.

 

I am not a fan of AIO servers/virtualised data stores, putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea.

 

I run a Microserver for storage and separate VM servers, the N40L is more than capable as a storage device and if I need to reboot a server or upgrade Hyper-V/ESXi I don't bring my file storage down with it.

 

Just my opinion.

[Dolphino2]

You wont get smart monitoring as you are not passing the actual drive through, I really wouldn't run ESXi and a file server in this way, also it will be a right PITA if a drive goes down and you have to swap it, not to mention the performance penalty.

 

Surely if the drives being used for unraid are configured with RDM they are not being touched by ESXI and are simply passed through?  That way if the drive goes down its a simple swap out and rebuild as you would do normally with unraid.

[BobPhoenix]

You wont get smart monitoring as you are not passing the actual drive through, I really wouldn't run ESXi and a file server in this way, also it will be a right PITA if a drive goes down and you have to swap it, not to mention the performance penalty.

 

Surely if the drives being used for unraid are configured with RDM they are not being touched by ESXI and are simply passed through?  That way if the drive goes down its a simple swap out and rebuild as you would do normally with unraid.

Almost.  When you put in a new drive you have to setup a new RDM file as the old one is still pointing to the now unconnected drive.  Then rebuild like normal in unRAID.

[WeeboTech]

BetaQuasi has posted a ESX pre-built VMDK for unRAID here.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26639.msg233190#msg233190

 

I changed it to use IDE.

After it is booted you can set the label to UNRAID.

Reboot and copy over the config files into the proper directory structure.

 

As far as Rusty Spoons is saying, I agree with him in that running ESX on the Microserver along with unRAID is a bit of a pita, but I'm going to do it with two of mine.

 

I actually need to since I usually run 2 adminstration servers and I no longer have my 20 drive beast.

I was disappointed that SMART isn't passed through, but I'll deal with it as I need to. I can always reboot into unRAID native and test drives out.

 

 

[WeeboTech]

FWIW, I got my two N54L's running today with ESX and unRAID.

 

 

I found I had to use the -z switch to make the RDM files/links to the .vmdk.

Once I did that it worked with lsi sas then switched over the pvscsi without issue.

 

 

I did find some interesting tidbits with the N54L and speed.

 

 

I have a Startech PEXESAT322I PCI-Express x1 Low Profile Ready SATA III (6.0Gb/s) 2 Int/2 Ext SATA Controller Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816129101

 

 

This card supports SATA III.

 

 

I had the sandisk external raid unit set up with 2 3TB Seagate 7200 RPM drives.

Native unRAID did a read test clocked at 230 MB/s

under ESX unRAID did 170MB/s with the LSI SAS controller and 230 MB/s with the PVSCSI controller.

Just something to think about.

 

 

I did a whole assortment of speed tests with the N54L. I found the Startech controller to be good for single drives, but a SIL3132 to be good for multiple drives on a PMP device.