I currently have two servers at home. One is unRAID, and the other is an Ubuntu 12.04 server. I've been dreaming of combining those two for years to reduce the noise, heat, and electricity costs. I'm still running unRAID 4.7, but unRAID 5 looks like it supports all of the things I use Ubuntu Server 12.04 for. This includes:

 

Sabnzbd

Couchpotato

Sickbeard

Headphones

PlexServer

SubSonic

Squeezbox

 

So, the way I see it I have three options.

 

1.) Keep both the servers as is. Everything is working fine, although I'm paying for the electricity usage of 2 servers and it adds some extra heat and noise to my home office.

2.) Get rid of the Ubuntu Server and upgrade unRAID to 5.0. I'll get to install all of the plugins I currently use so I won't be missing anything. I also have an 1 year old desktop PC (core i7 Sandy Bridge) with 16GB of ram gathering dust. I can swap out my current unRAID hardware with some better specs to handle the load.

3.) Get rid of the Ubuntu Server, and install ESXI on the current unRAID box. I'll be running unRAID and Ubuntu Server through ESXI. The downside here, is that I would need to buy a new MOBO, RAM, and CPU (one that supports ESXI properly). I would essentially have the exact same setup I do now, except everything would run on 1 physical machine.

 

#2 sounds like the ideal solution. I already have hardware available so I don't have that extra $500-$600 expense for the MOBO, RAM, and CPU. What I like about my current setup however (running all my apps on Ubuntu and not unRAID), is the stability of everything. Everything works and I rarely run into issues. I LOVE that.

 

How stable are all of the apps I use on unRAID? Certain things like subsonic run on Java... so is that something I can patch (java) myself when new security vulnerabilities are released? I'm assuming there isn't any sort of apt-get command under unRAID, and that everything is therefor built from source when installed?

 

Updates to apps like sabnzbd and sickbeard will be available as soon as they're released? The apps all support updates within the app themselves, so I imagine I could keep them all up to date with the latest and greatest just like I do right now?

 

Since unRAID appears to run everything I want run now, I'm really tempted to go with #2 and KISS. I feel like #3 would be the most stable (and most expensive), but I'm hoping someone can chime in on the reliability of all the apps I use under unRAID.

Personally I'd keep a physically separate UnRAID.  You've already noted how rock-solid it is;  and a good part of the reason for that is you're not running a bunch of plugins.    If you're concerned about power utilization, build a good low-power server  [My 2nd UnRAID server idles at 20w and only draws a max of ~ 46 watts during parity checks -- not bad for a 15TB NAS !!]

 

If you really want it all together, I'd go with Option #2 (ESXi).    That lets you continue to have a dedicated no-plugins UnRAID server, but doesn't require a physically separate machine.

 

Thanks again for the reply.

 

Are there a lot of issues within running plugins? For example, does that usually cause issues when upgrading unRAID?

Thanks again for the reply.

 

Are there a lot of issues within running plugins? For example, does that usually cause issues when upgrading unRAID?

 

The only add-on I run is UnMenu ... solely for the APC UPS package (and the associated CleanPowerDown).    But if you look through these forums, you'll see a LOT of issues associated with various plugins ... often specific to either certain hardware or to a particular combination of plugins.    If I wanted to run a bunch of the plugins, I'd do it on a separate box, using the UnRAID PC as my NAS for that box.    You can either do this by using two separate machines; or by using ESXi and running those "separate machines" in the same physical box.

 

If you do not have ESXi supported hardware then you can run unraid with VIrtualBox only (no other plugin) and on that install an Ubuntu OS with all your other applications liek you have today.

 

That way unRAID should be almost mint and you have all your applications in a "regular" OS.

 

I have VirtualBox installed on my unRAID server with Windows 7 as guest OS for utorrent and other applications.

Been very stable - current uptime ~70days (restarted to install RC12a).

 

You can try it out also with unRAID 4.7 so you don't even need to move to 5.0 if you don't want.

 

Package download:

http://vbox.a1aina.com/

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=25099.0

 

If you are using unRAID 5.0 then there is a plugin I wrote:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=25715.0

 

 

If you do not have ESXi supported hardware then you can run unraid with VIrtualBox only (no other plugin) and on that install an Ubuntu OS with all your other applications liek you have today.

 

That way unRAID should be almost mint and you have all your applications in a "regular" OS.

 

I have VirtualBox installed on my unRAID server with Windows 7 as guest OS for utorrent and other applications.

Been very stable - current uptime ~70days (restarted to install RC12a).

 

You can try it out also with unRAID 4.7 so you don't even need to move to 5.0 if you don't want.

 

Package download:

http://vbox.a1aina.com/

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=25099.0

 

If you are using unRAID 5.0 then there is a plugin I wrote:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=25715.0

 

That sort of virtualization scares me a bit. I've done it before on an old server running Windows as the host and various windows/linux OS' as the guests, but I did run into some annoying issues from time to time. Granted, this isn't Windows we're talking about now... but it still scares me.

 

I'll do some reading into some of the links you provided. I guess it is a decent way to go though if I don't want to buy ESXi hardware right now. unRAID is so low in resource demands that I can't imagine it having any issues under VirtualBox.

That sort of virtualization scares me a bit. I've done it before on an old server running Windows as the host and various windows/linux OS' as the guests, but I did run into some annoying issues from time to time. Granted, this isn't Windows we're talking about now... but it still scares me.

 

I'll do some reading into some of the links you provided. I guess it is a decent way to go though if I don't want to buy ESXi hardware right now. unRAID is so low in resource demands that I can't imagine it having any issues under VirtualBox.

 

Unraid is the host OS not the virtualized OS !!!

VirtualBox runs under unRAID not the other way around.

That sort of virtualization scares me a bit. I've done it before on an old server running Windows as the host and various windows/linux OS' as the guests, but I did run into some annoying issues from time to time. Granted, this isn't Windows we're talking about now... but it still scares me.

 

I'll do some reading into some of the links you provided. I guess it is a decent way to go though if I don't want to buy ESXi hardware right now. unRAID is so low in resource demands that I can't imagine it having any issues under VirtualBox.

 

Unraid is the host OS not the virtualized OS !!!

VirtualBox runs under unRAID not the other way around.

 

Oops... that scares me even more though now

 

I'd feel more comfortable running unRAID under Ubuntu and not the other way around. I'll still look into it some more though.

I did option 2; semi clean unraid (added SimpleFeatures), added a VM for Ubuntu to run my services (Plex, etc). I really like how it gives me an "uncluttered" unraid system.

 

The other advantage is the reality that unraid really doesn't need a lot of CPU horse power

 

I will say though that unless you have a rock solid view on your hardware being ESXI compatible you may end up spending a bunch of time trying to get ESXI to recognize all your parts. I built my server from the start so it would run ESXI.

As I noted above, if I was going to do this, I'd build a dedicated low-power UnRAID box; and THEN an ESXi box to run as many other VMs as you wanted.

 

But a good ESXi box can indeed run UnRAID as one of the VMs very nicely -- and once you've got it configured you basically never have to "touch" the UnRAID VM.    It's not likely to be as low-power as a dedicated UnRAID box can be (mine idles at 20w);  but it can still be pretty efficient and does have the advantage that there's not a 2nd PC running for your other apps.

 

If you buy the hardware from scratch, and be sure you use top-quality components that are all ESXi compliant, it should all work very well.    A good SuperMicro board, 3rd or 4th gen Core architecture Xeon, and ESXi passthrough capable SATA RAID cards will let you build a VERY good ESXi system.

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

If I go ESXi it will definately be with proper hardware. I wouldn't want to even bother with desktop grade components on that type of system. Actually, I should have started with server grade stuff when I first built my unRAID box, but I wanted to make use of what I had laying around the house and it's served me well for many years.

 

My current unRAID box isn't the most energy efficient coming from 2006 or so. So a new build would likely save me a few bucks a month in electricity. And if I reduce my two servers to one machine, that will save me another $8 or so per month. Cost wise it would take 8+ years or so to recoup the cost for all this new hardware compared to the energy I'd be saving. And in all likely hood, I'd upgrade the server before then. The biggest draw for me having 1 machine is less heat and less noise in my home office.

 

I think I'm going the ESXi route. I'll upgrade my MOBO, RAM, CPU, and RAID controllers to ESXi compatible versions, and I'll add an SSD as my datastore to run Ubuntu off of. I'll keep my server chassis the same which holds 15 drives, and I'll remove 1 drive from unRAID and add that as the data drive for Ubuntu (to handle things like the downloads from sabnzbd and what not). The SSD I'll velcro to the inside of the case since I'm already using 5-in-3 drive cages to give me 15 drives in my case. It's more then I wanted to spend right now, but I guess it's better to do it right the first time.