You really have me interested in trying XenServer now...more for virtualizing OpenELEC than unRAID however.  Not that I wouldn't virtualize unRAID ( I do that now) but I'm loving the idea of ditching my dedicated OpenELEC settop boxes and just have long HDMI runs.

 

I may have to look into RF remotes if I decide to go this route.  Or, Just get extra long IR repeaters (I use those now also).

 

John

You really have me interested in trying XenServer now...more for virtualizing OpenELEC than unRAID however.  Not that I wouldn't virtualize unRAID ( I do that now) but I'm loving the idea of ditching my dedicated OpenELEC settop boxes and just have long HDMI runs.

 

I may have to look into RF remotes if I decide to go this route.  Or, Just get extra long IR repeaters (I use those now also).

 

John

 

Or just use phone  / tablet apps as a remote. This works flawlessly for me daily.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

Been messing around with xen on my microserver learning how to configure and what not before i attempt to try it on main server.

 

If I boot straight off the USB stick and click on the flash in unRaid UI I get the following info:

 

Flash Vendor:    USB_2.0

Flash Product:    Flash_Disk

Flash GUID:    058F-6387-0000-00001735FD4E

Registered to:    Unregistered

  Upgrade to Plus or go Pro

 

Same stick through the vm i get:

Flash Vendor:   

Flash Product:   

Flash GUID:    No flash (-2)

Registered to:   

  Upgrade to Plus or go Pro

 

The stick is a cheap one id never use with unRaid but it does for testing, looks like i may of done something wrong.

 

lspci | more and nano /boot/extlinux.conf can be found here along with some other chat with vl1969

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=30219.msg272025#msg272025

 

Just found your blog ironicbadger lots of interesting reading, any help or pointers really appreciated.

 

Also like your review on the X-Case caddy looking at getting myself 3 of them

 

Or just use phone  / tablet apps as a remote. This works flawlessly for me daily.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I always forget about this.   In the end though I would prefer to hand the wife (and any guest) a remote.

 

John

Hmmm...not familiar with CAT6 --> HDMI.  I'll need to research that one.  I was looking at 50ft runs of HDMI and mid level ones were $50.

 

I PXE boot OpenELEC now on 2 boxes.  Actually, I PXE boot unRAID also.

 

John

So...I am going to ask this in a way that doesn't sound completely stupid.  But, please forgive my lack of kernel compiling knowledge if I do not ask this correctly.

 

Has anyone actually approached Tom yet about adding the necessary drivers for Xen(server) to the unraid kernel like he did for ESXi?

 

Did I ask that right?

 

 

John

Hey ddeeeds,  any idea how to configure xenserver to stop the hvc0 messages in the unraid VM? I tried a few things I found on web but they didn't seem to work. 

 

Seems to be related to fact that xenserver is using hvc0 instead of tty1? Sorry bit of a look Linux noob...

 

hey ddeeds,

 

I got this working on my asrock z68m usb3 motherboard with xeon processor, wiht a marvell pcie sata card and a M1015 sas\sata card, but took a bit of doing. 

 

I couldn't pass through the onboard sata controller, just didn't want to work, so I ended up swapping the ssd with XenServer installed on it to the onboard sata controller and moving the two driver that were on the onboard to the marvell controller.  Weird thing is that in order for unraid to detect the pcie sata controller I had to pass through the whole pcie slot not just the sata card, even though I didn't have to do this with M1015 sas\sata card which was sitting in the pcie slot.

 

Anyway, I have one issue remaining on the unraid VM when it's up and running I get the following message:  Tower init: Id "hvc0" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes. 

 

Any idea how to fix this?

 

Appreciate your help on this (or from anyone else that knows how to fix it).

Anyway, I have one issue remaining on the unraid VM when it's up and running I get the following message:  Tower init: Id "hvc0" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes.

 

Any idea how to fix this?

Yes, this can be fixed.

 

I need to have a separate bzroot for XenServer and Xen (running in Linux) due to how each handle the remote console.

 

I do not have a XenServer test machine running at the moment. Could I send you a new VHD tomorrow to test for me?

 

If it works (which it should), I will update the thread and seperate XenServer and Xen (running on Linux) files on page 1 of this thread.

 

Thanks ddeeds.  Yeah sure. I need to upgrade to the latest unsaid anyway.

 

Long term I'm thing of switching to Arch and xen but that won't be until Christmas when I have more spare time.

You really have me interested in trying XenServer now...more for virtualizing OpenELEC than unRAID however.  Not that I wouldn't virtualize unRAID ( I do that now) but I'm loving the idea of ditching my dedicated OpenELEC settop boxes and just have long HDMI runs.

 

I may have to look into RF remotes if I decide to go this route.  Or, Just get extra long IR repeaters (I use those now also).

 

John

 

This is what I use it for. I have unRaid virtualized, but along side it I have Ubuntu running Plex Media Server, and two Windows 7 VM's with AMD cards running Plex Home Theater, works flawlessly for me.

 

For input, I set a USB controller to each VM and run USB over Ethernet extensions. At the end of each extension, I plug a simple little hub in. That way I can do mouse/keyboard and even a flash drive if the need ever comes. Really nice to have 1 beefy computer in the basement, serving a few locations in the house.

 

Looking to add a third card, and VM for a third location this spring.

NotYetRated,

 

Thanks for the write up on your setup.

 

I know you were playing with Xen on Linux (Ubuntu) and Xenserver. Which one did you end up using?

 

He he, embarrassed to say I have a drive with Ubuntu and a newer drive with XenServer. For now, XenServer is my daily. I swap boot drives a few hours at a time to continue tinkering with Xen on Ubuntu. I really like XenServer tools, the GUI for it right now, which is why its my primary.

 

DDeeds, your write ups were an immense help as well, many thanks.

I really do not want to take this thread offtrack but I would love some help getting my vid card passed through to xbmcbuntu (really openelec would be my first choice).  I tinkered with this yesterday and was successful at the passthrough and was able to assign the card to the VM, however, I could not get a signal on the monitor.  The console in XenCenter had a message at the top that said something to the effect of "you will need to use remote desktop" but I was able to see the desktop in the console.

 

The other weird thing I had going on was I could not launch XBMC.  Ubuntu desktop came up fine but it I tried to launch xbmc, it tossed me back to the desktop.

 

Should I drag this into a separate thread?

 

John

Long term I'm thing of switching to Arch and xen but that won't be until Christmas when I have more spare time.

 

Arch is my Linux of choice for a lot of reasons which I won't bore you with but if you do not have some Linux Experience / Skills... Arch is probably not a good choice. I would go with CentOS, openSUSE and Debian.

 

Ironicbadger and I can assist with whatever you choose. We have tested Xen with unRAID in a VM on those Linux Distros too.

 

Thanks appreciate it.  I'm comfortable using command line, just need to learn the Linux commands, but when / if I get around to the Linux with xen option then I'll what the best Linux flavor is for my use case / comfort level.

Long term I'm thing of switching to Arch and xen but that won't be until Christmas when I have more spare time.

 

Arch is my Linux of choice for a lot of reasons which I won't bore you with but if you do not have some Linux Experience / Skills... Arch is probably not a good choice. I would go with CentOS, openSUSE and Debian.

 

Ironicbadger and I can assist with whatever you choose. We have tested Xen with unRAID in a VM on those Linux Distros too.

 

Thanks appreciate it.  I'm comfortable using command line, just need to learn the Linux commands, but when / if I get around to the Linux with xen option then I'll what the best Linux flavor is for my use case / comfort level.

 

I second OpenSuse :-)

 

Yast is great

I am building out a server on it now and you get a very good GUI to use and can do almost everything form GUI.

the new stable version 13.1 have Samba 4.1 support  and other updates.

MariaDb, Xen 4.3/KVM

new network interface naming convention (it is unique and do not change on reboot)

I love it.

 

just install the lightweight GUI and all.

CLI server only install still available and you still can use Yast in GUI like fashion.(looks like midnight commander interface.)

 

Long term I'm thing of switching to Arch and xen but that won't be until Christmas when I have more spare time.

 

Arch is my Linux of choice for a lot of reasons which I won't bore you with but if you do not have some Linux Experience / Skills... Arch is probably not a good choice. I would go with CentOS, openSUSE and Debian.

 

Ironicbadger and I can assist with whatever you choose. We have tested Xen with unRAID in a VM on those Linux Distros too.

 

Thanks appreciate it.  I'm comfortable using command line, just need to learn the Linux commands, but when / if I get around to the Linux with xen option then I'll what the best Linux flavor is for my use case / comfort level.

 

I second OpenSuse :-)

 

Yast is great

I am building out a server on it now and you get a very good GUI to use and can do almost everything form GUI.

the new stable version 13.1 have Samba 4.1 support  and other updates.

MariaDb, Xen 4.3/KVM

new network interface naming convention (it is unique and do not change on reboot)

I love it.

 

just install the lightweight GUI and all.

CLI server only install still available and you still can use Yast in GUI like fashion.(looks like midnight commander interface.)

 

Is that a GUI to control Xen? If so would be great to see some screenshots! :-)

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

No, Yast is an OpenSuse Manager for everything.

you can peaty much do all system setup and configuration from it without touching CLI  including installing Xen or KVM.

after the Xen/KVM install you get utilities (I think from libvirt) that you can create manage VMs as well. it is limited but functional

 

you can see screen shots here "http://en.opensuse.org/YaST2-GTK"

 

not sure if it is still there but there was a webYast as well. you could reach it  from browser and do things remotely.

No, Yast is an OpenSuse Manager for everything.

you can peaty much do all system setup and configuration from it without touching CLI  including installing Xen or KVM.

after the Xen/KVM install you get utilities (I think from libvirt) that you can create manage VMs as well. it is limited but functional

 

you can see screen shots here "http://en.opensuse.org/YaST2-GTK"

 

not sure if it is still there but there was a webYast as well. you could reach it  from browser and do things remotely.

 

Thanks for that explanation, useful info to anyone weighing up the pros and cons of each distro.

 

Will check out libvirt in the mean time, and will look forward to the WebGUI that was mentioned earlier - sounds like it could be a good alternative for those not running Windows clients who would still like some form of GUI to manage Xen VMs, even if it is only basic :-)

 

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

That's awesome, thanks ddeeds! I'm going to have to take the plunge before too much longer 

Will be waiting for this. I install xen but pass through is not working

 

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

 

 

I really do not want to take this thread offtrack but I would love some help getting my vid card passed through to xbmcbuntu (really openelec would be my first choice).  I tinkered with this yesterday and was successful at the passthrough and was able to assign the card to the VM, however, I could not get a signal on the monitor.  The console in XenCenter had a message at the top that said something to the effect of "you will need to use remote desktop" but I was able to see the desktop in the console.

 

Should I drag this into a separate thread?

 

Send me a PM and I will assist you.

 

 

Thx for the offer deeds...much appreciated!

 

Let's hold off for a few days. I just bought an Asus Radeon HD6450 since none of the cards I had lying around have HDMI.  I'd rather jump in with both feet with the actual HW I plan to use.

 

I'll shoot you a PM when I get the card.

 

OK...I know just enough about Linux to be dangerous and I sure as hell am not afraid of a command line.  That being said, do you think XenServer or OpenSUSE/Xen for me?  I plan on using Xen for just that...only Xen.  So, an actual desktop is really not required for me.  All other task will be performed in VMs.  Does having a Desktop that is not needed add enough overhead that it becomes an enigma.

 

Also, since I PXE boot unraid, do you think I could have your Xen-friendly bzroot and bzimage?  Do you have 5.02?

 

John

I really do not want to take this thread offtrack but I would love some help getting my vid card passed through to xbmcbuntu (really openelec would be my first choice).  I tinkered with this yesterday and was successful at the passthrough and was able to assign the card to the VM, however, I could not get a signal on the monitor.  The console in XenCenter had a message at the top that said something to the effect of "you will need to use remote desktop" but I was able to see the desktop in the console.

 

Should I drag this into a separate thread?

 

Send me a PM and I will assist you.

 

 

Thx for the offer deeds...much appreciated!

 

Let's hold off for a few days. I just bought an Asus Radeon HD6450 since none of the cards I had lying around have HDMI.  I'd rather jump in with both feet with the actual HW I plan to use.

 

I'll shoot you a PM when I get the card.

 

OK...I know just enough about Linux to be dangerous and I sure as hell am not afraid of a command line.  That being said, do you think XenServer or OpenSUSE/Xen for me?  I plan on using Xen for just that...only Xen.  So, an actual desktop is really not required for me.  All other task will be performed in VMs.  Does having a Desktop that is not needed add enough overhead that it becomes an enigma.

 

Also, since I PXE boot unraid, do you think I could have your Xen-friendly bzroot and bzimage?  Do you have 5.02?

 

John

 

That card will work great. I know as I use it in a friends system

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

I really do not want to take this thread offtrack but I would love some help getting my vid card passed through to xbmcbuntu (really openelec would be my first choice).  I tinkered with this yesterday and was successful at the passthrough and was able to assign the card to the VM, however, I could not get a signal on the monitor.  The console in XenCenter had a message at the top that said something to the effect of "you will need to use remote desktop" but I was able to see the desktop in the console.

 

Should I drag this into a separate thread?

 

Send me a PM and I will assist you.

 

 

Thx for the offer deeds...much appreciated!

 

Let's hold off for a few days. I just bought an Asus Radeon HD6450 since none of the cards I had lying around have HDMI.  I'd rather jump in with both feet with the actual HW I plan to use.

 

I'll shoot you a PM when I get the card.

 

OK...I know just enough about Linux to be dangerous and I sure as hell am not afraid of a command line.  That being said, do you think XenServer or OpenSUSE/Xen for me?  I plan on using Xen for just that...only Xen.  So, an actual desktop is really not required for me.  All other task will be performed in VMs.  Does having a Desktop that is not needed add enough overhead that it becomes an enigma.

 

Also, since I PXE boot unraid, do you think I could have your Xen-friendly bzroot and bzimage?  Do you have 5.02?

 

John

 

That card will work great. I know as I use it in a friends system

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

That's exactly why I bought it.    I saw it referenced in your blog (I think) as well as numerous others.  Once I confirm it plays with my other HW, I'll buy 3 more.  W00t!

 

John

I also have an AMD 6450 (no fan and silent) and have no issues with it.

 

With the new Radeon open source drivers, latest Linux Kernel (with a patch)... You can get great performance and DTS-HD, TrueHD and LPCM. Until the last few months, that wasn't possible. Using the open source drivers my CPU utilization went from 20% - 30% down to 2% - 4% (watching mkvs in XBMC) along with the addition of HD Audio.

 

That's interesting to hear! How easy or difficult was it to get the kernel patched and the drivers installed?

 

I was looking at this card myself as it's recommended by some of the XBMC devs. If it plays nice with HD audio under Linux too then this will help me get rid of another windows machine ;-)

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Here is a guide on how you do it

 

Simply awesome! Thank you for sharing ddeeds, will owe you a beer by the time this is all up and running!! :-)

 

I certainly appreciate it, and I'm sure plenty of others do too! :-D

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Still playing around til I get my new vid card...

 

How can you tell which USB port the unRAID key is plugged into?  Is there a command I can run?

 

00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5
00:1a.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1

How can you tell which USB port the unRAID key is plugged into?  Is there a command I can run?

 

See this thread:

 

Determing which USB Controller to passthrough

 

You are going to need to boot into a Linux USB Live USB to determine it. The thread will walk you through it. If you need help, either ask in the other thread or PM me.

 

Thx deeds.

 

Actually, I was able to attach the flash drive.  Does this fail in 100% of the cases?  If so, does the name provide a clue (USB 7:0:0:0)?  If not, I'll DL a Live CD.