Hi I Currently have Unraid on My Server but want to test out ESXi before I buy a new MB and CPU. Can anyone confirm I will be OK to try it out? Most websites I have been on said it will work fine on 4.1. Because my MB is so old no confirmations for 5.5. http://www.benwagner.net/computing/asus-a8n-sli-deluxe-and-vmware-esxi/ 

https://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-15746.

Also no Information on passthrough which I read is important for unraid?

 

I am trying to separate the plugins because I heard Unraid is more stable with no plugins. So ESXi for Unraid/Widows machine/Pfsense Firewall(maybe). If ESXi will work on my Computer will my system be able to handle 2-3 Virtual machines?

Asus A8n Sli Deluxe

AMD Athlon X2 3800+

4 GB Ram

2-3 GB for Unraid/1-2 GB for windows machine for plugins or pfsense.

thanks

 

My main concern for testing out would be Unraid/Plugins on OS

You will need more ram.

However if you have a spare  16gb flash stick you can test it out if all is working.

 

Power down your unraid. Take our all hard drives, just in case.

Find a spare hdd for testing.

Do not put it in just yet.

Take the flash drive and install esxi on it.

When up and running , download esx compartible unraid vm from here. There is a thread with pre made vm and instructions somewhere on this site. Put the unraid flash stick back in and create the vm using the vm image you got from here. You do not need to pass through the usb controller just attach the usb drive to vm in hardware config.

Now the real test, if you hardware is supported, you should be able to pass through the hdd controller to vm using esxi advanced options.  Otherwise it will tell you that the functionality is not supporred.

All this should not take more than an hour of your time. And you will know for sure.

 

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

 

 

You will need more ram.

However if you have a spare  16gb flash stick you can test it out if all is working.

 

Power down your unraid. Take our all hard drives, just in case.

Find a spare hdd for testing.

Do not put it in just yet.

Take the flash drive and install esxi on it.

When up and running , download esx compartible unraid vm from here. There is a thread with pre made vm and instructions somewhere on this site. Put the unraid flash stick back in and create the vm using the vm image you got from here. You do not need to pass through the usb controller just attach the usb drive to vm in hardware config.

Now the real test, if you hardware is supported, you should be able to pass through the hdd controller to vm using esxi advanced options.  Otherwise it will tell you that the functionality is not supporred.

All this should not take more than an hour of your time. And you will know for sure.

 

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for the information.. I tried searching for esx compatible unraid vm from the forum but could not find anything. I have signed up and downloaded Esxi 5.5 from the website. I will try and install it on a USB as you suggested.

You will need more ram.

However if you have a spare  16gb flash stick you can test it out if all is working.

 

Power down your unraid. Take our all hard drives, just in case.

Find a spare hdd for testing.

Do not put it in just yet.

Take the flash drive and install esxi on it.

When up and running , download esx compartible unraid vm from here. There is a thread with pre made vm and instructions somewhere on this site. Put the unraid flash stick back in and create the vm using the vm image you got from here. You do not need to pass through the usb controller just attach the usb drive to vm in hardware config.

Now the real test, if you hardware is supported, you should be able to pass through the hdd controller to vm using esxi advanced options.  Otherwise it will tell you that the functionality is not supporred.

All this should not take more than an hour of your time. And you will know for sure.

 

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for the information.. I tried searching for esx compatible unraid vm from the forum but could not find anything. I have signed up and downloaded Esxi 5.5 from the website. I will try and install it on a USB as you suggested.

I would suggest this thread http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26639.0

You will need more ram.

However if you have a spare  16gb flash stick you can test it out if all is working.

 

Power down your unraid. Take our all hard drives, just in case.

Find a spare hdd for testing.

Do not put it in just yet.

Take the flash drive and install esxi on it.

When up and running , download esx compartible unraid vm from here. There is a thread with pre made vm and instructions somewhere on this site. Put the unraid flash stick back in and create the vm using the vm image you got from here. You do not need to pass through the usb controller just attach the usb drive to vm in hardware config.

Now the real test, if you hardware is supported, you should be able to pass through the hdd controller to vm using esxi advanced options.  Otherwise it will tell you that the functionality is not supporred.

All this should not take more than an hour of your time. And you will know for sure.

 

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for the information.. I tried searching for esx compatible unraid vm from the forum but could not find anything. I have signed up and downloaded Esxi 5.5 from the website. I will try and install it on a USB as you suggested.

I would suggest this thread http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26639.0

 

Nice .. Thanks Bob I'll give it a look.. But Damn this virtualization stuff is crazy for a noob..

I would suggest this thread http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26639.0

 

Checked the thread and saw the vmdk for my Unraid version 5.0-rc8 is not available. I also wanted to upgrade my version but rebuilding a drive and keep getting errors. Don't want to upgrade before I fix that problem. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29885.15.

 

For the Virtual machine what would you recomend for a Datastore? I have a spare WD Raptor 150GB or a 120GB OCZ Revo 3 SSD. I was thinking the Revo 3 Since it wont take up a sata port giving me another HD for Unraid. My PCIe lanes will have the Revo 3 and a PCIe to Sata card with 2 ports. Will this be a problem and can I add more PCIe to sata cards for Hard drives? I will have a PCI card for video.

 

I would suggest this thread http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26639.0

 

Checked the thread and saw the vmdk for my Unraid version 5.0-rc8 is not available. I also wanted to upgrade my version but rebuilding a drive and keep getting errors. Don't want to upgrade before I fix that problem. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29885.15.

 

For the Virtual machine what would you recomend for a Datastore? I have a spare WD Raptor 150GB or a 120GB OCZ Revo 3 SSD. I was thinking the Revo 3 Since it wont take up a sata port giving me another HD for Unraid. My PCIe lanes will have the Revo 3 and a PCIe to Sata card with 2 ports. Will this be a problem and can I add more PCIe to sata cards for Hard drives? I will have a PCI card for video.

If you look at the Atlas thread you will see he talks about using an SSD and the possible problems with doing that - might continue reading through thread too as he had one die if I remember correctly.  However if ESXi 5.5 supports trim operations it would be fine but that would likely only be with the newer VM format (10 I believe) and you only have 60 days to configure VMs for free with the GUI provided (from other posts).  5.5 has been reported to work fine and free with the earlier VM formats (7 & 8 I believe) but those don't support trim.  I have a 300GB raptor as my datastore drive on each of my ESXi 5.0 servers.  I used them because I had them and would probably have gone with 7200 1TB platter drives like the newest Seagate's if I really wanted the fastest possible access from a spinner.  Personally I would use a MB SATA port for Datastore drive and leave the remaining ports (usually just 6 off the south bridge chip) empty or full of other datastore drives.  Then get controllers and or use additional non-south bridge chips to pass through to unRAID.  If you consider other Virtualization platforms you might have a few more options that are not available to ESXi.  I cannot confirm this as I'm using ESXi only at this time.  My other virtualization platform (VirtualBox) is not a Type 1 hypervisor and runs on top of Windows and unRAID.

 

If you look at the Atlas thread you will see he talks about using an SSD and the possible problems with doing that - might continue reading through thread too as he had one die if I remember correctly.  However if ESXi 5.5 supports trim operations it would be fine but that would likely only be with the newer VM format (10 I believe) and you only have 60 days to configure VMs for free with the GUI provided (from other posts).  5.5 has been reported to work fine and free with the earlier VM formats (7 & 8 I believe) but those don't support trim.  I have a 300GB raptor as my datastore drive on each of my ESXi 5.0 servers.  I used them because I had them and would probably have gone with 7200 1TB platter drives like the newest Seagate's if I really wanted the fastest possible access from a spinner.  Personally I would use a MB SATA port for Datastore drive and leave the remaining ports (usually just 6 off the south bridge chip) empty or full of other datastore drives.  Then get controllers and or use additional non-south bridge chips to pass through to unRAID.  If you consider other Virtualization platforms you might have a few more options that are not available to ESXi.  I cannot confirm this as I'm using ESXi only at this time.  My other virtualization platform (VirtualBox) is not a Type 1 hypervisor and runs on top of Windows and unRAID.

 

Thanks for the information. So will a controller like SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101792 be faster then on board 6GB sata3 Ports? If so would this be a good card to get and still use when I upgrade my MB?

Thanks for the information. So will a controller like SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101792 be faster then on board 6GB sata3 Ports?

I doubt it will be faster but it won't be much IF ANY slower.

If so would this be a good card to get and still use when I upgrade my MB?

I know a lot of people are using it and I have an earlier version SASLP-MV8.  But you may run into one problem that appears to be easily fixed.  Many posts in another thread are suggesting to get it to work properly they had to flash the firmware EVEN if it comes with the current firmware already on it.  But re-flashing appears to fix whatever problems they have from the factory.

Thanks for the information. So will a controller like SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101792 be faster then on board 6GB sata3 Ports?

I doubt it will be faster but it won't be much IF ANY slower.

If so would this be a good card to get and still use when I upgrade my MB?

I know a lot of people are using it and I have an earlier version SASLP-MV8.  But you may run into one problem that appears to be easily fixed.  Many posts in another thread are suggesting to get it to work properly they had to flash the firmware EVEN if it comes with the current firmware already on it.  But re-flashing appears to fix whatever problems they have from the factory.

 

So this card has No problems with ESXi or other VM's?

Also would a better buy be  IBM M1015(IT) 9211-8i (IT) mode or  LSI SAS9211-8i ? I found both used for $140.00. Want to be able to use the card for  VM's Unraid or other raid types(ZFS). Looking for the best card to get for the Price.

 

 

 

So this card has No problems with ESXi or other VM's?

Also would a better buy be  IBM M1015(IT) 9211-8i (IT) mode or  LSI SAS9211-8i ? I found both used for $140.00. Want to be able to use the card for  VM's Unraid or other raid types(ZFS). Looking for the best card to get for the Price.

My favorite card is IBM M1015.  Once flashed to IT mode it works with everything (unRAID, WHSv1, Win7x64, Win7x86, WinXP) for me but I've never used ZFS so can't comment.  As to the SAS2LP-MV8 I've seen posts that suggest it doesn't need the ESXi hack like my version 1 SASLP-MV8 does.  I also suspect once it is re-flashed there would be no problems with it.  Personally if I was buying I would spend a little extra and get the M1015 but you don't have to.  The LSI is of course essentially identical (after the flash on the M1015 anyway) so it should work everywhere the M1015 does.