64 Bit unRAID running natively on Arch Linux with full hypervisor support

[eshelon]

Badger and everyone else,

 

My friends and I have been watching this thread closely since first posted and I recently made an investment into some new hardware and would like to test out this setup with 64-bit unraid.  A little background...  I've been in the tech industry for about 15 years and the last 10 have been working for virtualization solutions providers (think Citrix, VMWare, Microsoft, NetApp, EMC, etc).  My friends are both also in tech (one's a web developer and the other a PC hardware engineer).  The three of us are blocking out 2 full days of time towards this project (not just 8-5 ;-) starting on Thursday, January 30th.  We'll be trying to wrap up by Saturday, February 1st.  Our goal is to try and get 64-bit unraid running as described in this article.  Here's the hardware we're using for this project:

 

Intel Core i7-4770 Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W

ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Professional LGA 1150 Intel Z8

2 x 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair RAM

750Watt Power Supply

2 x Seagate Desktop HDD.15 ST4000DM000 4TB 64MB Cache - OEM

 

Where we lack the expertise between the 3 of us is the initial setup.  We're familiar with unRAID as we all have been using it along with several plugins (OpenVPN [thanks peter], BT Sync, Crashplan, and then the other usual suspects).  Getting Arch/64-bit/unraid/xen/kvm/etc all configed, that's where we're a little hazy.  We have access to Xen engineers and even some decent storage engineers through my job, but to be fair, they probably aren't going to be very helpful with anything outside of XenServer for what we're trying to accomplish.

 

We will document our testing and share results with all.  No reason not to.  If we can get XenServer 6.2 installed and working as also described, further tests will include a lab with additional virtualization technologies (think virtual desktops/applications, etc).  This will require a memory upgrade and I'm committed to 32-64GB of RAM for this.  We also plan to implement a cache drive (SSD) for additional performance.  There are many additional potential labs and use cases as well.  Beyond this particular "server" that we will be building, we have a number of various client devices to test with for various purposes including, but not limited to:

 

2 x Ouya Consoles (Rooted w/ XBMC, SPMC, Plex, etc.)

2 x Apple TV 2's (Jailbroken w/ XBMC today)

1 x LG TV with Plex Native Streaming Capability (no set box needed for media server usage, it's built into the TV)

1 x iPad 3

1 x iPad Mini (last generation)

1 x Dell Venue Pro 8 Tablet

2 x Nexus 5 Smartphones

1 x Kindle Fire HD Tablet

1 x Desktop PC (Gigabyte Geforce 780 GPU)

1 x Additional unRAID server (running 5.0.4...considered the "production" system)

 

This isn't a list of shared equipment or stuff on loan from others.  This is all in hand right now.  We're ready to start building and testing like crazy!  The reason for the limited window of time is how difficult it is for the 3 of us to all get our schedules aligned where we can all take time off simultaneously.  This was a rare window of opportunity for us and we were hoping to use it to build some servers, play some games, and have some fun.  If any of you guys/gals are going to be around/available, I'd love to exchange IM information with yah ahead of time if you'd like to lend your support!  We have no expectation other than to give it our best and see what we can do and share with others.

 

Sorry for the long post...just really excited to try and get this working.  Thanks!!

[Ford Prefect]

My friends and I have been watching this thread closely since first posted and I recently made an investment into some new hardware and would like to test out this setup with 64-bit unraid.  A little background...  I've been in the tech industry for about 15 years and the last 10 have been working for virtualization solutions providers (think Citrix, VMWare, Microsoft, NetApp, EMC, etc).  My friends are both also in tech (one's a web developer and the other a PC hardware engineer).  The three of us are blocking out 2 full days of time towards this project (not just 8-5 ;-) starting on Thursday, January 30th.  We'll be trying to wrap up by Saturday, February 1st.  Our goal is to try and get 64-bit unraid running as described in this article.

 

[...]

 

Where we lack the expertise between the 3 of us is the initial setup.  We're familiar with unRAID as we all have been using it along with several plugins (OpenVPN [thanks peter], BT Sync, Crashplan, and then the other usual suspects).  Getting Arch/64-bit/unraid/xen/kvm/etc all configed, that's where we're a little hazy.  We have access to Xen engineers and even some decent storage engineers through my job, but to be fair, they probably aren't going to be very helpful with anything outside of XenServer for what we're trying to accomplish.

 

We will document our testing and share results with all.  No reason not to.  If we can get XenServer 6.2 installed and working as also described, further tests will include a lab with additional virtualization technologies (think virtual desktops/applications, etc).  This will require a memory upgrade and I'm committed to 32-64GB of RAM for this.  We also plan to implement a cache drive (SSD) for additional performance.  There are many additional potential labs and use cases as well.  Beyond this particular "server" that we will be building, we have a number of various client devices to test with for various purposes including, but not limited to:

 

[...[

 

This isn't a list of shared equipment or stuff on loan from others.  This is all in hand right now.  We're ready to start building and testing like crazy!  The reason for the limited window of time is how difficult it is for the 3 of us to all get our schedules aligned where we can all take time off simultaneously.  This was a rare window of opportunity for us and we were hoping to use it to build some servers, play some games, and have some fun.  If any of you guys/gals are going to be around/available, I'd love to exchange IM information with yah ahead of time if you'd like to lend your support!  We have no expectation other than to give it our best and see what we can do and share with others.

 

.....since you're dedicated to jan-30th...lay back, then roll-up your sleeves and throw your engineering skills at this: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31387.msg283827#msg283827