Hi all,

I've just started trying to consolidate the two servers I have running into one, (unRaid and win 7)

I've got an a Asrock 970 extreme4 with an 8320, 16gb ram and three IBM m1015.

 

I was planning on using ESXi and I've tried stock 5.0 and 5.5 with vib's loaded for the sata controller and Nic. However I keep getting random hangs where the console loses connection and everything becomes non responsive. (Going to try 5.1 later)

 

I'm thinking of trying something else but didn't know too much as this is my first real foray into virtualisation.

 

Xenserver looked good except it seems you have to pass the whole usb controller for unraid and I need a usb device in another vm so I assume it won't work.

 

What else? Xen in Arch or openSuse? Try and figure out why ESXi didn't like me?

 

Thanks Josh

 

 

 

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Try xenserver, is real easy.

 

Is there any reason you don't want to use unraid as the xen host?

 

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I liked the look of xenserver but did I read right that for the pro license I have to pass through the whole controller?  I have a usb device (z wave controller) I need to pass to a Windows vm. I've just finished reading xenserver and xen on arch and opensuse, just about to have a look at unraid as xen host. My only concern at this stage is that it's a beta.

Josh

 

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Most boards have 2 or 3 USB controllers and you only need to pass one through per vm. It doesn't scale terribly well unless you buy more PCI cards with USB slots but it should do for your needs.

 

 

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I was planning on using ESXi and I've tried stock 5.0 and 5.5 with vib's loaded for the sata controller and Nic. However I keep getting random hangs where the console loses connection and everything becomes non responsive.

 

Josh -- what kind of hangs are you having?  Is the ESXi host dropping the network connection after working for about 30-60 seconds?

 

I had this issue, and thanks to Google, read a forum entry that unbelievably fixed my issue.

 

The recommendation was to power down the machine and UNPLUG the server for 5 minutes.  The issue is that (apparently) the network can get confused, and power cycling by the front switch isn't enough to clear out all the hardware.

 

Plug the server back in, and boot straight to ESXi.

 

This may not be your issue, but in case it's similar, it is an easy thing to try.  I'm using ESXi 5.0U3.

 

John

 

Thanks John, I'll give it a try. I'm not exactly sure but I'm only running the cpu ram and one hdd for data store and testing now.

It seems to just freeze, I can't connect it ping it. The usb keyboard stops responding as well and have to hard power down.

It has happened anywhere from Ten minutes in to a lot longer, sometimes an hour later it's good but I leave it on overnight and come back and it is frozen.

Mem test is next i think it different sticks of ram.

Josh

 

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The usb keyboard stops responding as well and have to hard power down.

 

Yeah, if it impacting more than the network, it is probably different than the problem I was having.

Thanks anyway, tried it and it didn't work. Hard to pinpoint but had just esxi running all vm powered down and stayed on all night. Started Windows vm this morning and ten minutes in froze again. Had different ram in different slots too.

Trying xenserver now.

 

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Have fun with xenserver.  It is awesome.  Been running stable for several months.  Unraid vm, windows 7 with vga passthrough, 3 linux vms.

Yeah I've just got it running and I haven't had time to create a vm yet. Looks nice with xencenter. Just have to figure out how to create a local store on the one hdd I have connected that is also holding xensever. Apparently ideal is to store vm on an nfs or smb share but I only have one server.

Josh

 

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