Got my ESXi Server up and running sort of.

[sgibbers17]

I just got my ESXi server up and running but I can seem to find out how to passthrough the onboard Intel c226 SATA controller to the unRAID VM.  I have a Asrock c226 ws motherboard with a xeon 1245v3 CPU.  I also want my data store to be on one of my marvell controllers but whenever I have to SSD plugged into the marvell controller ESXi will boot but my data store is not there.

[Whatever]

You may want to read this:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29906.msg269345#msg269345

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=30001.0

[Mojo]

Had the same problem. Moment I tried to pass-thru the onboard Intel sata ports, all other onboard sata/external sata cards was not visible. I had no choice but to use the Intel sata port for my lone SSD datastore drive, wasting the other 5 sata ports unused.

 

Would you consider using Unraid 6 beta. Shouldn't have this problem as there's really no need to pass-thru any sata ports, unlike ESXi.

[sgibbers17]

So it looks like I maybe out of luck.

 

I remember there being a post out there describing a MB that you could passthough individual SATA ports.

 

Can anybody recommend a Haswell server MB that has these features?

 

- Works with ESXi

- Supports ECC memory

- Supports and Intel Xeon 1245v3

- 7+ SATA ports that can be passed through to unRAID (plus the datastore)

  I have 7 drives for unraid right now.

- 3+ PCIe slots (for 3 TV tuner cards)

 

or a single PCIe SATA/SAS card that can handle 8 drives?

Not the SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 I have had issues with this card overheating and causing corrupted data in the past.

 

how is the SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 in comparison to the AOC-SASLP-MV8.

 

If I get a solid recommendation for both a MB and Card I could make my partly decision on which path is cheaper.

[Mojo]

Why not use Unraid 6 beta and Xen? No need to pass-thru sata ports.

[sgibbers17]

Xen doesn't have a client and an easy way to manage VMs.  Plus I found a vm appliance made by Cyberpower UPS powerchute business edition that will easily shut down ESXi and all it's guests in the event of a power outage.  I am also a Linux novice and find the ESXi client much easier to use

[BobPhoenix]

Xen doesn't have a client and an easy way to manage VMs.  Plus I found a vm appliance made by Cyberpower UPS powerchute business edition that will easily shut down ESXi and all it's guests in the event of a power outage.  I am also a Linux novice and find the ESXi client much easier to use

While I agree with this.  I am going to be going to unRAID/XEN from my ESXi boxes.  ESXi has a great GUI for management but future versions are eliminating that for a paid option unless you stick with OLDER VMFS formats on the datastores.  Also I like the idea of running unRAID natively.

[joshpond]

I don't mind the idea of unraid/xen but not while it is still in beta and also when currently my ESXi is stable.

 

If you are happy to stick with some of the older ESXi then should be no issue. I also find that the ESXi interface is just nicer and easier at the moment.

 

About the question about passing through motherboard sata ports but not the data store, the motherboard that I'm using does but it is AMD.

 

ASrock 970 extreme4, 5 motherboard ports, passthrough of 4 to unRaid and leaves one for the datastore.

 

I'm not aware of any that do individual sata ports as it is the controller that needs to be passed through.

 

I'm using HDHomerun as a tuner so that frees up PCI slots in the server.

 

Josh

[Mojo]

Because of ESXi not allowing me to pass-thru the Intel sata ports, I had various old PCI/PCI_E 1X sata cards lying around.

They all worked and was able to pass-thru all the cards to unRaid.

 

I settled for a DELL PERC H310 in IT mode I bought off ebay.

 

My ESXi setup is running stable for about a year now, and I'm just too lazy to get off my *$$ and learn Xen.

[sgibbers17]

 

I don't mind the idea of unraid/xen but not while it is still in beta and also when currently my ESXi is stable.

 

If you are happy to stick with some of the older ESXi then should be no issue. I also find that the ESXi interface is just nicer and easier at the moment.

 

About the question about passing through motherboard sata ports but not the data store, the motherboard that I'm using does but it is AMD.

 

ASrock 970 extreme4, 5 motherboard ports, passthrough of 4 to unRaid and leaves one for the datastore.

 

I'm not aware of any that do individual sata ports as it is the controller that needs to be passed through.

 

I'm using HDHomerun as a tuner so that frees up PCI slots in the server.

 

Josh

 

This was my exact thought process.  Also when I built this server I didn't know that Xen was coming to unRAID and didn't delve to deep into what would pass through because I didn't have any immediate plans to rum a VM.  All I knew was that I wanted vt-d support just in case I wanted to try ESXi again.  I already have 3 hauppauge tuners that I want to use.

 

Just out of curiosity if I were to get 3 HDHomeruns so I could record 6 shows at once how would a gigabit network handle up to that?  The only reason I ask is that recording 6 things at once and screaming a previously recorded show or two over the wifi would put serious strain on the network.

[joshpond]

Not sure, here in Australia we only have five channels (lots of sub channels within that), the hdhomerun can record two separate channels and sub channels within that so that is enough for us. I don't record that much to be honest.

 

Also I find that the IBM cards are good for passthrough.

Josh

 

Sent from my Nokia 3310 via tapatalk

 

 

[BobPhoenix]

On my ESXi servers I have an unRAID VM and a Windows VM on each server.  The unRAID VMs each have one M1015 passed through and connected to a SAS expander to give me 24 drive capability.  The Windows VM on each ESXi server contains 1 HDD controller various models (Currently SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8, SuperMicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 & USB3.0 PCIe card for USB3.0 external cage) as well as lots of tuners (Hauppauge HVR-2250s, AverMedia Duets, Hauppauge HVR-1600, nVidia DualTV).  I've had all of the following controllers passed through to Windows VMs in addition to the SuperMicro's: IBM M1015 PCIe,  Silicon Image Sil3132 PCIe, HighPoint 620 PCIe, 622 PCIe, 1742 PCI, 2320 PCIe - so lots of different controllers.  I have also passed through USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 controllers for Hauppauge HVR-950Qs and HD-PVRs.  I haven't passed through a Hauppauge Colossus yet but am hoping to sometime this year.  But that will likely be when I switch to XEN.  I ran into the 6 PCI device pass through limit in ESXi 5.0 when using my USB 2.0 cards since to get it to work I had to waist 3 of the 6 devices for the 3 legs of the USB 2.0 card.  That is the primary reason for me using USB 3.0 cards in ESXi now because with that I only have to pass through 1 device in ESXi.  The problem with USB 3.0 on ESXi (maybe USB 3.0 in general) is that I have to remember to power cycle the HD-PVRs on the Windows VMs after the VM boots.  They don't get initialized by Windows VM correctly and appear in device manager as an unknown device until I restart them.  That is only a problem when ESXi is first started.  If I restart the VMs after that the HD-PVRs are recognized correctly.  With USB 2.0 card that was not needed it always worked but took up too many PCI device slots in ESXi.  I'm hoping these problems will not exist in Xen but so far I've only passed through a M1015, USB 3.0 controller (for external backup drive) and MB Nic controller to a WHS2011 VM so don't have a lot of testing on XEN yet. 

[sgibbers17]

I found this site that might help.

 

How to make your unsupported SATA AHCI Controller work with ESXi 5.5

 

Edit: On further review this only works to get the controller to work within ESXi as a data store and will not work for passthrough.

 

Edit: Has anybody had any luck with the LSI Internal SATA/SAS 9211-8i or LSI MegaRAID Internal Low-Power SATA/SAS 9240-8i with passthrough to unraid?

[cpshoemake]

Has anybody had any luck with the LSI Internal SATA/SAS 9211-8i or LSI MegaRAID Internal Low-Power SATA/SAS 9240-8i with passthrough to unraid?

 

Everyone seems to love the IBM M1015 which is a rebranded 9210-8i. The 9211 is very similar, and would likely work fine. The 9240 might work, but you'd be paying extra for a bunch of RAID types you won't use.

[sgibbers17]

I ended getting a 9211-8i off of amazon for $170, I could have got it off of ebay for about $100 but I looked like it would take about 2 weeks for me to get (plus I'm not a huge fan of buying off of ebay).  I should have the card on Tuesday and I could test it then.  VMWare has this card on the ESXi compatibility wizard so I should have no problem on the ESXi end.