I would like to set-up my unraid in a virtual environment.

I have a very stable UNRAID 5 dedicated machine so my first thought was to run unraid as GUEST in a XEN server environment.

Now with the arrival of UNRAID 6 i hesitate to run UNRAID as GUEST.

 

Which is better, has more advantages ?

Which proves the more stable ?

Is unraid 6 Beta already stable enough to replace the UNRAID 5 ?

 

Thx in advance for your reply's.

To provide any recommendations on which approach is better really needs you to provide more information on why you are looking for virtualization.

 

As to whether v6 beta 6 is stable enough is really a subjective view.    Most people (including myself) seem to have no issues if using it in basic mode without any add-ons.  If you make use of add-ons then depending on which ones they are you may encounter problems. To some extent there is always a slightly increased risk in using beta software, but the risk to your data seems to be low.  However in basic mode the fact that the system is 64-bit now seems to alleviate some issues due to the fact that RAM above 4GB can be used more effectively.

 

What the latest v6 beta virtualisation options provide is way to experiment with VM technologies such as KVM/Xen and container technology in the form of Docker without the risk of destabilising the basic unRAID system.  Whether this is of interest to you depends on both your technical expertise and also what you are looking to do on your unRAID system.

 

I am personally am looking to VM technology to allow me to also run Windows on the unRAID server as that will reduce the number of PC's I need. As a side-effect I will be able to run VM's for test purposes (I do a limited amount of software development) using a variety of different OS.  I also hope to use the Docker technology to run some packaged apps (provided by others) which will enhance the use of unRAID in its media server role with minimal risk or setup effort.

I like my unraid as clean and stock as possible.

That is why i run it as an esxi guest.

 

Im currently running v6-beta6 on ESXi v5.5 and I couldnt be happier.  I use the excess capacity to supplement my ESXi cluster.  I have no desire to use Xen or KVM.  I may be speaking out of my ass here, but ESXi is PROVEN and is rock solid.