Hi Everyone,

 

I haven't visited Lime in ages...  but because of a recent issue, I found myself poking around a bit... and with version 6, it looks like I might be due for an upgrade.

 

I want to combine several machines I currently have into fewer...  but I have lots of things I use (I tried to shorten this list to only the items that I foresee might be an issue):

 

1.  Original Unraid (circa 2008; UnRaid 5.0, 20TB onboard):

  a.  Runs BTSync to backup files to my Newer Unraid system

 

2.  Newer Unraid (circa 2011; UnRaid 5.0, 18TB onboard):

  b.  Runs BTSync to capture backup files from my Original Unraid system

 

3.  Older desktop (circa 2005; Windows 7):

  a.  Continually AV scan my Unraid boxes

  b.  Scan photo prints with my old (but reliable) HP ScanJet 5c

  c.  Initially test downloads/trialware/etc before purchase/adoption onto Newer desktop

 

4.  Newer desktop (circa 2010; Windows 7, 2x 120GB SD drives):

  a.  Plex Server (for my Roku)

  b.  Daminion (photo management software) that provides a networked database (postGRE SQL) for multiple systems to access (see www.daminion.net)

  c.  CrashPlan to continually backup the most important directories of my UnRaid boxes (despite months of work, I never got the onboard CrashPlan to work - I think super large files (3.4TB Photoshop files) and 2GB of RAM were the issue).

  d.  Runs my Fujitsu ScanSnap document scanner (highly recommended)

  e.  Photoshop, Sketchup, GigaPan Stitcher, PTGui and a variety of other graphics applications

  f.  Google Earth (OpenGL / DirectX)

  g.  Visual Studio (C#, ASP.NET MVC, SQL, etc.)

  h.  Webserver

  i. Team Viewer (so I can remotely do some things)

  j.  Corona SDK (develop mobile applications)

  K. Almost forgot, I have a Wacom Cintiq 12" display tablet for photo editing too.

 

5.  Apple iMac (i7):

  a.  Corona SDK (Apple required to compile for IOS)

 

I tried to reduce the above lists to the "relevant" things - items that I'm concerned about because they have specific hardware requirements, drivers, network configurations, etc.  (I didn't include things I just expect to work - like Office applications, printers, etc.).  I don't generally play video games.

 

I'm thinking I can steal one of my original UnRaid boxes (hopefully save the 12 drive case), add the two SD's from my desktop, buy a new motherboard, processor, and a pile of RAM and hopefully downsize to much less equipment.

 

As a side effect, I think array access will be faster - since the drives will be onboard the same box as the VM - is that true?  (Currently, for photo editing, I copy the files from my UnRaid to my local drives, do my editing, then copy back - just so my editing is more responsive than saving to the NAS).

 

I expect to boot to Windows with this new machine - and leave it running all the time - and access other potential VMs through Synergy (www.synergy-project.com).

 

So, how much hardware can I get rid of?  Suggestions on how to do this?  What won't work?  I'm looking for consolidation advice.  :-)

 

Thanks,

 

Russell

Sure, you can, the only sticky one to replace is the iMac.  But there is even some success there, however not Apple approved.

 

It depends on why you want to have several unRaid servers.  I keep several, and via IPMI have have a backup server run only an hour per day to backup the main server.  I think there is value there. 

 

As far as other machines, get rid of them if you can.  The thing that I am still waiting on, is a RDM protocol that allows me to use a powerful Photoshop VM's on my server from a wimpy laptop over wifi, and still have perfect mouse precision.  RDM works, but try and work precisely with a mouse and its not there.  For that use, you need video passthough, and have your mouse and keyboard physically connected to the unRaid box.

Thanks tr0910,

 

I'm planning to use this new setup as my desktop replacement, so I'm not real worried about remote connecting to it.  Sounds like I should keep the iMac so I can do "officially supported" iOS builds for my iPhone app...  keep one of my existing UnRaids as a backup server...  but I can probably combine all the rest?

 

I'd be directly connecting monitors, keyboard, mouse, wacom tablet, flatbed and high speed sheet scanner all to this one device - and setup a couple of VMs (one as my standard desktop replacement, one for testing new software before it goes on my standard VM) and a couple Containers (for Plex, BTSync, webserver, CrashPlan).

 

1.  Would access to the files on the Array be faster for VMs accessing them (like Photoshop, Daminion Photo Manager, etc.) than accessing them over the network (I expect the answer to be yes - any idea how much faster?)?

 

2.  Any specifically suggested hardware (I have read what's been tested) (specifically, should I aim for the 8 core i7 - or will the hex cores or others be about the same performance?  should I opt for Xeon for some reason?  Is there some hardware coming in the next six months that I should simply wait for?  (After this build, I wouldn't expect to upgrade again for several years.))?

 

3.  Will this be bleeding edge, or is this proven stable already, considering all the devices I'm trying to combine?  (I don't want to bleed after the build.)

 

Thanks so much for all your feedback,

 

Russell

It's been a couple weeks now...  Any suggested specs for this kind of thing?

 

Or maybe this is too bleeding edge for me.

 

Russell