Hey Guys

 

Long post incoming! Hoping you will read

 

A friend of mine has recently started his venture in unRaid, and has successfully convinced me to try it out. It almost sounds too good to be true, and almost perfect (Provided it always works).

So I'm here with a fresh mindset and completly new hardware build (Not yet ordered, but will most likely today).

 

I'm hoping to get some help with my hardware setup, and guidance on the possibilities.

 

First up here is my ideas and visions that I have in mind.

 

1: Background for what I want to use unRaid for:

My trustworthy 8-year old first-generation i7 920 just died on me, and what better timing than me currently being in position to through some money at a brand spanking new setup.

So, I'm trying to build a setup where I can realize some my dream-ideas of a setup.

I'm not a hardcore-gamer, but I do use steam, and occasionally game some Racing games, and currently regularly playing Rocket League. This means that my setup should support Gaming at high-speed, high-resolution. However this is sort of secondary, but is still a must.

I'm a Software developer, working both daily with software development, and the occasional hobby-projects, side-jobs, etc. This also means that I fairly technical, but mostly inexperience in any *nix (I know the basic commands, etc.)

 

I have recently become very frustrated with Microsoft and Win10 in generel. However seeing, I need a gaming platform and I having spent the past 20 years in Windows, I'm most likely not able to fully get rid of Windows. I'm a seasoned .Net developed, and thus many of my hobby projects, and my daily job is in .Net. So yeah, I'm sort of married to Microsoft.

 

However I'd like to try to change that, as much as I can. So I'd like to venture on to a setup, where daily usage (Browsing, applications, etc) is done in a *nix environment, and then running a Win10 Virtually, with full access/dedicated Gfx possibilities.

 

This means that at first my Gfx needs on *nix is very limited, however in the coming future, I'm hoping to move more and more over to the *nix platforms, thus my first setup is based on only 1 "high/mid-end" Gfx for the Windows part. Would add additional Gfx cards for *nix usage later on.

 

Currently I also have media stored on a NAS box, and "I think" this is also what I'd like to in the future. This means that I'm not really planning to use Raid array of unRaid.

 

Basically 1 computer to rule all my home computer needs, a workstation. With Zero/Thin client setups (monitor, keyboard, mouse).

 

2: Hardware currently on my shopping-list

CPU: Intel 6800k

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws (2x8GB)

Motherboard: Asus X99-Deluxe II

Case: Fractal Design Define R5

Gfx-1: ASUS GeForce 210 EN210 SILENT/DI/1GD3/V2(LP)

Gfx-2: GeForce 1060 GTX ASUS DUAL-GTX1060-O6G

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO (850 GB)

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 80+ Gold (Already own this, unused, so I'll try to get by with this, and maybe upgrade later, when third gfx is added, etc)

 

 

3: Short term

- unRaid as base

- *nix VM, most likely Mint or Ubuntu, or something similar.

- Win10 VM, with dedicated Gfx (GTX 1060)

- A few dockers, such as Plex server, couchpotato, etc, whatever cool dockers are out there . Maybe some hobby-hosted apache/nodejs, either in dockers (If possible), or a seperate *nix VM.

- Seperate VM setup for Girlfriend, TV, etc.

- Also Steam Link for Steam Streaming to TV.

 

4: Semi short-term

- I want to be able to have my home-office with a setup with e.g. 3/4 monitors. And then a secondary setup e.g in the living room, with 1-2 monitors, maybe even a setup in the bedroom, I would love to be able to do all of of these:

[*]Move freely between the two position, and have my session move from the office to the living room, continuing whatever I was doing. RDP is one option, however I'd love to be able to do this without RDP so as to get the Gfx power to do gaming in living room, on a secondary setup.

[*]Login (with a secondary account) to one (or the primary) of the VM's already booted.

[*]Boot up a secondary VM in the living room or bed-room.

All of these primarily on Windows. Maybe in the long-run I'd be able to live with pure *nix in these regards (Most just browsing, playing media), where gaming would happen through Steam Link streaming from the primary Windows VM.

 

5: Long term

- Adding a dedicated Gfx to a *nix VM, so I could start transitionen the more Gfx heavy stuff to *nix, such as Gaming, Unity3D, etc.

- Home automation scripts/dockers, communcation with Arduino/PI/Pine projects.

 

- etc.

 

6: So then comes the questions:

[*]Which parts of my dreams, both short-term, semi short-term and long-term are possible? And what parts would not be possible with unRaid?

[*]Any problems with my hardware setup? I think I just found problems with the Nvidia 210, as people apparently have problem with it not handling rebooting of VM's?

[*]Would I have a problem with the 210 card? If yes, what's a good alternative, silent, cheap?

[*]My motherboard/cpu does not have integrated GPU.

Do I need a seperate gfx for unRaid, *nix and Windows? Do I need 3 gfx's? Or can I survive with 2? unRaid needs one for setup? But does it need it afterwards, when everything is handled in the web-interface? Would I be able to use the 210 for unRaid, and then boot up Mint on the same Gfx? And then have the 1060 dedicated for Windows?

[*]One of the very important questions is whether I NEED Raid Array? I wasn't really planning on using the Raid Array at first. Running everything purely from the SSD. Is this possible? Or does unRaid Virtualization Host and Application Server require the Raid Array?

[*]I plan on adding a few disks later, and then run my entire setup from this with SSD as Caching disk. But these would not be more than a few TB's large, and solely for the systems, games, etc.

I plan on adding more external NAS boxes to my network later, where I store various media.

If possible, how would I go from running everything from the SSD to the transation of the Array+SSD cache disk?

[*]If this is not possible, or almost impossible. Would it suffice to add a single 1/1½ TB disk as a single disk to the array, and then later on add more for secondary and parity disk?

[*]Future possibilty for dedicated SLI in Windows using unRaid?

[*]Good options for (Zero clients, KVM switch, etc) for adding a Monitor, keyboard, mouse from the livingroom/bedroom to the Workstation in office room.

 

I think this was it for now, and I'm hoping to get these doubts/questions answered quickly, so I can finally buy and build my dream-setup

Looking forward to using unRaid, and hoping I'll be able to provide some scripts/dockers myself to the community in the coming future

Hi, are you me by any chance? I'm researching Unraid for the very same reasons, and incidentally my 1st-gen i7-920 is starting to show its age! Have you made progress with your build and if yes, can you share your findings?

I think I can answer a few of your questions, at least the more specific ones.

 

My motherboard/cpu does not have integrated GPU.  Do I need a seperate gfx for unRaid, *nix and Windows? Do I need 3 gfx's? Or can I survive with 2? unRaid needs one for setup?

unRAID doesn't need its own graphics card for setup.  It can all be handled via web ui.

 

One of the very important questions is whether I NEED Raid Array? I wasn't really planning on using the Raid Array at first. Running everything purely from the SSD. Is this possible? Or does unRaid Virtualization Host and Application Server require the Raid Array?

 

I plan on adding a few disks later, and then run my entire setup from this with SSD as Caching disk. But these would not be more than a few TB's large, and solely for the systems, games, etc.

I plan on adding more external NAS boxes to my network later, where I store various media.

If possible, how would I go from running everything from the SSD to the transation of the Array+SSD cache disk?

You probably already know this, but one thing to make sure to understand is that unRAID isn't RAID, hence the name.  It writes data to the storage array holistically, no striping.  Disk rebuild is possible as long as you have a parity disk, but data is not spanned across drives.  WRT the need for a storage array to be running for virtualization support, I'm honestly not sure because I wouldn't have thought to run like that.  My gut tells me unRAID would require the array to be running.  Regarding the second question, why would you want to start off without any storage, and why would you want to add external NAS boxes later?  unRAID is great in its flexibility to use Docker, Virtualization, etc, but at the end of the day, it's primarily designed to be a NAS unit.  Why wouldn't you use unRAID as your primary storage location for your entire setup, vs having external NAS devices?  Seems like you're defeating most of the reason to use unRAID in the first place.  If it were me, I'd start with an unRAID machine with a storage array sufficient for your immediate needs, and a SSD cache disk to run your VM(s) on.  As your home network expands, so can your unRAID machine.

 

If this is not possible, or almost impossible. Would it suffice to add a single 1/1½ TB disk as a single disk to the array, and then later on add more for secondary and parity disk?

I'm pretty sure you can run unRAID with a single data disk in your array, with no parity.  Once you add a parity disk to your array later, unRAID will build parity and you'll be protected from single-drive failure at that point.

 

Future possibilty for dedicated SLI in Windows using unRaid?

Last I checked, unRAID does not support SLI.  I think I read that it supports Crossfire, but no go on SLI.

 

Good options for (Zero clients, KVM switch, etc) for adding a Monitor, keyboard, mouse from the livingroom/bedroom to the Workstation in office room.

I'm not terribly familiar with different zero clients, other than I know that they're entirely overpriced for what you're actually getting.  Most I saw were in the $300 range.  I've actually been wanting to do more research on this myself.

This may not apply to what you're trying to accomplish, but one thing to look into is Nvidia's gamestream technology.  It's what I use, and it works great.  It allows you to stream a game from your gaming machine to other devices, similar to steam link.  I much prefer it to steam link however, because you can use gamestream to stream your game to any Android device.  It was originally developed to be able to stream to other Nvidia products such as the Shield Tablet and Shield TV, but they opened up their API, so a third-party developer released an app on the Google Play store called 'Moonlight', which allows you to use pretty much any Android device.  For a while I was using an Amazon FireTV to stream games from my unRAID Win10 VM, and it worked flawlessly on every game I had, with the exception of GTA5, which was a bit studdery.  I've since upgraded the FireTV to a Shield TV and I couldn't be happier.  I play games in my bedroom primarily, and it's nice to know that my GTX1070 is doing all the heavy lifting.  Just so you're aware, gamestream is only supported by GTX series video cards.  You noted the GTX1060 which will work just fine.  I've also used gamestream without an issue with a GTX750 and GTX950.

For reasons that date back a while, and are based on unRAID's history as a NAS, the array does have to be started in order to start Dockers and VMs.  It should be minimally sufficient to have one data drive assigned.  You'll have to decide whether your VMs will live on the cache drive/pool or on other devices via the Unassigned Devices plugin.