Hello, so to preface this, I'm working with IT on a daily basis but I've realized I've met my match here. So virtualization have always been something that interests me and been fiddling on and off with it. Currently I'm doing a trial of UnRAID where I'm trying to virtualize my gaming rig and fail with some parts and would like assistance.

 

My hardware is the following:

 

Intel® Core™ i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz

ASUS Z97-A, Socket-1150 Moderkort, ATX, Z97, DDR3, 3xPCIe-x16, SLI/CFX, M.2, SATA Express, VGA, DVI,HDMI

2x SSD (1x 128GB ADATA and 1x 256 ADATA) Cache

2x 1TB HDD Western Digital (1 Parity and 1 Storage(?))

Radeon R9 390x

16GB RAM

 

Using 3/4 cores (so core 1,2 and 3, while leaving core 0 to UnRAID)

Onboard Intel Graphics are used for unraid "console"

 

When I've been fiddling with the cached disk (only getting 128gb??? probably due to my managing when making the first vm) the Virtual Machine crashes/freezes. Am I misinterpreting the use of cache/parity here or is there some magic voodoo too if it will work or not? Currently sitting in the machine virtualized and typing this, working against one of my virtual disks that is on the array

so doesn't feel too magical, just don't touch the ssd/cache? Think I saw some log showing (when it decided to show me something) about cachedisk being full? if I look under Main tab it says 104GB used 80GB~ free so fail to see why its behaving like that. Thankfully I have backups of my stuff but was really interested in getting this to run.

 

The last time i got the VM to crash it even made sure I couldn't access the UnRAID webpage (didnt actually test the console that time, which I probably should have.)

 

Also something wonky seems to be up with amd and unraid vm? as I've had issues to boot up my system unless I use VNC as first display and in the VNC install the drivers for the card and then have Radeon R9 390X as my second Graphics card on passthrough.

 

My idea of the machine is in the future to have a separate Windows install on a 3rd graphics card which will be connected to my projector and a 2nd soundcard to tunnel the sound to my homestereo so in effect it will be my homecenter system. Will this work, and does it matter that the 3rd Graphics card i wanna tunnel out is an nvidia? Is there anything to watch out for when it comes to actually setting up this system in terms of disks etc? The way it's been crashing have me rather unsettled but I really like the idea of having my machine as 3-4 machines. (my 4th use would be to install a Linux system to ssh into and run services and learn on.) And been contemplating on actually running a test server inside a vm. Mainly too stress and see if it works, but first case would be trying to get the gaming rig working and stable.

 

Am I foregoing my fast ssd speeds or as I said earlier do I just not understand the way you wanna handle cachedisks?

 

Also how will UnRAID handle if I add space to the Array?

 

I understand that the Array and the Cache are different systems but in what function does it work, explain like im 5 here please.

 

I realize it might be quite lacking and if you need anything else I'll be happy to provide additional info. This is just ramblings as I remember them whilst typing.

Hello and welcome to the forums!  Let's see if we can't help you out.

 

Hello, so to preface this, I'm working with IT on a daily basis but I've realized I've met my match here. So virtualization have always been something that interests me and been fiddling on and off with it. Currently I'm doing a trial of UnRAID where I'm trying to virtualize my gaming rig and fail with some parts and would like assistance.

 

My hardware is the following:

 

Intel® Core™ i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz

ASUS Z97-A, Socket-1150 Moderkort, ATX, Z97, DDR3, 3xPCIe-x16, SLI/CFX, M.2, SATA Express, VGA, DVI,HDMI

2x SSD (1x 128GB ADATA and 1x 256 ADATA) Cache

2x 1TB HDD Western Digital (1 Parity and 1 Storage(?))

Radeon R9 390x

16GB RAM

 

Using 3/4 cores (so core 1,2 and 3, while leaving core 0 to UnRAID)

Onboard Intel Graphics are used for unraid "console"

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Your hardware setup seems just fine except for the video card.  AMD graphics devices are more difficult to pass through to VMs than their NVIDIA counterparts.  Some have had success in the past, but I would point you to our Wiki for more information on other things you can try to improve GPU pass through stability and performance.

 

When I've been fiddling with the cached disk (only getting 128gb??? probably due to my managing when making the first vm) the Virtual Machine crashes/freezes.

 

If you assign two SSDs (one 128GB and one 256GB) to the cache and start the array, then format the disks, 128GB will be your net usable space.  This is because the cache pool operates in a bit-mirroring mode where every bit written has to be written to two different physical devices that are a part of the pool.  If you wish to add another 128GB of space to the pool, you could purchase another 128GB SSD and attach it to the cache.  Yes, this would be a 3-disk pool and a valid unRAID cache pool configuration.

 

Am I misinterpreting the use of cache/parity here or is there some magic voodoo too if it will work or not? Currently sitting in the machine virtualized and typing this, working against one of my virtual disks that is on the array

so doesn't feel too magical, just don't touch the ssd/cache?

 

Not sure what you mean here, you'll have to elaborate a bit and narrow down the questions some.

 

Think I saw some log showing (when it decided to show me something) about cachedisk being full? if I look under Main tab it says 104GB used 80GB~ free so fail to see why its behaving like that. Thankfully I have backups of my stuff but was really interested in getting this to run.

 

You can obtain your system diagnostics from the Tools > Diagnostics page in the webgui and upload them here for review.  Its best to collect them right after an event occurs that is troubling, but BEFORE you reboot the system.

 

The last time i got the VM to crash it even made sure I couldn't access the UnRAID webpage (didnt actually test the console that time, which I probably should have.)

 

Yes, it would be helpful to know if the entire system crashed or just the webGui.  Attempting an SSH or Telnet connection would determine that.  If you get the system into that state where the webGui is down but the server is still accessible through a remote console, type the word "diagnostics" in there and then shut down the system by tapping your power button.  Then eject the flash and you will find the diagnostics zip file on the root of the flash device.  This can be helpful in diagnosing those types of problems.

 

Also something wonky seems to be up with amd and unraid vm? as I've had issues to boot up my system unless I use VNC as first display and in the VNC install the drivers for the card and then have Radeon R9 390X as my second Graphics card on passthrough.

 

Yes, it is pretty heavily documented that AMD devices are notoriously more difficult with GPU assignment.  Some work fine, some need some love, some won't work at all.

 

My idea of the machine is in the future to have a separate Windows install on a 3rd graphics card which will be connected to my projector and a 2nd soundcard to tunnel the sound to my homestereo so in effect it will be my homecenter system. Will this work, and does it matter that the 3rd Graphics card i wanna tunnel out is an nvidia? Is there anything to watch out for when it comes to actually setting up this system in terms of disks etc? The way it's been crashing have me rather unsettled but I really like the idea of having my machine as 3-4 machines. (my 4th use would be to install a Linux system to ssh into and run services and learn on.) And been contemplating on actually running a test server inside a vm. Mainly too stress and see if it works, but first case would be trying to get the gaming rig working and stable.

 

The i5 processor you have may not be sufficient for all those tasks.  I might recommend stepping up to a hyperthreaded i7 so you can get more horsepower out of the processor for all those tasks.  As far as "things to look out for", there is a ton of information in the wiki and this forum that can help guide you.  Unless you have a more specific question, I'm not really sure what to suggest.  The crashing issue needs to be settled before you go any further though.

 

Am I foregoing my fast ssd speeds or as I said earlier do I just not understand the way you wanna handle cachedisks?

 

I'm not sure why you would think you're "foregoing" SSD speeds.

 

Also how will UnRAID handle if I add space to the Array?

 

You can add disks to the array at any time.  Once added and the array started, the new disk will go through a clearing procedure (all data on the disk will be erased) and once completed, it will be a part of the array automatically.

 

I understand that the Array and the Cache are different systems but in what function does it work, explain like im 5 here please.

 

In the context of unRAID as a NAS, you can write files to a "share" and that share can be enabled to use the cache (if one exists).  The issue with writing directly to the array is that due to parity, there is a write-performance bottleneck.  This can vary from system to system, but with modern storage is between 40-65 MB/s.  The cache isn't part of the parity-protected array, and thus it can write at full speed.  By using the cache, files written to the share during the day write very fast, and then those files are automatically moved to the array at night when you aren't using the system, freeing up the space off the cache for the next day's usage.

 

In the context of unRAID as a Virtualization Host, the cache acts as a persistent performance storage location for things like Applications and Virtual Machines.  Data stored inside shares that are marked "Cache = Only" will never be moved to the array.

 

I realize it might be quite lacking and if you need anything else I'll be happy to provide additional info. This is just ramblings as I remember them whilst typing.

 

Definitely need more info and your diagnostics to help you troubleshoot, but also could be a little more specific in some of your questions.  I also HIGHLY encourage you to visit both the Wiki and the Videos pages of our website before going any further.  There is a ton of useful information and visuals there.

Hello and thanks, from your answers I actually understand quite abit more about what happened.

 

Managed to get it running if I don't touch the cache disk (Think the biggest issue I have here is that I made 2 vdisk thinking i had 192GB usable as said by Mainpage where one was 60GB (System) and one was 130GB (disk named SSD). This is in turn 190GB out of the 192GB reported. When I was moving stuff to SSD Part (130GB) the system crashed since it tried to expand the vdisk over capacity of internal storage I suppose. Now how do I remove vdisk images from either the "webserver" or the console?

 

I have a 128GB SSD lying around atm (actually 2 of them) but didnt wanna commit to putting in alot of disks before understanding my current issues.

 

Also read that parity have to be bigger then Array so my current plan to expand the Array with another 1TB is halted.

 

Also the part about diff servers, I want GamingVM and MovieVM as mains and then be able to bring down for example the gamingVM and startup the ServerVM. If I cant have the MovieVM and GamingVM for example I can live with that but it would be sweet, and something to consider for future expansion of hw.

 

 

Also read that parity have to be bigger then Array so my current plan to expand the Array with another 1TB is halted.

No, the parity drive has to be the same or larger than the largest data drive in the array.  So if you buy a 5TB drive for parity use, you can then add 20 or more data drives that are 5TB or less, but you can't add a 6TB data drive until you increase the size of your parity drive to 6TB or greater.

 

I suspect you are one of those that doesn't like reading manuals or instructions!    But there's a learning curve here, can't really avoid all of it.  There's lots of info in the links JonP provided, and elsewhere around the Lime Technology web site, as well as on the forums here.

I am usually a handson kinda guy, but I will be reading up on some when I get the chance too. But cheers for explaining thus far!