mazultav Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 I have a miniITX board, running at 1GHz, 256 DDR. Could I run unRaid on it? I realize that this is below the recommended hardware, but if I'm only running a few HHDs and not like 14 will this work? Thanks Quote Link to comment
Peregrine Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 I don't have hard numbers to work from, so what follows is simply my understanding based on perusing the forums, etc. Those with better information than I can confirm or deny my comments. Disclaimer out of the way, here's my take: the minimum requirements are based on the fact that the parity calculations are performed by the CPU. If by "a few HDD", you mean 3-6, and you are willing to accept very slow performance when writing files or (especially) performing full parity calculations, then I would think it would work. For routine data reads you should be fine, although multiple simultaneous reads might also show some performance issues. If you decide to go with this configuration, I'm sure Tom would love to see a performance report. So would a lot of the rest of us. Let us know how it goes. Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 I don't have hard numbers to work from, so what follows is simply my understanding based on perusing the forums, etc. Those with better information than I can confirm or deny my comments. Disclaimer out of the way, here's my take: the minimum requirements are based on the fact that the parity calculations are performed by the CPU. If by "a few HDD", you mean 3-6, and you are willing to accept very slow performance when writing files or (especially) performing full parity calculations, then I would think it would work. For routine data reads you should be fine, although multiple simultaneous reads might also show some performance issues. If you decide to go with this configuration, I'm sure Tom would love to see a performance report. So would a lot of the rest of us. Let us know how it goes. When testing a disk rebuild of a failed disk on my 8 disk array while simultaneously serving 4 DVD ISO images from the failed drive my 2gHz Celeron processor was nearly 70% idle. (my unRaid server was therefore doing 5 sets of parity calculations and the CPU was not stressed) I have a feeling you will not notice much difference with your 1 GHz processor. The biggest issue you will face is memory usage. I do not know if unRaid will run in 256 Meg of ram. I do know that I've read of Slackware 2.6 being run with less, so it might work, especially if you have fewer disks. (unRaid is based on Slackware 2.6) Another issue will be the network card driver. unraid includes driver modules for many of the gigabyte LAN chipsets, but you may need to ask Tom about an older slower chipset on an older motherboard. In any case, just download the trial version and see if will boot in your motherboard. Log in as root and check out /var/log/syslog to see if your network card and disks were detected. Don't start the array, or assign and re-format any drives unless you are ready to clear them. their existing contents will be deleted as part of the clearing process. Joe L. Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 17, 2007 Author Share Posted April 17, 2007 Thanks guys. I will give it a whirl. Im only going to be streaming to a XBMC. I wont be streaming multiple files. I can take a performance hit there. I can also put up to a gig into the mITX's one dimm, the boards just coming with 256. Ill give it a whirl. Should get all the components this week, and get it setup early next. Chris Quote Link to comment
Koolkiwi Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Just to add a point that was not mentioned (but may be overlooked by a new-comer): For the newer 2.6 kernel and the widest hardware support, make sure you test with the latest V4.0-beta (currently beta9) that is available from the announcements area of the forum. Tom has already mentioned that new installations should utilise the latest V4.0 beta (which so far seems to performing well on my new unRAID server build), however for new-comers the link on the main "unRAID Server Basic" web page still of course points to the current V3.0 release (which is based on the older 2.4 kernel). Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 Thanks for the advice koolkiwi, Ill make sure Ill download the 2.6 kernel based install. Quote Link to comment
limetech Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Probably won't work due to insufficient memory. If you can bump it up to 512MB that would be great. Also, what ethernet NIC does it use? Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 20, 2007 Author Share Posted April 20, 2007 In sort of a bad/good twist of fate the ebay seller forgot the 256 DIMM so I ordered 1 gig from Newegg woot. So thanks for the retroactively good advice limetech (Who Im guessing is the one called Tom?) The NIC is onboard, it uses a via chip, the VT6103. Quote Link to comment
limetech Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 The driver for that NIC is not currently included in any unRAID build, but I'll put it in the next release. Tom, aka, limetech Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 20, 2007 Author Share Posted April 20, 2007 excellent Tom, any idea when that would be? I just got all the parts in. I booted it up set the Bios to boot from USB, it sees the usb but I get a "could not find kernel image: linux" any help? Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 20, 2007 Author Share Posted April 20, 2007 So I got it all loaded up woot and it boots. Now just need to wait for my NIC to be supported Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 Instead of waiting for Tom to update unRaid, is it worth picking up a gigabit PCI card? If so what do you guys recommend. Is gigabit backwards compatible with 10/100MBps? Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Instead of waiting for Tom to update unRaid, is it worth picking up a gigabit PCI card? If so what do you guys recommend. Is gigabit backwards compatible with 10/100MBps? yes, it is backwards compatible. Also... Yesterday Tom said he was going to try to get the next release of unRaid out either later that evening, or today... so... you might not need a new network card if you can wait a tiny bit longer. Joe L. Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 OH sweet, I didn't realize that the new beta was coming out so soon. I love unRaid even with its not working. Its my first computer with an OS I didn't pay for. woot woot. Quote Link to comment
parsec Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Please dont give Limetech a reason to reconsider the 3 disc "trial" version, it is a great way to test hardware and functionality. Consider buying a version when everything works out. /Rene Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 I do plan on buying it when I need to add more disks, and once I get it working on my network. Quote Link to comment
limetech Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 mazultav, Please try 4.0-beta10 now & see if your NIC works. Even if it does, you might consider upgrading to a GigE NIC in the future because 10/100 is painfully slow (not that GigE is exactly blazing in comparison, but it is significantly faster). Download. Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 25, 2007 Author Share Posted April 25, 2007 I was thinking about the upgrade. Any recommendations on a giga card? Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 26, 2007 Author Share Posted April 26, 2007 Tom it worked I can telnet into the tower, and I can see it through my web browser, thank you sooo much. Its really great to see a developer make good on a promise. Ill be purchasing the full version in a few weeks when I can save up for a few more drives. Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 26, 2007 Author Share Posted April 26, 2007 Hey guys so its up and running, Ill be getting my data drive this weekend then we can really get it going. To login as root, I just type root at Tower Login right? Im trying to see /var/log/syslog but im getting permission denied. Please advise, Im a linuix noob but learn quick Quote Link to comment
limetech Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 Yes the console login name is 'root'. To see the syslog, type this: cat /var/log/syslog The 'cat' command is like the dos 'type' command here. Quote Link to comment
mazultav Posted April 29, 2007 Author Share Posted April 29, 2007 Tom I can get my syslog, Im almost positive that the problem is that I'm using a 40 conductor IDE cable and I need to upgrade that, also our two PCs have dynamic IPs set so we get IP errors occasionally. Once I work out my problems I'll let you know the results. Quote Link to comment
squidly Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 May I ask which specific mobo you got this working with?? I have an VIA Epia ME 6000 (M series, CLE266 chipset) that I can't get to boot with the latest release (or any previous). I either get a message during boot: "Panic: CPU too old for kernal" (or something like that) or it gets pretty deep into loading the OS from the usb key then it spontaneously resets. I have 1 GB RAM I'd be pretty happy to get it running with this mobo since it's just sitting in a desk drawer. Quote Link to comment
bubbaQ Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 You get that message with a Via C3 chip... you have to have a C7 or higher. The AMD Geode comes on a mini-ITX and it runs unRAID fine. Quote Link to comment
squidly Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 OK, thanks for the confirmation. I kept seeing success stories on "mini-itx" boards, I could just never find specifically which ones. So no support of VIA C3 family with syslinux. Quote Link to comment
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