unRaid as a VM on Windows Server 2012 R2 with backup


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Hi All,

 

First off, I am new to this, I hope this thread is posted in the right place, I am totally new to VM's and unRaid, hence the shout for help (Mainly for my concerns about unRaid).

 

I am seriously considering unRaid, and need some advice/suggestions.

 

Here is my situation:

 

I currently run a media server in my home, running windows server 2012 R2 on a 500Gb HDD. I have 2 x 4TB HDD's currently in Raid 0 that holds all my media on it. I have an extra 2 x 4TB HDD's which I want to utilize (They are currently not in the server).

 

Here is my end goal:

 

To keep my Windows Server 2012 OS running as is, and to install some VM software to run unRaid and create a +-12TB volume consisting of 3 x 4TB HDD's and 1 x 4TB HDD as parity. And have my current media apps (Couch Potato, SickRage, MySQL, FileZilla etc) use the volume as a normal volume on windows.

 

Here are my questions & concerns:

 

  1. Can unRaid run as a VM?
  2. If so, is there a preferred VM software that I should use? I was thinking ESXi
  3. Will the 12TB Volume show up on my Windows Server 2012 OS and be usable to the full extent by windows?
  4. In the case of a drive failure within the 12TB Volume, will I be able to still salvage my data using the parity drive within the VM version of unRaid?
  5. And lastly, am I able to backup my VM containing unRaid? In the event my windows server OS drive fails, I would like to restore my windows and unRaid VM, as well as the 12TB volume created by unRaid with all the data on it. (Basically a full restore of the whole system).

 

Any advice is appreciated, I am very proud of my media collection, and would like to keep it intact for many years to come, as well as expand it in future (Which I think unRaid is good for), I just want to make sure any and all events of failure are catered for.

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56 minutes ago, Brendon Ramos said:

run unRaid and create a +-12TB volume consisting of 3 x 4TB HDD's and 1 x 4TB HDD as parity.

Just keep in mind that because unraid does NOT stripe data across drives, the largest file you can store is limited by the free space on any specific drive. All the files can appear to be on the same volume, but no single file can be larger than a drive. Unraid also will not automatically move files from one array disk to another, so if you have all your drives filled about half full, then even though you will show 6TB free, the largest single file you can write will be about 2TB.

 

1 hour ago, Brendon Ramos said:

Can unRaid run as a VM?

Sometimes. The developers of unraid do not sabotage VM installs, but they don't troubleshoot them either. So, you will be limited to peer support if you have issues with a virtualized install. If you have a severe issue the first part of troubleshooting will be to run the unraid install on bare metal and replicate the issue.

 

1 hour ago, Brendon Ramos said:

am I able to backup my VM containing unRaid?

The data drives are each independent filesystems, and can be backed up as such. The OS itself runs in RAM, and boots from the USB stick. You can make a backup of that stick using tools built in to unraid.

 

1 hour ago, Brendon Ramos said:

Will the 12TB Volume show up on my Windows Server 2012 OS and be usable to the full extent by windows?

It will show up as a network drive, and used as such. It will not be a local volume, so applications that don't like working with a network share won't function properly.

 

Honestly, I don't think the scenario you laid out is very workable. It would be much better if you wish to use unraid to let it be bare metal and run your media apps as dockers on unraid as is most common. You will be taking on a significant project to bend unraid to fit your use, instead of using it as intended.

 

1 hour ago, Brendon Ramos said:

 I have 2 x 4TB HDD's currently in Raid 0 that holds all my media on it. I have an extra 2 x 4TB HDD's which I want to utilize (They are currently not in the server).

 

Unraid will not utilize that RAID0 windows volume in the array. All array drives will need to be erasable before you can use them in unraid. So for your desired outcome you would need 2 more 4TB drives to put with your current 2 extra drives.

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