UnRAID on VMWare ESXi with Raw Device Mapping

[cj0r]

Use screen to preclear multiple drives at once (3 screen sessions).

[axeman]

Use screen to preclear multiple drives at once (3 screen sessions).

 

new to linux, new to unraid and have somewhat heard of screen...

 

i'll google it - but trust me, i'll be back! :-)

[cj0r]

Already have the plop method going, thanks for reminding me about it. I must have read about it before in the thread but have completely forgotten about it or just plain ignored it altogether. 1 thing I've noticed is how much slower it is to boot with compared to a straight vmdk, is this behavior to be expected or is something wrong with how I set it up?

[madburg]

Already have the plop method going, thanks for reminding me about it. I must have read about it before in the thread but have completely forgotten about it or just plain ignored it altogether. 1 thing I've noticed is how much slower it is to boot with compared to a straight vmdk, is this behavior to be expected or is something wrong with how I set it up?

 

Very hard to see as it flashes so fast but it is running it at USB 1.1 speed. Question back  to you I installed plop on a vmdk so I could set it to only look for a USB to boot (no other menu options) and boot menu to display for only 3 seconds. It never sees any usb port to boot off of. But if I hit any key go into the plop config menu and then back out and select "usb" in the menu it does find the key and boots... So I can never reboot without having to interact with the plop boot menu. Anyone else? Or a tip on the proper plop config (maybe I set it up wrong) seemed simple but have this issue.

[axeman]

Use screen to preclear multiple drives at once (3 screen sessions).

 

works great! the unraid install guide shows how to get it to work.

 

so far i'm doing great w. this... one question semi-related .. i'm running the pre-clears on a regular 4.7 install (haven't had time to get the ESxi peice working yet. will I have to re-run them on the ESXi? or is UR smart enough to know that the drives have been pre-cleared?

 

 

[Joe L.]

Use screen to preclear multiple drives at once (3 screen sessions).

 

works great! the unraid install guide shows how to get it to work.

 

so far i'm doing great w. this... one question semi-related .. i'm running the pre-clears on a regular 4.7 install (haven't had time to get the ESxi peice working yet. will I have to re-run them on the ESXi? or is UR smart enough to know that the drives have been pre-cleared?

 

 

unRAID will know they have been pre-cleared.

[cj0r]

Very hard to see as it flashes so fast but it is running it at USB 1.1 speed. Question back  to you I installed plop on a vmdk so I could set it to only look for a USB to boot (no other menu options) and boot menu to display for only 3 seconds. It never sees any usb port to boot off of. But if I hit any key go into the plop config menu and then back out and select "usb" in the menu it does find the key and boots... So I can never reboot without having to interact with the plop boot menu. Anyone else? Or a tip on the proper plop config (maybe I set it up wrong) seemed simple but have this issue.

 

Hmm mine worked right off the bat. All I had to do was go into the advanced menu, set the default to USB (changed the timeout in the process to 1 sec) and then I was done. It boots right into unRaid after the slight delay, but the actual boot process takes a bit longer because as you said it is using 1.1. Small trade off for being able to direclty edit my unRaid install and have it stick .

[madburg]

Very hard to see as it flashes so fast but it is running it at USB 1.1 speed. Question back  to you I installed plop on a vmdk so I could set it to only look for a USB to boot (no other menu options) and boot menu to display for only 3 seconds. It never sees any usb port to boot off of. But if I hit any key go into the plop config menu and then back out and select "usb" in the menu it does find the key and boots... So I can never reboot without having to interact with the plop boot menu. Anyone else? Or a tip on the proper plop config (maybe I set it up wrong) seemed simple but have this issue.

 

Hmm mine worked right off the bat. All I had to do was go into the advanced menu, set the default to USB (changed the timeout in the process to 1 sec) and then I was done. It boots right into unRaid after the slight delay, but the actual boot process takes a bit longer because as you said it is using 1.1. Small trade off for being able to direclty edit my unRaid install and have it stick .

 

What MB are you using? And can you share the exact USB ports (# and/or pictures) you are using for #1 the ESX4.1 USB key, #2 unRAID USB key.

 

P.S. you owe a "UCD thread" on all this, you said it not I,  LOL  

[axeman]

when creating the VMDK is it okay to create as an expandable? I have a 32GB flash drive that I would like to hold both the VMDK and my ESXi install (if possible).

 

thanks - still sitting on my pre-clears to finish

[fade23]

I don't think that ESXi currently supports datastores (ie your VMDK file) on USB disks.

[axeman]

I don't think that ESXi currently supports datastores (ie your VMDK file) on USB disks.

 

thanks - didn't realize that. puts a minor damper on my plans.

 

will it allow a VM to boot from a physical USB? I have another 8GB usb drive that I can use for this purpose.

 

If yes, what should I install on the 32GB and what should I install on the 8GB? I *think* the 32GB is the faster stick.

 

thanks again!

[SilntBob]

will it allow a VM to boot from a physical USB? I have another 8GB usb drive that I can use for this purpose.

 

what you are going to want to do is get an iso of plop and use that to boot to the usb.  The vm won't boot DIRECTLY from the usb, but it will via redirection.

[axeman]

thanks. i saw someone mention Plop on a page or two back. thought that had to do w. an MB not booting from USB. will re-read and research

[axeman]

will it allow a VM to boot from a physical USB? I have another 8GB usb drive that I can use for this purpose.

 

what you are going to want to do is get an iso of plop and use that to boot to the usb.  The vm won't boot DIRECTLY from the usb, but it will via redirection.

 

So I looked around and found a couple of threads on here about Plop and even a couple of posts in this thread. But for the life of me, I can't figure out the hows and the whats.

 

so on my UnRaid flash drive: i have to change the syslinux.cfg so that it uses the plop boot files? That would allow me to keep unraid on the flash while allowing ESXi to boot to it?

 

 

[SilntBob]

No.

You get the plop ISO, use that as the boot source for the VM

When the VM boots to the plop CD ISO image, you tell plop to boot from the USB stick....

You have to have already passed-through the USB stick to the VM in ESXi

 

At least that's what I do.

 

That is the way I make an ESXi VM boot/run from a usb stick.

[fade23]

If you use a Plop CD Image ISO though you cannot save the settings to automatically boot to USB, can you? What I've done is create a small VMDK and used the install option of PLOP to actually install it to the disk; that way I can save settings and force it to boot directly to the unRAID without any user intervention.

[axeman]

hit a minor snag. my nic isnt esxi compatible. googling around people using same board (p6x58d-e) fixed issue by purchasing an intel nic. so i ordered 2x the cheapest ($24.99) intel nic on NE.

 

might fire off another pre-clear or play w. the vPlayer install to usb while i wait.

[Zeron]

If you use a Plop CD Image ISO though you cannot save the settings to automatically boot to USB, can you? What I've done is create a small VMDK and used the install option of PLOP to actually install it to the disk; that way I can save settings and force it to boot directly to the unRAID without any user intervention.

 

Using plpcfgbt and plpbt-createiso you can create a .iso file that is configured to boot directly to the USB.  That is how mine works.

[SilntBob]

If you use a Plop CD Image ISO though you cannot save the settings to automatically boot to USB, can you? What I've done is create a small VMDK and used the install option of PLOP to actually install it to the disk; that way I can save settings and force it to boot directly to the unRAID without any user intervention.

 

Using plpcfgbt and plpbt-createiso you can create a .iso file that is configured to boot directly to the USB.  That is how mine works.

 

These are both good suggestions....of course I power off my unraid vm once in a blue moon, I just press the spacebar to get it to startup when I'm ready, but these other options are good as well.

[LVLAaron]

/vmfs/volumes/4de78b45-c22b1116-ffc8-000c296d9eb4/UnRAID # vmkfstools -a lsilogic -z /vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T1:L0: mydisk1.vmdk
Failed to create virtual disk: The destination file system does not support large files (12).

 

I'm having trouble setting up the RDM. I'm testing this in vmware workstation... (ESXi is a  guest in vmware workstation) I'm using 40gb disks.... what gives with the error?

[axeman]

/vmfs/volumes/4de78b45-c22b1116-ffc8-000c296d9eb4/UnRAID # vmkfstools -a lsilogic -z /vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T1:L0: mydisk1.vmdk
Failed to create virtual disk: The destination file system does not support large files (12).

 

I'm having trouble setting up the RDM. I'm testing this in vmware workstation... (ESXi is a  guest in vmware workstation) I'm using 40gb disks.... what gives with the error?

 

40GB physical disk would mean ide, right? i thought i read somewhere that esxi can't use IDE drives? don't know much, so i could be way off the mark on this.

[madburg]

If you use a Plop CD Image ISO though you cannot save the settings to automatically boot to USB, can you? What I've done is create a small VMDK and used the install option of PLOP to actually install it to the disk; that way I can save settings and force it to boot directly to the unRAID without any user intervention.

 

Using plpcfgbt and plpbt-createiso you can create a .iso file that is configured to boot directly to the USB.  That is how mine works.

 

These are both good suggestions....of course I power off my unraid vm once in a blue moon, I just press the spacebar to get it to startup when I'm ready, but these other options are good as well.

 

+1

 

I had installed Plop to a small vmdk disk as fade23 pointed out, I was not aware of the second option Zeron point out. Thank you for that. Just a matter of preference, as both would be configured to auto boot the unRAID USB key.

 

My current issues as I stated is even with plop installed on a vmdk and setting it to boot automatically from USB only, it never see's the USB key (containing unRAID on it). If I hit any key and then select "usb" in plop manually it boots. Very strange.

 

I was hoping anyone with a SuperMicro MB could share what model MB and exact USB ports they are putting the ESXi and unRAID USB Keys into.

[axeman]

okay - so this is a stupid question.... say i don't have ANY physical disks in the ESxi just yet...  is there anyway for ESXi to boot to plop that's on a flash? or do I have to create a VM, that actually resides on a datastore on the server, then continue from there?

 

on a side note, I have esxi and unraid on two separate boxes for now... can i create a datastore on the /flash/ share that's on the unRaid?

[Ford Prefect]

okay - so this is a stupid question.... say i don't have ANY physical disks in the ESxi just yet...  is there anyway for ESXi to boot to plop that's on a flash?

no..in ESXi the BIOS for VMs would not allow to boot a VM from USB (flash). That's why you do need plop, don't you  

 

or do I have to create a VM, that actually resides on a datastore on the server, then continue from there?

You do need to create VM. If you do not want to waste a small boot-disk to install plop, you will need to stick with the plop iso.

However either will need to reside on a datastore (probably on the same flash from where you boot ESXi off).

 

on a side note, I have esxi and unraid on two separate boxes for now... can i create a datastore on the /flash/ share that's on the unRaid?

This has the possibility in it to end you up in some kind of deadlock, won't it?....you'll be in need to start the unraid-vm before you can access the datastore on it.

Also, I doubt that it will be possible...maybe as a NFS datastore. "Normal" remote datastores are via iSCSI and unraid lacks the support for that.

[axeman]

okay - so this is a stupid question.... say i don't have ANY physical disks in the ESxi just yet...  is there anyway for ESXi to boot to plop that's on a flash?

no..in ESXi the BIOS for VMs would not allow to boot a VM from USB (flash). That's why you do need plop, don't you  

 

or do I have to create a VM, that actually resides on a datastore on the server, then continue from there?

You do need to create VM. If you do not want to waste a small boot-disk to install plop, you will need to stick with the plop iso.

However either will need to reside on a datastore (probably on the same flash from where you boot ESXi off).

 

on a side note, I have esxi and unraid on two separate boxes for now... can i create a datastore on the /flash/ share that's on the unRaid?

This has the possibility in it to end you up in some kind of deadlock, won't it?....you'll be in need to start the unraid-vm before you can access the datastore on it.

Also, I doubt that it will be possible...maybe as a NFS datastore. "Normal" remote datastores are via iSCSI and unraid lacks the support for that.

 

thanks for the reply. i hosed my esxi install. smart guy that i am, i passed through all my usb devices. which put the usb that i boot from into a read-only state, so no config changes were sticking. so just re-installed.

 

still my issue is that i can't get an iso or anything on a usb to be seen by ESXi.

 

Even the usb that it is installed on isn't visible when i do an fdisk -l (or -ls?).

 

the drive that unraid is on is bigger, but it's busy on another machine pre-clearing the drive that esxi hijacked.

 

if all else fails, i guess i need to get a wd scorpio or something to get moving on this.