New build, need some assistance

[jown7676]

Good morning/afternoon/evening

 

First off, let me admit that I am new to UnRaid, as in I starting working toward a new build 3 months ago.  Since then, I have gathered the parts and supplies needed to get the system together and I am ready to start working with UnRaid.

 

I've been working with computer systems for a long time, and on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate myself about a 6.5 on the knowledge level when it comes to computers and systems.  With this, for the past few days, I've been somewhat stumped and my google-fu doesn't seem to be helping.

 

Here is my system as it stands:

 

AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 4-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics

SilverStone Technology CS381B Micro-ATX/Mini-DTX/Mini-Itx 8 Bay Hot Swap 2.5"/3.5" SAS-12G/SAS-6G NAS Storage Case with 2X 120mm Dual Ball Bearing Fan

ASRock Rack X470D4U2-2T Mini-ATX Server Motherboard with IPMI

Gskill 16gb RAM f4-2400 °C15d-16gns

WD Blue SN550 250GB NVMe Internal SSD - Gen3 x4 PCIe 8Gb/s, M.2 2280, 3D NAND, Up to 2,400 MB/s - WDS250G2B0C

Cooler Master MasterLiquid LC240E RGB Close-Loop AIO CPU Liquid Cooler

SilverStone Technology SST-SX700-LPT-USA 700W, SFX-L, Silent 120mm Fan with 036DBA, Fully Modular Cable Power Supply SX700-LPT-USA

LSI Logic MegaRAID 9265-8i 8-port SAS RAID Controller - LSI00278

4 of Seagate Enterprise Capacity ST10000NM0096 10TB 7200RPM SAS 12.0 GB/S 256MB Enterprise Hard Drive

 

The intended purpose of this system is 3 fold:

1. Primary usage is as a NAS for my video collection.

2. A VM for a gaming server will be created.  Most likely Windows Based.

3. (Depending on results from my leadership) A VM for FreePBX to host conference calls.

 

A few points to list:

The WD Blue SN550 250Gb NVMe will be utilized as a cache drive.

The 4 HDDs are all SAS Enterprise drives.

I chose the HDDs because of the quality and lifetime expectations, that and I got a "REALLY" good deal on them.

I chose the motherboard because of the IPMI support.

I plan on having UnRaid run off a SanDisk 32GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive

 

So here is the problem as it stands.  The LSI 9265-8i doesn't seem to be supported by UnRaid as I can not find any information on it anywhere.  The Hardware Compatibility list on the UnRaid Wiki is listed as old and everywhere I look I tend to get conflicting answers.  Some say you can flash it, others say you can't. Some say it works and others say it's useless.

 

Basically, it boils down to this: is the LSI MegaRAID 9265-8i usable in this system or do I need to look and get another card?  I don't mind getting another card, I just don't want to be spinning my wheels on something that isn't going to work or worse yet buy something I don't need to get.

 

Thank you in advance for any and all assistance that can be provided.

[trurl]

5 hours ago, jown7676 said:

I plan on having UnRaid run off a SanDisk 32GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive

Unraid doesn't run from the Flash, it unpacks the OS archive from Flash into RAM at boot and it runs in RAM. You may get better reliability from a USB2 Flash (and port).

[Energen]

6 hours ago, jown7676 said:

2. A VM for a gaming server will be created.  Most likely Windows Based.

I don't know what games you plan on, and honestly I don't know what it takes to host games in a VM, but your CPU and RAM might be / could be / probably are too low to expect any good performance for gaming. 

 

Can't help you with the LSI card as I plan on getting one from the list of "works out of the box".

[jown7676]

20 minutes ago, Energen said:

I don't know what games you plan on, and honestly I don't know what it takes to host games in a VM, but your CPU and RAM might be / could be / probably are too low to expect any good performance for gaming. 

 

Can't help you with the LSI card as I plan on getting one from the list of "works out of the box".

Could you point me into the direction of that list?  So far the only list I've found is the outdated one on the Wiki.

Edited July 19, 2020 by jown7676
spelling

[Energen]

 

6 minutes ago, jown7676 said:

Could you point me into the direction of that list?  So far the only list I've found is the outdated one on the Wiki.

That's the one I mean..  there's no point in reinventing the wheel if the wheel already works.. I plan to get one that is known to work out of the box.. 9205, 9211, 9207, something like that.

 

https://wiki.unraid.net/Hardware_Compatibility#PCI_SATA_Controllers

[jown7676]

4 minutes ago, Energen said:

 

That's the one I mean..  there's no point in reinventing the wheel if the wheel already works.. I plan to get one that is known to work out of the box.. 9205, 9211, 9207, something like that.

 

https://wiki.unraid.net/Hardware_Compatibility#PCI_SATA_Controllers

Yeah, there in lies the problem, I got SAS drives, I'm not sure if they will work with a SATA controller.

 

Or I could just take a closer look and see ones with SAS in the name........

Edited July 19, 2020 by jown7676
My dumb ass

[JonathanM]

1 hour ago, Energen said:

 

That's the one I mean..  there's no point in reinventing the wheel if the wheel already works.. I plan to get one that is known to work out of the box.. 9205, 9211, 9207, something like that.

 

https://wiki.unraid.net/Hardware_Compatibility#PCI_SATA_Controllers

I just edited that section to clarify just how out of date it was. For SAS, the best choice is any semi recent LSI based controller that has IT firmware available.

[jown7676]

Thanks for the help, I ordered the LSI SAS 9300-8i HBA.  Shows that it works ootb so I "shouldn't" have a problem.  Once I get it and get it setup, I'll post the results here.