Thinking of moving to unRAID


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I am looking to switch from vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5 to unRAID, but was hoping that it will work the way I want it to before making the switch. My current setup is my first VM infrastructure and may not be configured to the preferred standards, but I am learning along the way. I already know that I have made some configurations mistakes and will hopefully resolve those in time.

 

Here is what I am looking to achieve (currently my current configuration does not achieve my goals).

 

Create a multiple VM infrastructure, Create a file share that will allow all PCs on my network (with a password and/or no password), Create a nightly back-up of specific folders to an external network drive, Create two separate VMs for bittorrent to allow uploading and downloading, create a dedicated VM that will allow me to video edit using Adobe Premiere. I would like to dedicate my entire GPU to this VM to allow this process (currently I cannot pass my GPU to my dedicated WIN10 VM). If possible I would like to have a dedicated VM for PLEX.

 

My system specifications and configuration is below. I am looking to add 3 additional HDDs for more storage (attached to current SATA Controller).

 

System Hardware

 

Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLM+LN4F-O Micro ATX
CPU: Xeon E3-1220V3
RAM: Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) ECC Unbuffered DDR3L 1600
GPU: PNY NVIDIA Quadro P4000
PSU: Antec EarthWatts 380W
SATA Controller: IO Crest SI-PEX40057 4 Port SATA III PCIe 2.0
SSD(1): Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB
SSD(2): Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB
SSD(3): Samsung 850 EVO 500GB *Connected to SATA Controller*
HDD(1): WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive
HDD(2): WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive
HDD(3): WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive
HDD(4): Seagate IronWolf 4TB NAS Hard Drive
MISC.: EZDIY PCI Express 16x High Speed Riser Card
Case: NORCO RPC-430

 

System Configuration

 

Server OS: VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5
VM(1): Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64)
VM(2): Windows 7 (x64)
VM(3): Windows 7 (x64)
VM(4): Windows 10 (x64)

 

VM (1) Configuration and Primary Use

 

Root Drive: 60GB
Ram: 12GB

 

OS installed on SSD(1). HDD(1), HDD(2), and HDD(3) are spanned and created file share to entire drive(s). OS does nightly back-up of specific folders on an external network HDD. HDD(4) is the media drive that stores all movies and TV Shows that is shared across the network to all TVs (3).  Main purpose of this VM is file shares and backup of folders. I also use this OS to learn and test out Server functions. This VM also has my PLEX server installed on it.

 

VM (2) Configuration and Primary Use

 

Root Drive: 50GB
Ram: 2GB

 

OS installed on SSD(2). Mapped network drive (located on VM(1)). This VM is used as my web design VM and has all of my applications needed. FTP application, notepad+, and testing other needed websites. I also use this VM as my Torrent(1) machine. Accessing a shared Downloads folder.

 

VM (3) Configuration and Primary Use

 

Root Drive: 50GB
Ram: 2GB

 

OS installed on SSD(2). Mapped network drive (located on VM(1)). This VM is used as my Torrent(2) machine. Accessing a shared Downloads folder.

 

VM (4) Configuration and Primary Us

 

Root Drive: 30GB
Storage Drive: 500GB
Ram: 16GB

 

OS is installed on SSD(1). Mapped network drive (located on VM(1)). This VM will be used to do video editing and video rendering. SSD(3) is used as the programs drive and also scratch drive for Adobe Premiere/Adobe Photoshop. Currently my GPU is not passed to this VM and I cannot complete the video editing/rendering that I would like to. This is one of the main reasons I am interested in switching to unRAID.

 

Questions

 

1: Would my current system hardware work for my intended purposes? If no; what upgrades would be recommended?

2: What unRAID configuration(s) would be suggested to achieve my goals?

3: Any other recommendations?

 

Note:

 

This was my first VM build and am completely open to new configurations and/or ideas. I do plan to upgrade my hardware in the near future, but my goals will almost be the same and would like to get this setup working with my current hardware.

 

I appreciate any and all advice.

 

Thanks,

Brad

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Your hardware looks like it should work. You don't need to have dedicated VM's for things like bit torrent and Plex, those functions can be handled by dockers. I currently have an unRAID server with an i7 CPU and I am passing through an Nvidia 960 GPU to a windows 10 VM that I use strictly for gaming, works just fine. Trying to do everything on one machine is doable, certainly other people on here have done it. You may want to consider replacing the Iocrest controller with something that will offer better performance, something like a Dell H310 for example can be easily flashed to IT mode and would be a better choice.

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7 minutes ago, ashman70 said:

You may want to consider replacing the Iocrest controller with something that will offer better performance, something like a Dell H310 for example can be easily flashed to IT mode and would be a better choice.

 

I will look into upgrading that piece.

 

Thank you for the reply!

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On 10/2/2017 at 5:11 PM, Pidoma said:

 

I will look into upgrading that piece.

 

Thank you for the reply!

I would also consider upgrading the CPU to at least a E3-1230 or better.  The 1220 does NOT have hyperthreading.

 

I would not bother with with VM1, VM2, or VM3.  Get a big SSD and set it as a cache drive in unRAID.  Use that as the VM location and go about creating your editing VM there.

 

All the apps you want/need to run can be done via docker and take up less space then full blown VM's

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unRAID performs well with a small SSD as a cache drive, but if you fill it up you're out of luck.  Docker images, Docker data, and VM images can take a lot of space.  The main question is, do you get a big cache drive and put everything there, or do you get several smaller drives and run VMs on dedicated SSDs via Unassigned Devices - opinions are mixed on that one.

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