Hi. I'm planning a new server/htpc build and wondering how do-able it should be to run ESXi with Windows 8.1 pro and unRAID as guest OS's? Or if not ESXi if there's some other approach to allow me to run both on the same machine? To be honest I'm just starting to learn about virtualization and what I think I need to start is just some guidance on whether my hardware is compatible and then if it is maybe some pointers on installing ESXi and the Windows guest OS. If I can get that running first then I can take a little more time on the unRAID piece since I'm not planning to buy the new hard drives for it until later this year anyway.
Here's my hardware with some compatibility notes on each based on the research I've been able to do so far:
Board: Asus H97M Plus (per ESXi forum, compatible except for some issues w/the NIC which it sounds like there are workarounds for).
CPU and Graphics: Xeon E3-1230 v3 + GTX 750 Ti or i7-4790 w/IG (the other will go in my current Windows server/htpc which is being repurposed as a desktop; Anyone know if either should work? I know both CPUs are compatible but I don't really understand how graphics are passed through and whether the 750 Ti can be assigned for Windows while unRAID effectively runs headless)
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600 (2x4GB) (can upgrade to 4x4GB if that's not enough however if I were running these in separate machines I don't think I'd ever use >4GB in Windows and 4GB has been plenty for other unRAID server I already have).
SATA ports and controllers: the board has 6x SATA3 ports and a PCI-E 2.0 x16 (x4) slot that I was going to use to throw in a 4 port SATA controller card like this one -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124060. I've read that trying to assign individual SATA ports to different guest OS's in ESXi is a bear so my thought here was to port the 4x 4TB WD Reds + FlexRAID (tRAID) license from my current HTPC, run those from the PCI card assigned to Windows while all the board's SATA ports are assigned to unRAID and eventually filled with 6TB drives.
OS drives: the board has an onboard M2 slot that I've bought a 256GB Plextor SSD for to be the Windows OS drive and run in PCI-E mode, since using a SATA M2 SSD instead would disable 2 of the board's SATA ports. If that's assigned to Windows then unRAID and ESXi should both be able to run from USB flash drives, correct? I've read there are some tricks getting unRAID set up to boot from the USB and setting up the boot order but I've found a couple how-to's that seem to cover most of it.
PSU: Corsair RM650 (650w Gold)
Case: Fractal Design Node 805
So what do you think? Does the config I have in mind make sense for this hardware? Is it a sound approach or am I walking into a huge headache? I know I'm facing a pretty steep learning curve just to get this set up the way I want it but after that I'm really hoping it can be as low maintenance as if I were running both Windows and unRAID as separate machines.
If it looks like it's going to be too big a challenge my fallback has to be to find another parity solution besides FlexRAID for Windows. I haven't had the problems here that some others have reported but those warnings from users + the lack of support evidenced by their outdated wikis and seemingly one-man forum make me really nervous about trusting any more drives to a FlexRAID array. So I am open for suggestions on other FlexRAID alternatives also (maybe just Windows Storage Spaces since I prefer real time RAID anyway and that seems to be the only other solution that allows it?). Anyway, it's just the fact that unRAID has worked so well for me that has me preferring this ESXi approach instead. If I can pull it off, that is. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Here's my hardware with some compatibility notes on each based on the research I've been able to do so far:
Board: Asus H97M Plus (per ESXi forum, compatible except for some issues w/the NIC which it sounds like there are workarounds for).
CPU and Graphics: Xeon E3-1230 v3 + GTX 750 Ti or i7-4790 w/IG (the other will go in my current Windows server/htpc which is being repurposed as a desktop; Anyone know if either should work? I know both CPUs are compatible but I don't really understand how graphics are passed through and whether the 750 Ti can be assigned for Windows while unRAID effectively runs headless)
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600 (2x4GB) (can upgrade to 4x4GB if that's not enough however if I were running these in separate machines I don't think I'd ever use >4GB in Windows and 4GB has been plenty for other unRAID server I already have).
SATA ports and controllers: the board has 6x SATA3 ports and a PCI-E 2.0 x16 (x4) slot that I was going to use to throw in a 4 port SATA controller card like this one -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124060. I've read that trying to assign individual SATA ports to different guest OS's in ESXi is a bear so my thought here was to port the 4x 4TB WD Reds + FlexRAID (tRAID) license from my current HTPC, run those from the PCI card assigned to Windows while all the board's SATA ports are assigned to unRAID and eventually filled with 6TB drives.
OS drives: the board has an onboard M2 slot that I've bought a 256GB Plextor SSD for to be the Windows OS drive and run in PCI-E mode, since using a SATA M2 SSD instead would disable 2 of the board's SATA ports. If that's assigned to Windows then unRAID and ESXi should both be able to run from USB flash drives, correct? I've read there are some tricks getting unRAID set up to boot from the USB and setting up the boot order but I've found a couple how-to's that seem to cover most of it.
PSU: Corsair RM650 (650w Gold)
Case: Fractal Design Node 805
So what do you think? Does the config I have in mind make sense for this hardware? Is it a sound approach or am I walking into a huge headache? I know I'm facing a pretty steep learning curve just to get this set up the way I want it but after that I'm really hoping it can be as low maintenance as if I were running both Windows and unRAID as separate machines.
If it looks like it's going to be too big a challenge my fallback has to be to find another parity solution besides FlexRAID for Windows. I haven't had the problems here that some others have reported but those warnings from users + the lack of support evidenced by their outdated wikis and seemingly one-man forum make me really nervous about trusting any more drives to a FlexRAID array. So I am open for suggestions on other FlexRAID alternatives also (maybe just Windows Storage Spaces since I prefer real time RAID anyway and that seems to be the only other solution that allows it?). Anyway, it's just the fact that unRAID has worked so well for me that has me preferring this ESXi approach instead. If I can pull it off, that is. Thanks in advance for any feedback.