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[Guide] Up and running with ESXI and XPEenology


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Introduction:

In this guide I'm going to cover everything I did (as best as I can) in order for you to get a perfect installation.

My XPEnology is currently running virtualized on ESXI, running smoothly with12x2TB hard drives and all services supported, even SMART!

I've previously been running Hyper-V, but because ESXI is a better hypervisor (not going to cover why) with broader OS-support, I've made the switch and couldn't be happier.

For now I'm running two virtual XPEnology system (one for test and once for production), multiple linux servers, windows clients and even mac osx clients.

 

Requirements

* A computer capable to run ESXI. I'm not running on verified ESXI hardware (except the raid/HBA card). Look at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compati ... search.php for information on what hardware is supported. The most important is that you have a 64-bits CPU that supports virtualization and that your LAN/SATA is supported by ESXI. I highly recommend a separate raid/hba-controller for your XPEnology in order to get SMART to work. More on that later in the guide.

* A 4GB or larger USB-key for installing ESXI on

* A 1GB or larger USB-key to install ESXI from (could also be a CD)

* At least one hard drive (SSD prefered) for storing virtual machines

* At least one hard drive for XPEnology (data-drive)

 

Install ESXI

1. First of all you need a copy of ESXI. In order to get one head over to http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/. You'll need to register in order to obtain a free registration number for your copy of ESXI. In the time of writing the latest version is "VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.5 Update 1 - Binaries".

 

2. Once you have the ISO dowloaded and written down your registration number, download Rufus from http://rufus.akeo.ie/. This tool will help you to create a bootable USB from the ISO. Remember to use the smallest of the USB-keys as you will want to use the larger one for your ESXI installation. You can also burn the ISO to a CD if you prefer doing so.

 

3. Insert both USB-keys in your computer you want to install ESXI on. The largest drives will be used to install ESXI on, this way you don't waste a hard drive on the hypervisor itself, but rather use all available hard drives as storage. Please note that USB3 ports may cause problems, so use USB2 ports if possible. Once prompted, enter the boot menu of the computer, normally F9 or similar. From here on you just follow the instructions, it's very simple to install! From here on I recommend you to follow this one as needed:

 

 

Install and configure VMware vSphere Client

On your laptop or other computer that you normally use for remote connecting to the server, download and install "VMware vSphere Client" from the same site as where you downloaded ESXI. This tool will be used to administrate the server. You will not make any changes on the physical ESXI anymore after the initial install. Download the installer from here: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/evalcenter

 

Once you have installed the software, login with your IP-adress and root-credentials. Once logged in you'll receive a warning regarding your license/trail version, but once your are logged in you can register your copy by going to Configuration->Licensed Features->Edit... and add your license there.

 

Now we need a place to save all the virtual machines (datastores). In order to setup a datastore go to Configuration->Storage and cilck on "Add storage". Click Next on the first page and then you'll be asked to select the disk you want to use. Make sure you select the right one (preferable SSD) and click on Next. If no drives are listed your SATA/raid controller is not supported by ESXI. Continue to click on Next until you are asked to give the datastore a name (just choose one, eg Datastore01) and click Next until completed.

 

 

Add your first virtual machine

From here you should be able to follow this tutorial: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3132

Do step 1-3 as described. When it comes to step 4 I skipped the "optional" step. It's a personal choice really, but remember doing so will reduce the number of available hard drive slots by 1. In other words you'll not be able to use 12 real hard drives, but only 11 as 3612xs only supports up to 12 drives. I do not recommend to add more. When it comes to "Adding your data drives" I would also recommend to bypass your raid-controller instead of using Raw Device Mapping. The reason for this is that XPEnology then gets direct access to your drives and you'll be able to get the SMART-information. Please note that you can only passthrough whole controllers in ESXI meaning a dedicated 16-ports raid controller is recommended (I'm using LSI SAS 9201-16i). It's your choice, if possible pass-through the whole controller, if not use RDM as described in the guide.

 

In case you want to pass-through the whole raid-controller, go to Configuration->Advanced Settings->Edit. From here you'll have to find your raid-device and check the box next to it in order to make it available to virtual machines. Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/maGdg0n.png

Once that's done go to your virtual machine and hit "Edit Settings". Click on "Add...", Select PCI Device and then your raid-controller. Hit OK and your virtual machine should now be configured correctly. All drives connected to your raid-controller will be available to XPEnology. This is what it should look like: http://i.imgur.com/0JDSfrJ.png

 

At last do step 5 and install DSM.

 

 

FAQ

Q: I have touble expanding my volume

A: Read this guide: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3339

 

 

I hope this guide will help you out!

If it was helpful, please consider a small donation so I can buy a drink and write another guide or continue to offer support. :smile:

Edited by Guest
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Hi All,

 

NeoID thanks for the great how-to, i'm running something similar, but my setup lacks SMART info on disks, I want to fix it and I'd like to compile a list of RAID controllers or PCI_to_SATA cards supported by Xpenology DSM, options so far:

 

1. LSI SAS 9201-16i (a bit price I'd say).

2. IBM M1015 (rebadged LSI 9220-8i ) flashed in IT mode.

 

I wonder if anyone has got experience with HighPoint Rocket 2720SGL, it's pass-through'able, but no indication that DSM supports it.

 

UPD: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1361&start=140#p8887 confirms @Trantor added support for the "Highpoint Rocketraid 2720SGL" in his "beta" release.

 

Cheers,

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Guest MPaladin
When it comes to "Adding your data drives" I would also recommend to bypass your raid-controller instead of using Raw Device Mapping. The reason for this is that XPEnology then gets direct access to your drives and you'll be able to get the SMART-information.

 

Hello,

 

Can you explain how to do this ?

 

Thanks

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When it comes to "Adding your data drives" I would also recommend to bypass your raid-controller instead of using Raw Device Mapping. The reason for this is that XPEnology then gets direct access to your drives and you'll be able to get the SMART-information.

 

Hello,

 

Can you explain how to do this ?

 

Thanks

This screenshot shows you how to do it: http://i.imgur.com/maGdg0n.png

 

1. Select the server on the right and then click on the "Configuration"-tab.

2. Select "Advanced Settings" and then "Edit...". You'll then get a list of all devices. Locate the device you want to passthrough and click ok.

3. Go back to your VM and add the device by right clicking it, selecting "Edit settings", "Add...", "PCI Device..." and then the device you choosed in the previous list.

4. Turn your VM back on and it should now have access to the device. :smile:

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Guest MPaladin

I think I misunderstood what you said in you guide.

I can't use the passthrough because my hardware can't do it (FM2A85X-ITX).

I'm using rdm for the moment and I don't have access to smart infos.

When I read you post, I thought there was another method than using passthrough to have access to smart informations

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I think I misunderstood what you said in you guide.

I can't use the passthrough because my hardware can't do it (FM2A85X-ITX).

I'm using rdm for the moment and I don't have access to smart infos.

When I read you post, I thought there was another method than using passthrough to have access to smart informations

Sorry if I was unclear, but as far as I know there's no easy way of getting it to work without pass-through. :smile:

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Guest MPaladin

In fact, there's no way at the moment but, there are some ways to explore is HDD are used in RDM

 

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/micros ... Id=2040405

esxcli storage core device list

and

esxcli storage core device smart get -d device

to get smart infos on esxi

 

https://xpenology.com/forum/topic/861-what-if-smart-is-not-supported

smartctl --all /dev/sda, b, c, ...

to get smart infos on XPenology

 

the problem seems to be in syno cgi

cat /var/log/messages | grep Smart

cat /var/log/messages | grep temperature

 

but nobody seems to have found a solution

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

current version of pi-control tool has the ability to pull SMART data from ESXi.

https://github.com/djey47/pi-control

It can be installed into Raspberry Pi, any linux virtual machine, or into DSM directly.

 

Returned data is JSON, allowing it to be processed by a 3rd party tool.

smartX project is an example : https://github.com/djey47/smartX

 

A wiki has been started here:

https://github.com/djey47/pi-control/wiki

 

Next version will be more complete and reliable, I will package it to make install easier I guess...

 

I will post any news concerning first 'final' version here:

https://xpenology.com/forum/topic/861-what-if-smart-is-not-supported

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  • 1 month later...

NEOID,

 

Thank you very much for your helpful guide. It sure helped me setup DSM as a VM.

I enabled a USB adapter and a USB device (a samsung 200GB drive) after I started the VM. But it does not seem to appear. Do I have to restart the entire VM to see it in DSM? A

 

Much thanks

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