jacklayne Posted February 23, 2015 Share #1 Posted February 23, 2015 Hi at all, I should change my nas/server, switch from Debian to XPEnology, probably, and i can choose to use my "old" Intel Atom D510 ( Dual Core 1.6 Ghz ) for bare-metal installation or install XPE as virtual machine on ESXi with the hardisk connected as RDM. Pro and cons???? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbv3000 Posted February 23, 2015 Share #2 Posted February 23, 2015 There are some good discussions about the pro and cons in these posts viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4592 viewtopic.php?f=2&t=535 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacklayne Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share #3 Posted February 23, 2015 i've already read these topic but I still can not decide, because the idea to use the same machine as NAS and as homeLab is a saving of space and resources.. so is it really that dangerous keep it as virtual? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diverge Posted February 24, 2015 Share #4 Posted February 24, 2015 It all depends on what you want out of your hardware, or knowing what you want, and using capable hardware. example; My NAS is more of a mini-server for me. I use performance, but low power Intel CPUs. (Type T w/ 45W), and supporting hardware that is all compatible with VTd (direct IO), to pass through LSI controller for XPEnology raid array... this way DSM has direct access to hard drives, and they are only for DSM. My NAS is file storage, and Plex server that is capable of transcoding any media without breaking a sweat.. and handles all my media (NZBget, Sonarr, couchpotato, ect). It's also VPN access to my LAN from my mobile phone Then I have other VM's on the same machine; Windows 8.1 for Windows Media Center (to watch cable TV via cablecard and Xbox 360... you don't need to activate it to use it for WMC extender/server). I also have a linux VM for just playing around with linux, capable of compiling android source, ect, ect. Storage looks like this: 128GB SSD for my VM's. All physical hard drives for DSM array. DSM iSCSI LUNs to give additional storage to my other VMs (like WMC's live TV buffer, and DVR'd shows). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacklayne Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted February 24, 2015 hi, thanks to reply so, you have XPE as VM on ESXi? What is your hardware?? And another question, you use Windows Media Center as virtual machine, but as you have connected the screen? Streaming for xbox? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diverge Posted February 24, 2015 Share #6 Posted February 24, 2015 Intel DQ77KB, i7 3770T, 16GB ram, LSI 9201-8i. WMC VM is just server part. Playback on Xbox 360 WMC Extender (client part). Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacklayne Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share #7 Posted February 24, 2015 i've found this http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=4992#sp for dual gigabit and 6 port sata and h97 chipset. CPU i3-4130T or i3-4330 for the moment.. what do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mervincm Posted February 24, 2015 Share #8 Posted February 24, 2015 I don't like any MB with only 2 slots for RAM, although it will be fine for Xpenology. i3 is still a lot of CPU for just NAS. if you buy ECC, then i3 is a good choice. otherwise cheaper Pentiums are still more than enough. I don't know if you plan on usingthe wifi with xpenology or not, or if that wireless nic is supported, maybe check it out. H97 is also fairly overkill for what xpenology needs. 2 NICS are not the benefit you might think, unless your switch supports dynamic LACP AND you will have multiple folks hitting the NAS at the same moment with sequential reads / writes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diverge Posted February 24, 2015 Share #9 Posted February 24, 2015 i3's don't support VTd, so if you're going the esxi route, you won't be able to pass hardware to any VM's. If you want VTd, you'll have to go w/ i5+. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacklayne Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share #10 Posted February 24, 2015 I don't like any MB with only 2 slots for RAM, although it will be fine for Xpenology. i3 is still a lot of CPU for just NAS. if you buy ECC, then i3 is a good choice. otherwise cheaper Pentiums are still more than enough. I don't know if you plan on usingthe wifi with xpenology or not, or if that wireless nic is supported, maybe check it out. H97 is also fairly overkill for what xpenology needs. 2 NICS are not the benefit you might think, unless your switch supports dynamic LACP AND you will have multiple folks hitting the NAS at the same moment with sequential reads / writes. The hardware is for ESXi and not only the NAS. The question is if to use NAS as bare-metal or ESXi, and in ESXi case "what hardware to buy". 2Nics is good for ESXi, 1 nic for nas and 1 nic for other virtual machines. If i use "bare-metal" i think that my "atom dual core D510" is still good, or celeron/pentium/amd a1 are perfect. i3's don't support VTd, so if you're going the esxi route, you won't be able to pass hardware to any VM's. If you want VTd, you'll have to go w/ i5+. But only alternative to RDM solution is Raid controller with VT-D? this for Smart and etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diverge Posted February 24, 2015 Share #11 Posted February 24, 2015 i3's don't support VTd, so if you're going the esxi route, you won't be able to pass hardware to any VM's. If you want VTd, you'll have to go w/ i5+. But only alternative to RDM solution is Raid controller with VT-D? this for Smart and etc... You only need an HBA card (I recommend LSI 9201-8i - OEM only, can be found on ebay for ~$75, works great with ESXI). But if you want drive temps in DSM you need to passthrough a controller (VTd), or bare metal. DSM doesn't use smartctrl (smartmontools) to read drive temps, it uses synodisk (their own utility), and synodisk doesn't like RDM drives - it won't report the temps (at least when I used RDM in the past). smarctrl will read the temps of RDM drives, but that's not of much help if DSM uses synodisk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacklayne Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share #12 Posted February 25, 2015 ok, so with LSI 9201-8i i can view healt status and temp, right? but i need to i5/i7 for vt-d? is correct?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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