Backslash Posted July 7, 2016 #1 Posted July 7, 2016 Hi all, I'm going to rebuild my server to be an ESXi machine and run DSM on top of that. I won't be running any other VM's except for maybe a home automation VM or something. I'm trying to figure out what will be the best disk configuration going forward, whether I create datastores from the disks in ESXi, map the disks as RDM disks to the DSM vm, or buy a sata controller and do pci-e pass through. Any insight into pros/cons would be great. Ideally I'd like to not spend any more money but open to suggestions. Thanks everyone!
Diverge Posted July 7, 2016 #2 Posted July 7, 2016 Well the only way that DSM will have smart data from hardrives, is if you passthrough a controller to your DSM VM (it won't work w/ RDM). If you use virtual drives (on a datastore) for your array, then you won't be able to use your disks with systems outside esxi. Like if you wanted to move the disks to real synology system. Or if wanted to mount your array in Linux (outside of esxi), to recover a broken array, ect. I'm not sure about transfer speed differences.
haydibe Posted July 7, 2016 #3 Posted July 7, 2016 RDM disks can be also moved a real synology system or connected to a passthrough controller... No native SMART support for RDM disks... even though smartctl is able to read SMART data, but appearently the diskmanager uses something differnt to query SMART data and fails.
Backslash Posted July 7, 2016 Author #4 Posted July 7, 2016 Thanks for the replies! So the general gist is that if I want to move my disks to a physical Symbology server (or to another physical Xpenology BareBones server) I need to use RDM or Pass through. And if I want SMART data I need to use Pass through. If, however, I plan on staying with ESXi for good virtual disks are fine? Sent from my SM-G928I using Tapatalk
haydibe Posted July 7, 2016 #5 Posted July 7, 2016 I still wouldn't recommend to use a proprietary disk format... I started with RDM and ended up adding LSI 2008 controllers. Though, both my ESXi hosts use a xeon cpu, which is required in order to use directIO in ESXi. If you pass through a controller, you have to assign a fixed amount of memory - the vm won't be able to use ram balooning anymore (=only consume as much host ram as the guest uses).
berwhale Posted July 8, 2016 #6 Posted July 8, 2016 If you pass through a controller, you have to assign a fixed amount of memory - the vm won't be able to use ram balooning anymore (=only consume as much host ram as the guest uses). That's a good point - I allocated 4GB to my DSM VM, but I have 24GB in the server, so it's no problem - it may be an issue for others. Note that you also lose the ability to hot plug devices to VM using DirectIO - that's why I also pass-through a cheap PCI-E USB3 card to DSM.
Guest Posted July 8, 2016 #7 Posted July 8, 2016 I'm a complete noob to all this and have a HP microserver gen8 with a P222 controller, 16GB RAM, no Xeon CPU (yet) I've got it running ESXi 5.5 and basically have my VMs running off a raid1 2X3TB, I was thinking of using the spare 2 slots and adding an additional raid 1 for pure storage for a DSM VM and wondering my options. Not sure if I can use the controller to host my VMs on the 1st raid 1 and have a passthrough or RDM for the 2nd RAID 1, could the controller handle it? I assume the easiest it just to add a second datastore and be done with it. however keen to go for the best solution. thanks in advance for your opinions Alzoo
berwhale Posted July 8, 2016 #8 Posted July 8, 2016 With DirectIO Passthrough vSphere hands over complete control of the disk adapter to the VM. Any disks attached to the adapter can only be seen within that VM. RDM is similar, but at the disk level. So I think you could map the 2nd RAID array to a vmdk using RDM - However, I've not tried this, I went straight down the DirectIO route as I had an existing SHR array to migrate from a physical installation of DSM.
Backslash Posted July 9, 2016 Author #9 Posted July 9, 2016 With DirectIO Passthrough vSphere hands over complete control of the disk adapter to the VM. Any disks attached to the adapter can only be seen within that VM. RDM is similar, but at the disk level. So I think you could map the 2nd RAID array to a vmdk using RDM - However, I've not tried this, I went straight down the DirectIO route as I had an existing SHR array to migrate from a physical installation of DSM. Hey berwhale, Any reason I wouldn't be able to create and SHR array with DSM6? When installed I don't get the option to choose SHR. I am forced to create a raid group first and then volume after that. But irs only standard raid groups I can create.
berwhale Posted July 9, 2016 #10 Posted July 9, 2016 @Backslash - I think you have to select the 'quick' option when setting up the volume. You only get offered RAID with the custom option.
Backslash Posted July 9, 2016 Author #11 Posted July 9, 2016 @Backslash - I think you have to select the 'quick' option when setting up the volume. You only get offered RAID with the custom option. That's odd. I don't get the choice. I have to create a raid group and then volume second. Did you use the ova/ovf or install manually with the ISO? Sent from my SM-G928I using Tapatalk
berwhale Posted July 10, 2016 #12 Posted July 10, 2016 I manually created the VM and attached it to Xpenology boot vmdk. BTW, I'm running DSM 5.2, i've not played with 6.0.
Guest Posted July 11, 2016 #13 Posted July 11, 2016 Unfortunately I don't see any VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on my HP Microserver so its RDM for me thanks for the info
berwhale Posted July 11, 2016 #14 Posted July 11, 2016 Unfortunately I don't see any VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on my HP Microserver so its RDM for me You need CPU support for DirectPath I/O - a Xeon or an i5+ I think.
haydibe Posted July 12, 2016 #15 Posted July 12, 2016 Assumed your Microserver is a gen8, you need to have an a socket 1155 cpu with vt-d support: low power: Xeon E3-1220L v2 / i5-3470T balance power/consumption: Xeon E3-1265L v2 max power: everything except those from above -> http://ark.intel.com/de/products/family ... amily#@All
berwhale Posted July 12, 2016 #16 Posted July 12, 2016 If you're in the UK, you can buy the Dell T20 with a E3-1225 v3 Xeon for £200 after cashback... http://www.serversplus.com/servers/towe ... rs/20-3708 That's not much more than the CPU would cost on it's own.
haydibe Posted July 12, 2016 #17 Posted July 12, 2016 If you're in the UK, you can buy the Dell T20 with a E3-1225 v3 Xeon for £200 after cashback... http://www.serversplus.com/servers/towe ... rs/20-3708 That's not much more than the CPU would cost on it's own. The maschine would need to replace the HP Microserver then. V3 CPUs use a different socket.
berwhale Posted July 12, 2016 #18 Posted July 12, 2016 Yes, but the whole server is only £20 more than buying the CPU on it's own. Also, you can fit more drives in the T20 - 2x 2.5" in the optical bay and 4x 3.5" in the normal bays, plus there's space to add one 3.5" or two 2.5" drives in the floppy drive hanger. There's also room to add an internal drive rack if you have some DIY skills. I have 2x 2.5" drives as ESXi datastores and 4X 3.5" drives passed-though to DSM. All I had to buy was a couple of SATA power splitters.
Backslash Posted July 12, 2016 Author #19 Posted July 12, 2016 Yes, but the whole server is only £20 more than buying the CPU on it's own. Also, you can fit more drives in the T20 - 2x 2.5" in the optical bay and 4x 3.5" in the normal bays, plus there's space to add one 3.5" or two 2.5" drives in the floppy drive hanger. There's also room to add an internal drive rack if you have some DIY skills. I have 2x 2.5" drives as ESXi datastores and 4X 3.5" drives passed-though to DSM. All I had to buy was a couple of SATA power splitters. If only the T20's were available in Australia. I'd hand over my cash right now! Haha. MN Instead I'll be having to do a custom build. Sent from my SM-G928I using Tapatalk
dynax Posted July 15, 2016 #20 Posted July 15, 2016 Unfortunately I don't see any VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on my HP Microserver so its RDM for me You need CPU support for DirectPath I/O - a Xeon or an i5+ I think. Xeon and i3 (not i5). Intel yielded to HP/DELL/Lenovo and enable direct I/O with an i3 CPU so the manufacturers can sell cheap servers for small businesses.
haydibe Posted July 15, 2016 #21 Posted July 15, 2016 Unfortunately I don't see any VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on my HP Microserver so its RDM for me You need CPU support for DirectPath I/O - a Xeon or an i5+ I think. Xeon and i3 (not i5). Intel yielded to HP/DELL/Lenovo and enable direct I/O with an i3 CPU so the manufacturers can sell cheap servers for small businesses. That's only true for: - 4th gen i3 >= i3-4010U - 5th gen I3 - 6th gen i3 And almost all i5's do -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_I ... processors The statement was fit for a HP microserver Gen8, which has no support for >= 3rd gen CPUs.
berwhale Posted July 15, 2016 #22 Posted July 15, 2016 Yeah, best to play it safe and get a T20 with a Xeon Note: I've got nothing against HP, I owned an N36L and N54L as was happy with both of them - plus i've specified $m's worth of HP kit to go into data centres over the last 20 years
Azza Posted September 10, 2016 #23 Posted September 10, 2016 Yes, but the whole server is only £20 more than buying the CPU on it's own. Also, you can fit more drives in the T20 - 2x 2.5" in the optical bay and 4x 3.5" in the normal bays, plus there's space to add one 3.5" or two 2.5" drives in the floppy drive hanger. There's also room to add an internal drive rack if you have some DIY skills. I have 2x 2.5" drives as ESXi datastores and 4X 3.5" drives passed-though to DSM. All I had to buy was a couple of SATA power splitters. berwhale, what controller cards are you using? I've just got a T20, and want to move over my 4 hard drives from my N54L, and add a couple more but it seems the controller card I got pexsat32 and it (https://www.startech.com/uk/Cards-Adapters/HDD-Controllers/SATA-Cards/2-Port-PCI-Express-SATA-6-Gbps-Controller-Card~PEXSAT32) doesn't seem to be compatible with DSM 5.2 as I can't see any hard drives in DSM when it's added to pass-through.
berwhale Posted September 12, 2016 #24 Posted September 12, 2016 I'm using a card with a Marvell 88SE9215 chipset... http://eud.dx.com/product/iocrest-marve ... -844282997
Azza Posted September 13, 2016 #25 Posted September 13, 2016 I'm using a card with a Marvell 88SE9215 chipset... http://eud.dx.com/product/iocrest-marve ... -844282997 Okay cool, ordered the same one but Syba branded from Amazon, should have it this evening. Assume I should just be able to plug in my existing drives and pass-through to a VM that is of the same DSM version number and the volume will show up fine?
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