I have a p410 hw raid card with a raid1 array for vm, as well as a raid5 array, that i passthough directly to a file server vm. Something about esxi doesnt do native caching hence the need for a hardware raid card. Ensure that your system has adequate performance and memory capacity to run without one host for at least two hours. I dont want to install esxi on any of the hard drives so i can use them all for guest storage and backups. Thoughts on what os for my hp n54l microserver hardware. The microserver got a sb700 embedded sata raid controller softwarefake raid where only compatible or ahci mode works with esxi 4 or 5. Software only if the recipient agrees to be fully bound by these terms and if. Poweredge move from software raid to hardware raid. Hello, i tried to install it on our server with 2 hdd which were using software raid, but we failed. My questions at this point concern whether to use esx or esxi, what those differences are, and if i need to purchase a hardware raid card for the machine to present the arrays to the hypervisor. Het grote hp proliant microserver topic opslagtechnologie got. Windows software raid supports only raid 0, 1 and jbod. Snapshots possibility to install other virtual machines. On the hp support site you can find a link to the amd download.
Run fewer servers and reduce capital and operating costs using vmware vsphere to build a cloud computing infrastructure. Xpenology virtualized vs standalone archives xpenology. My research tells me basically that esxi is super picky and dosent play well with fake raid. Hardware raid will cost more, but it will also be free of software raid s. But for serious deployment id recommend to get some true hardware raidcontroller. Hp dynamic smart array b120i esxi performance issue server fault. For those of us running home labs this small form factor is highly beneficial especially when combined with the low power consumption and noise generated by the server. Apr 18, 2012 esxi esxi hp microserver n40l performance. Benefits and drawbacks of hybrid, hardware assisted software raid. If youre a doityourselfer, then xpenology would is a great and cheap solution for a home project. I have scoured through articles written about tuning software and i have used linux software raid for over 10 years. Hello, i was able to get my n40l to recognize 18gb of the following ram not on the current list. Software vs hardware raid performance and cache usage.
In a hardware raid setup, the drives connect to a special raid controller inserted in a fast pciexpress pcie slot in a motherboard. But the real question is whether you should use a hardware raid solution or a software raid solution. This article covers those things and offers advice for anyone who is building a similar system. Jul 07, 2009 a redundant array of inexpensive disks raid allows high levels of storage reliability.
Now i want to setup the esxi using raid but not a hardware. Remember you are leveraging more with esxi so that battery counts that much more. What attracted me to the hp microserver initially was the form factor. Software raid of course is useless for esxi and want to rebuild my server on esxi. The newest member of my home lab collection is an hp proliant microserver, model n40l. I had to use 6 re4 in raid10 to avoid storage vmotion timeouts due to the sucky speed compared to regular sas drives.
You will not be disappointed and the cost is well worth it. Whats the best hardware raid card for a hp n40l that supports esxi and raid 1. This is bad if you have data on the raid drives already. Hp microserver esxi raid questions solutions experts. I did some digging and my research has pointed me to the possibility that this raid controller on the intel server isnt actually a hardware controller but a piece of embedded software using the computer as the controller. Any nas software that will give you an iscsi target should be fine for a. Can i use the in built raid controller software to setup the raid config and the. I tried to install it on our server with 2 hdd which were using software raid, but we failed. Hp as it is in the description with a raid 5 and esxi on it, with some vms.
How to enable raid monitoring and configuration under esxi. The microserver got a sb700 embedded sata raid controller software fake raid where only compatible or ahci mode works with esxi 4 or 5. Vmware esxi still doesnt support software raid so the hp p400 controller is used. It is used to improve disk io performance and reliability of your server or workstation. Hi, seems many have had issues with dell raid controllers disappearing from esxi hopefully this may help others with the same issue. Comparing hardware raid vs software raid setups deals with how the storage drives in a raid array connect to the motherboard in a server or pc, and the management of those drives. Freenas on hp microserver n54l shared storage for your esxi. For those of us running home labs this small form factor is highly beneficial especially when combined with the low. Using hpe custom esxi images to install esxi on hpe. Oct 12, 20 the host must contain an intel or lsi hardware or firmware raid cardcontroller. Because of its low price point and rather high potential, ive seen a lot of interest for this particular box floating around the interwebs when it relates to both home lab and vcapdca studies. It runs ubuntu linux and as a home server totally rocks. Replacing failed disk in the software raid is a bit more complex. You have to firstly tell your system to stop using the disk and then replace the disk.
Not sure if dell released hardware for that yet or not, but if it is available you would need to buy a new server. Oct 18, 2011 hp microserver n40l raid utility and driver posted in hardware, hp, microsoft, proliant server, web, windows home server, windows server, work now after setting up my hp microserver n40l as a windows homeserver i had to install the utilities to monitor the raid and other hardware. Jul 25, 2011 hi kenneth, imho the hp microserver is a pretty good lab solution for either an esxi host or for a shared storage appliance assume youll have to use software based raid from the underlying os as the onboard raid controller isnt a 100% hardware based raid solution. Using hpe custom esxi images to install esxi on hpe proliant. Hp microserver n40l home lab server ml110 g67 comparision. He has a supermicro board, but it only has intels matrix raid. It includes all of the required drivers and management software to run esxi on hpe servers, and works seamlessly with intelligent provisioning.
I never used esxi so i cant tell you much about it. Conclusion running vmware vsphere on an hp microserver. Sep 05, 20 thoughts on what os for my hp n54l microserver. Poweredge move from software raid to hardware raid controller we have a dell poweredge r420 that came from the factory with software raid. I actually had my n40l with esxi, and then had a vm openindiana presenting the disks raw disk.
He has an i3 that doesnt support vtd, so that rules out software raid or zfs. Mar 28, 20 the hp proliant n54l g7 microserver looks exactly like its predecessor hp proliant n40l microserver. Using raw device mappings rdm on an hp microserver einrichtung. Whats the best hardware raid card for a hp n40l that supports esxi and raid 1 and 0 tar. Unfortunately i have drawn a blank with this train of thought apart from my hard drives that could do with swapping out for new ones. I have a p410 hw raid card with a raid1 array for vm, as well as a raid5 array, that i passthough directly to a file. A redundant array of inexpensive disks raid allows high levels of storage reliability. Raid monitoring and configuration with an intel or lsi raid card. A raid can be deployed using both software and hardware.
If you want to use the local disks as an array, you have to buy an additional raid controller. Can use both software hardware raid as long as hypervisor is compatible. I wish to transfer all of my existing media on to this server and use a raid config on it. Esxi install on a hp n40l microserver errors during installation. Hp proliant microserver n40l owners thread page 26. Nov 19, 2014 couldnt he boot esxi from a usb, get a separate sata card for booting oss, then passing through his on board sata controller so he has all drives available in the os, then using something like snapraid for redundancy. A software raid is free but does carry some overhead on the server and may be less reliable under certain circumstances.
Home third party products vmware virtualisation installation and software how to enable raid monitoring and configuration under esxi 5. B320i and b120i are basically motheboard port satasas with esxi hpvsa software raid driver designed for putting cheap ssd as. Can we touch on why you think you need traditional hardware or even software raid in the. Er zit geen raidcontroller op, raid zal je software matig moeten draaien. The server does only have a softwarebased raid controller which will not. Now after setting up my hp microserver n40l as a windows homeserver i had to install the utilities to monitor the raid and other hardware. When i was researching the hardware, i learned there are a number of things to consider when choosing a raid card for use under esxi. Currently i have two dedicated server for nas and vms that are. Although for some reason in the back of my mind, i thought it had an lsi hardware raid controller. Although this is quite low for a hypervisor, it should be sufficient for a pure test environment. All redundancy and such is handled by vmwares vsan, and vmware seems to advise against hardware raid, as that just causes more loss of space. Ml110 g67 uses a hp b110i sata controller, which is also softwarefake raid and only compatible or ahci mode works with esxi. You can mount the share on your esxi host with configuration hardware storage add storage network file system. Hp microserver esxi raid questions solutions experts exchange.
For an esxi host with 8gb mem assume that youll comfortably run about 56 average vms. Broadcom bcm5723 for the n40l, hp nc107i for g6 and hp nc112i for g7. And wasnt reading, and turned out it has intel rste technology. A hardware raid controller costs money but has no overhead on the server. The hp proliant n54l g7 microserver looks exactly like its predecessor hp proliant n40l microserver. Home forums hardware raid controllers and host bus adapters ideal hardware raid 110 card for esxi datastore. Posted in hardware, hp, microsoft, proliant server, web, windows home server, windows server, work. So all was great and i was using each single drive as a datastore but today a drive died meaning i lost everything on it and there was loads. Rather than using a hardware raid that if the raid card failed, he would have to get the same card.
We now want to add a raid controller so we can configure for hardware raid 10. I have read in a few places that vmware doesnt correctly see the disks when using the builtin raid capabilities of the n54l. Jan 02, 2015 that was the reason why i rededicated my n40l to be central storage and file server with freenas. In a hardware raid setup, the drives connect to a special raid controller inserted in a fast pciexpress pcie. Choosing maplehosting means choosing a hosting provider that is experienced at delivering a perfect hosting. Esxi is basically the esx installed on a chip on the motherboard. I have read in a few places that vmware doesnt correctly see the disks. Additionally, hardware assisted software raid usually comes with a variety of drivers for the most popular operating systems, and therefore, is more os independent than pure software raid.
Standard vmware esxi iso, is the easiest and most reliable way to install esxi on hpe servers. When storage drives are connected directly to the motherboard without a raid controller, raid configuration is managed by utility software in the operating system, and thus referred to as a software raid setup. Hp microserver n40l raid utility and driver thomas maurer. Oct 24, 2010 conclusion running vmware vsphere on an hp microserver.
This post describes what you need to use the n40l as resilient storage and how to configure it properly for esxi usage. Can we touch on why you think you need traditional hardware or even software raid in the first place. I have one running 4 x 2tb disks in software raid and the included 250gig as a the system disk mounting in the cd drive bay. Raid mangement of hpe proliant microserver gen10 hewlett. More than likely youve been digging around on the internet looking for ways to build your own nas and stumbled on xpenology, here is the definitive guide on all you need to know about xpenology. One of which we intend to use for the vcenter appliance and the other 4 for vsphere. I speak enough german to understand the script, and it helped me with my esxi 5. For software raid i used the linux kernel software raid functionality of a system running 64bit fedora 9. Omwille van bovenstaand puntje, dus ook enkele always up and running virtuele. Aug 07, 2012 broadcom bcm5723 for the n40l, hp nc107i for g6 and hp nc112i for g7. Esxi hp microserver n40l performance hardware hangout. Turns out that for some reason the hpvsa driver for esxi has some issues. If youre looking for a reliable os for a business level nas, i would advise you to purchase a real synology device. Additionally, hardwareassisted software raid usually comes with a variety of drivers for the most popular operating systems, and therefore, is more os independent than pure software raid.
Plan to perform this operation in a period of low demand. I would recommend using a cheapo 16gb usb drive set boot priority to prefer this over the hardware raid card so that esxi boots to load esxi onto, which will give you your option of going raid 10 3 stripes with all the ssds for some performance testing if thats what you desire. Konfiguration im bereich software unter lizensierte funktionen eingeben. The server does only have a software based raid controller which will not work with the esx. Should i create a separate raid1 for esxi and raid10 for vms, or just go for one big raid10 for everything. The hp n40l has 2 cpu cores and supports up to 8gb of ram. Esxi raid rste and supermicro x10sdv8ctln4f raid support. Jun, 2016 comparing hardware raid vs software raid setups deals with how the storage drives in a raid array connect to the motherboard in a server or pc, and the management of those drives. So all was great and i was using each single drive as a datastore but today a drive died meaning i lost everything on it.
I have read online that if using the microserver you have to use the marvel utility otherwise. Couldnt he boot esxi from a usb, get a separate sata card for booting oss, then passing through his on board sata controller so he has all drives available in the os, then using something like snapraid for redundancy. Ml110 g67 uses a hp b110i sata controller, which is also softwarefake raid and only compatible or ahci mode works with. Hey all im looking to upgrade my n40l n54l to esxi 6. N54l nassan suggestions microserver n54l, n40l, etc reset. For more details of installing smis, refer to the vmware esxi 5. How to enable raid monitoring and configuration under esxi 5. Choosing between software raid and hardware raid depends on what you need to do and cost. Whether software raid vs hardware raid is the one for you depends on what you need to do and how much you want to pay. After this smis vib file is installed in vmware esxi 5, intel raid web console 2 at client end is able to remotely manage megasas raid array under vmware esxi 5. Hp microserver gen 10, esxi and raid hewlett packard. I know the software does not allow for this which means buying a raid controller. I will talk about nfs sync writes or performance issues with nfs vs. Does the hp micro server have hardware or software raid.
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