***The Official Windows Home Server 2011 Thread***
- Thread starter easyrider
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More than enough, the .VHD for mine is 40GB and that obviously includes swap files, additional applications and roles I've added.
You'd just need to do the .ini file change so that the installer allows you to install on a smaller drive.
You'd just need to do the .ini file change so that the installer allows you to install on a smaller drive.
Ok have my server open, one of the HDDs is clicking like mad, yet running WD diagnostic tools on them, they all say they are happy :/.
Anyway have isolated the defunct HDD, now the issue I have is that Drivepool has split the files across disks. Meh. I doubt the disk is in a state to allow me to remove it from the pool safely (and copy the files to another HDD).
Anyway have isolated the defunct HDD, now the issue I have is that Drivepool has split the files across disks. Meh. I doubt the disk is in a state to allow me to remove it from the pool safely (and copy the files to another HDD).
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Drive removed from pool and replaced with a larger one. Job done 
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I must say I'm a little confused as to whats up with it, I've run every check I can think of, and all come back positive. I've formatted it and its sat there...inviting me to re-add it to the pool...
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.I must say I'm a little confused as to whats up with it, I've run every check I can think of, and all come back positive. I've formatted it and its sat there...inviting me to re-add it to the pool...
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I've been having a think about redesigning my home network, as I'm putting an office into the loft soon.
Is it possible to run two home servers on the same network? Advantages/disadvantages? I've just been thinking about splitting out the Films onto better hardware, and running music, documents etc on an older server.
Just a thought..
Is it possible to run two home servers on the same network? Advantages/disadvantages? I've just been thinking about splitting out the Films onto better hardware, and running music, documents etc on an older server.
Just a thought..
Well it makes sense for production environments to delegate issues to different servers, I realise my home network is nothing on this scale though 
.
Was also thinking of setting up a domain controller, and a "proper" network, because I can.
.Was also thinking of setting up a domain controller, and a "proper" network, because I can
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If you're determined to have more than 1 server you should consider using virtualisation that way you can have as many servers as you please yet only need to worry about one set of hardware.
I would think it depends on how you set it up as to whether it would cause problems or not.
If you didn't use the "computer connector" software on one of the home servers but effectively used it as a Windows 2008 R2 server in a workgroup it should work just fine.
Presumably though you just want another server for file storage. In which case you have plenty of options. Here are a few:
A standard machine running something like an open source NAS software product (OpenFiler, FreeNAS etc)
A dedicated NAS server (Netgear Readynas etc)
A standard machine running a Windows client or server OS with shared folders.
me? I use virtualisation. One box stuffed to the rafters with disks, ESXi running off USB key, one virtualised WHS 2011 server with a chunk of storage + other servers as and when required.
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That sounds like a promising idea, not that I have a huge amount of experience with ESXi, but definitely worth looking at. I think I'd have to upgrade my server mind you, but that isn't a problem.
Actually thinking about it, virtualisation sounds perfect for running XBMC on its own separate instance, away from the operating system.
Now I just need to spec some hardware
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Could you share your hardware spec?
Sure:
HP Microserver N36L, 8GB RAM, 1 x 250GB, 1 x 500GB and 2 x 1TB hard disks, one 8GB USB Stick, ESXi free 5.1
WHS 2011 as a VM runs just fine and is able to serve up HD content without issue to my media PC under the TV. IT backs up 4 Windows client PC's without issue too and I have configured it for PPTP VPN remote access so I can VPN in from abroad and either access files or use iPlayer etc through the VPN.
The Microserver can fit more disks into it with additional mods (see the Microserver thread for the parts you need and the hacked BIOS) so it can handle 6 internal disks. At some stage when I need to I will upgrade my existing disks to give me more storage. For now, its fine for the way I use it.
EDIT: Just as an observation I think my setup is capable of running 3 to 5 virtual machines just fine. Obviously it depends of the workload each machine is expected to handle, but I had the following all working fine:
WHS 2011
SBS 2011 Essentials
2 x Windows 7 Pro
I did find that if the machines were rebooted at the same time the disks would struggle but other than that it performed admirably. Memory can be overcommited in ESXi so I gave the SBS 4GB RAM and the Win 7 machines 2GB each even though the WHS machine already had 4GB assigned
So long as you don't overload them that too worked just fine! I'm assuming your XBMC will be used as a backend to serve media to other devices?
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Oh - I'm fairly surprised at that hardware spec if I'm being honest (I expected WHS would need a bit more beef to run in a virtual world), but great! I'm definitely going to need to upgrade my motherboard, because its limited to 4GB ram though - any suggestions?
Also what USB key do you use (and why an USB key rather than to a hdd)? As I presume you need a reliable one - what happens if your USB bootable ESXi environment gets screwed, how easy is it to recover? Do you need the vSphere client as well? Haven't set it up before.
Can I set up a test environment in VMWare? Or does ESXi have to be booted as the host?
Also what USB key do you use (and why an USB key rather than to a hdd)? As I presume you need a reliable one - what happens if your USB bootable ESXi environment gets screwed, how easy is it to recover? Do you need the vSphere client as well? Haven't set it up before
.Can I set up a test environment in VMWare? Or does ESXi have to be booted as the host?
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Oh - I'm fairly surprised at that hardware spec if I'm being honest (I expected WHS would need a bit more beef to run in a virtual world), but great! I'm definitely going to need to upgrade my motherboard, because its limited to 4GB ram though - any suggestions?
Also what USB key do you use (and why an USB key rather than to a hdd)? As I presume you need a reliable one - what happens if your USB bootable ESXi environment gets screwed, how easy is it to recover? Do you need the vSphere client as well? Haven't set it up before
Can I set up a test environment in VMWare? Or does ESXi have to be booted as the host?
Almost every modern motherboard will support VT-D required for Virtual environments. However to be sure you should be looking at something supported on the VMWare HCL
Why USB install?
Flash is more reliable than mechanical disk for one. Secondly you don't waste any HDD real estate when you install to a USB key meaning the full HDD disks storage can be used for VM's
Its not difficult to get into ESXi. However to get the best from it you need to know what you are doing.
VT-x is required for virtulisation and VT-d is for IO passthrough to a virtual machine for direct control.
Most of vSphere loads in to memory so the USB stick is more for holding the image and specific configuration details. Little space is needed and if the stick fails then a new base setup is usually fairly easy to configure.
I have had WHS 2011 running on a D2700 Atom with 2GB ram. It was fairly slow but it worked fine. The actual install took a looong time though. It will run reasonibly well on 4GB but to leverage the power of virtulisation (multiple virtual machines on a single set of hardware), more ram is recommended.
You could setup a nested vSphere install where vSphere is installed in a VM on a vSphere host. By creating multiple vSphere VMs you can play with clustering, vMotion etc but you need the appropriate license to enable those features or just play before the trial period expires and then put in the free version serial code.
Have a look in the unofficial ESXi thread here.
RB
When you mention performance concerns are you talking about HDD performance? If so, you can use Raw Device Mapping (RDM) through ESXi which should give you similar speeds to what you would expect natively out of your disks. The difference between RDM and vmfs presented datastores are quite pronounced, certainly from my testing using the HP Microserver as a test platform:
Forza IT
Yes I guess I do mean HDD performance in a large regard, as I use my server for HD (1080p) streaming using XBMC, via a HDMI out currently. I wouldn't mind splitting XBMC off from my file server, which then of course adds in another layer of potential delays (I do have a gigabit network wired up with Cat6 and decent switches).