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    Home Lab XenServer - preferred Storage method

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved IT Discussion
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    • coliverC
      coliver @stacksofplates
      last edited by

      @johnhooks said:

      @coliver said:

      @johnhooks said:

      @coliver said:

      @johnhooks said:

      Out of curiosity has anyone used software RAID with XenServer?

      Yep, very unsupported but it works.

      That's what I read. I was kind of afraid to try it because I saw some people had trouble with 6.5 and it was fine in 6.2. I didn't know if it was worth it to try or not.

      I haven't updated to 6.5 yet. I probably will wait till I get an actual server with a hardware raid controller. Right now i just have a whitebox desktop with 4 drives in it. Works fairly well for what I use it for but I want to expand the functionality in the future.

      I wonder why they don't support software RAID since the Dom0 is CentOS.

      My assumption is because Dom0 is just another VM with special permissions. If software raid were to do something bad it could mess with the other VMs? I really have no clue it does seem like a missed segment though.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • DustinB3403D
        DustinB3403
        last edited by

        As far as I could tell, is they XS simply doesn't want to get involved with Software RAIDs or Fake RAIDs because of the issues that they pose.

        I could find no other reason.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • scottalanmillerS
          scottalanmiller @gjacobse
          last edited by

          @gjacobse said:

          I would think local storage would be easier, faster, and less overhead.

          However - I could be wrong.

          Yup, nothing is going to beat putting the files right on an HP SmartArray.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • scottalanmillerS
            scottalanmiller @JaredBusch
            last edited by

            @JaredBusch said:

            On VMWare, I always load the ISO files up on the data store directly so I can mount them as needed for VM creation.

            Same here. In XenServer I normally mount a CIFS share loaded with ISO files to make things easy.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • scottalanmillerS
              scottalanmiller @stacksofplates
              last edited by

              @johnhooks said:

              Out of curiosity has anyone used software RAID with XenServer?

              Looked into it. I'm a big user of hardware RAID for stuff in this category, I like the features and need others to be able to swap hard drives when they fail, but it will work just fine.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • DustinB3403D
                DustinB3403
                last edited by

                So i did the "right" or best practice, in limiting my Environment by not introducing a VM or another host, and just loading my ISO's directly into the share.

                Awesome!

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • scottalanmillerS
                  scottalanmiller @coliver
                  last edited by

                  @coliver said:

                  @johnhooks said:

                  Out of curiosity has anyone used software RAID with XenServer?

                  Yep, very unsupported but it works.

                  Important to note that it is fully supported by Xen, just not the XenServer package.

                  coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • scottalanmillerS
                    scottalanmiller @stacksofplates
                    last edited by

                    @johnhooks said:

                    @coliver said:

                    @johnhooks said:

                    @coliver said:

                    @johnhooks said:

                    Out of curiosity has anyone used software RAID with XenServer?

                    Yep, very unsupported but it works.

                    That's what I read. I was kind of afraid to try it because I saw some people had trouble with 6.5 and it was fine in 6.2. I didn't know if it was worth it to try or not.

                    I haven't updated to 6.5 yet. I probably will wait till I get an actual server with a hardware raid controller. Right now i just have a whitebox desktop with 4 drives in it. Works fairly well for what I use it for but I want to expand the functionality in the future.

                    I wonder why they don't support software RAID since the Dom0 is CentOS.

                    Too much "extra" stuff most likely.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • dafyreD
                      dafyre
                      last edited by

                      Would it be worth installing Fedora or CentOS and installing the Xen packages to learn it... or just go straight to XenServer ?

                      scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • stacksofplatesS
                        stacksofplates
                        last edited by

                        Here's another question to piggyback off of that one: I know you can use VirtManager to manage Xen vm's but can you use XenCenter to manage Xen without XenServer?

                        scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • coliverC
                          coliver @scottalanmiller
                          last edited by

                          @scottalanmiller said:

                          @coliver said:

                          @johnhooks said:

                          Out of curiosity has anyone used software RAID with XenServer?

                          Yep, very unsupported but it works.

                          Important to note that it is fully supported by Xen, just not the XenServer package.

                          Interesting. May have to look at deploying just Xen in the future. Although I do like XenServer's management.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • scottalanmillerS
                            scottalanmiller @dafyre
                            last edited by

                            @dafyre said:

                            Would it be worth installing Fedora or CentOS and installing the Xen packages to learn it... or just go straight to XenServer ?

                            If you want a more powerful, more up to date Xen this can make sense. But never use CentOS, it lacks support for Xen specifically because Red Hat isn't pro-Xen. Use OpenSuse for the latest and greatest virtualization technologies.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • scottalanmillerS
                              scottalanmiller @stacksofplates
                              last edited by

                              @johnhooks said:

                              Here's another question to piggyback off of that one: I know you can use VirtManager to manage Xen vm's but can you use XenCenter to manage Xen without XenServer?

                              Not unless you modify Xen to add the necessary APIs.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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