![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
TechLarry
RIP [H] Brother - June 1, 2022
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2005
- Messages
- 30,481
An interesting project 
First, I'd like to thank everyone who posted in my "Ok, what server should I go to...
" thread. I had a lot of options and questions I needed to get answered to set a goal, and that part is out of the way.
Now the project begins...
I decided to start a new thread to document the actual project since the design stuff is out of the way.
First, the hardware
Lian-Li V2000+ Case
Intel BadAxe-2 Motherboard
Intel E6700 C2D Processor
4GB RAM
nVidia 7800GTX Video Card
Six 1GB WD Green Drives
Intel Pro 1000/MT NIC PCI NIC Card
Intel Pro 1000/PT on-board NIC Card
PCP&C Silencer 750 Power Supply
This is basically my old main desktop from last year that was replaced with a new i7 System. It was good timing as my old faithful ABIT IT7-MAX2/P4 2.53 based server that sat in a spare bedroom closet running Server 2003 for some 5 years with zero issues, finally suffered cap-death.
Software
Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
WHS Vail Preview 1
Hyper-V
Intended Use
Backup of my main Workstation and 3 Laptops on the home network.
Streaming of Music, Movies, Pictures, etc... to everything (XBox 360, workstations, WD HD Live Plus, etc...). I plan on using the remote streaming of Vail as well, assuming it works
Storage of all software installers, Master Music/Video Files, etc... These are not working copies, but the Master Archives.
Remote Access.
The backup, Remote Access and streaming will be handled by Vail running under Hyper-V. Running the Remote Access through Vail in Hyper-V, with it's own segregated NIC Controller, allows me to have Remote Access without any connection to the main Home Network, keeping it out of harms way.
The Master Storage will be done via native Server 2008 R2 Shares.
All drives are singled up. No RAID. I don't think Green Drives are a good choice for RAID.
4 of the 1GB drives dedicated to Server 2008 R2 located on the On-Board Intel SATA Controller.
Two 1GB drives, which are the two located on the Marvel On-Board SATA Controller, are dedicated to Vail.
PCI Intel Pro/1000MT NIC is dedicated to the Server 2008 R2 Platform.
On-Board Intel Pro/1000PT NIC is dedicated to the Hyper-V.
I have Hyper-V configured so the two NIC's are segregated. They do not speak to each other.
There is a change from the initial plans in the original thread. I was going to use DPM 2010 for the backup system, but further research proved to me that this is a very serious product and one hell of an installation. I also learned that it is either impossible, or very difficult, to utilitze when the network workstations to be backed up are not on a Domain. Since I do not want to run a Domain Controller, I've gone to Plan B for the Backup.
The Backup will be handled by Vail, then it's release version. The current Preview uses Drive Extender 2, which we all know has been axed. Since I'm only going to use the Vail Hyper-V for backup, streaming and Remote Access it won't be a problem when the release version comes out. I'll just start over.
Server Installation
I have to start by saying Server 2008 R2 is effing brilliant. With the exception of finding a driver for the Gigabit SATA Controller, and some research on a Hyper-V issue (more on that later) I did not have to refer to any documentation, web pages, or help files.
Installed the server, then just went down the config window and took care of things in order as presented. Had no problems understanding any of it at all.
The File Server Role and Hyper-V are the only two items I have enabled as it's all I need.
That's it. The Server Install was a true non-event.
Hyper-V/Vail Setup
I've done a dry-run install of Vail, and it installed fine. I then discovered by taking the two 1GB drives I'm using for Vail offline in the Server drive manager, I could assign them as normal drives to Vail instead of using VHD's. This has got to improve performance, so I deleted the first Vail VM and I'm starting over as I write this re-installing it with the two drives attached to the VM nativelly.
Hyper-V was easy to understand, and I had no problems with one exception. When I tried to start up the first install of Vail, I got a Hyper-V warning. It then dawned on me... Oh, shit! Does this MB/Processor support the Intel hardware Virtual extensions? I don't know! This could be a deal breaker!
So I checked the BIOS, and there it was. Turned it on. Whew! That was friggin' close LOL
Brought the server back up and tried to run the VM again. Same problem! Uh, oh...
I went back to the BIOS and double-checked the setting, and while I was on it I noticed something I didn't the first time. A note on the right of the screen saying a total power-down was required for this setting to take effect. Cool. A second chance
Powered everything down, and powered back up. Brought up Hyper-V, and ran the Vail VM. It worked
That's where I am right now. More to come after Vail is installed and configured.
Oh, one more thing. For those of you beating me up over the old UPS in the previous thread (), I fixed that situation too. Since my Laptops have their own battery backup and shut-down services, I took the UPS from them and put it on the server. It's half the capacity, but it has USB and the PowerChute Personal software seems to be working just fine under Server 2008. I put the old Serial based UPS on the Laptops.
I show 12 minutes of backup power available, and I set the software to initiate shut-down when only 8 minutes were left. That should be plenty of time to shut down the Hyper-V, Vail and the server before everything goes dark.
First, I'd like to thank everyone who posted in my "Ok, what server should I go to...
" thread. I had a lot of options and questions I needed to get answered to set a goal, and that part is out of the way.
Now the project begins...
I decided to start a new thread to document the actual project since the design stuff is out of the way.
First, the hardware
Lian-Li V2000+ Case
Intel BadAxe-2 Motherboard
Intel E6700 C2D Processor
4GB RAM
nVidia 7800GTX Video Card
Six 1GB WD Green Drives
Intel Pro 1000/MT NIC PCI NIC Card
Intel Pro 1000/PT on-board NIC Card
PCP&C Silencer 750 Power Supply
This is basically my old main desktop from last year that was replaced with a new i7 System. It was good timing as my old faithful ABIT IT7-MAX2/P4 2.53 based server that sat in a spare bedroom closet running Server 2003 for some 5 years with zero issues, finally suffered cap-death.
Software
Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
WHS Vail Preview 1
Hyper-V
Intended Use
Backup of my main Workstation and 3 Laptops on the home network.
Streaming of Music, Movies, Pictures, etc... to everything (XBox 360, workstations, WD HD Live Plus, etc...). I plan on using the remote streaming of Vail as well, assuming it works
Storage of all software installers, Master Music/Video Files, etc... These are not working copies, but the Master Archives.
Remote Access.
The backup, Remote Access and streaming will be handled by Vail running under Hyper-V. Running the Remote Access through Vail in Hyper-V, with it's own segregated NIC Controller, allows me to have Remote Access without any connection to the main Home Network, keeping it out of harms way.
The Master Storage will be done via native Server 2008 R2 Shares.
All drives are singled up. No RAID. I don't think Green Drives are a good choice for RAID.
4 of the 1GB drives dedicated to Server 2008 R2 located on the On-Board Intel SATA Controller.
Two 1GB drives, which are the two located on the Marvel On-Board SATA Controller, are dedicated to Vail.
PCI Intel Pro/1000MT NIC is dedicated to the Server 2008 R2 Platform.
On-Board Intel Pro/1000PT NIC is dedicated to the Hyper-V.
I have Hyper-V configured so the two NIC's are segregated. They do not speak to each other.
There is a change from the initial plans in the original thread. I was going to use DPM 2010 for the backup system, but further research proved to me that this is a very serious product and one hell of an installation. I also learned that it is either impossible, or very difficult, to utilitze when the network workstations to be backed up are not on a Domain. Since I do not want to run a Domain Controller, I've gone to Plan B for the Backup.
The Backup will be handled by Vail, then it's release version. The current Preview uses Drive Extender 2, which we all know has been axed. Since I'm only going to use the Vail Hyper-V for backup, streaming and Remote Access it won't be a problem when the release version comes out. I'll just start over.
Server Installation
I have to start by saying Server 2008 R2 is effing brilliant. With the exception of finding a driver for the Gigabit SATA Controller, and some research on a Hyper-V issue (more on that later) I did not have to refer to any documentation, web pages, or help files.
Installed the server, then just went down the config window and took care of things in order as presented. Had no problems understanding any of it at all.
The File Server Role and Hyper-V are the only two items I have enabled as it's all I need.
That's it. The Server Install was a true non-event.
Hyper-V/Vail Setup
I've done a dry-run install of Vail, and it installed fine. I then discovered by taking the two 1GB drives I'm using for Vail offline in the Server drive manager, I could assign them as normal drives to Vail instead of using VHD's. This has got to improve performance, so I deleted the first Vail VM and I'm starting over as I write this re-installing it with the two drives attached to the VM nativelly.
Hyper-V was easy to understand, and I had no problems with one exception. When I tried to start up the first install of Vail, I got a Hyper-V warning. It then dawned on me... Oh, shit! Does this MB/Processor support the Intel hardware Virtual extensions? I don't know! This could be a deal breaker!
So I checked the BIOS, and there it was. Turned it on. Whew! That was friggin' close LOL
Brought the server back up and tried to run the VM again. Same problem! Uh, oh...
I went back to the BIOS and double-checked the setting, and while I was on it I noticed something I didn't the first time. A note on the right of the screen saying a total power-down was required for this setting to take effect. Cool. A second chance
Powered everything down, and powered back up. Brought up Hyper-V, and ran the Vail VM. It worked
That's where I am right now. More to come after Vail is installed and configured.
Oh, one more thing. For those of you beating me up over the old UPS in the previous thread (
), I fixed that situation too. Since my Laptops have their own battery backup and shut-down services, I took the UPS from them and put it on the server. It's half the capacity, but it has USB and the PowerChute Personal software seems to be working just fine under Server 2008. I put the old Serial based UPS on the Laptops.I show 12 minutes of backup power available, and I set the software to initiate shut-down when only 8 minutes were left. That should be plenty of time to shut down the Hyper-V, Vail and the server before everything goes dark.
