Virtualized TrueNas

[LonLim]

I would like to ask if the virtualized TrueNas can be installed in vSphere Standard Edition?

 

[Samuel Tai]

Please do not run FreeNAS in production as a Virtual Machine!

[---- 2014/12/24: Note, there is another post discussing how to deploy a small FreeNAS VM instance for basic file sharing (small office, documents, scratch space). THIS post is aimed somewhat more at people wanting to use FreeNAS to manage lots of storage space. ----] [---- 2022/11/19: It's...

www.truenas.com

"Absolutely must virtualize FreeNAS!" ... a guide to not completely losing your data.

[---- 2018/02/27: This is still as relevant as ever. As PCIe-Passthru has matured, fewer problems are reported. I've updated some specific things known to be problematic ----] [---- 2014/12/24: Note, there is another post discussing how to deploy a small FreeNAS VM instance for basic file...

www.truenas.com

 

[ramib]

I would like to ask if the virtualized TrueNas can be installed in vSphere Standard Edition?

Hi,
yes that works , if you want to access the disks you might want to assign them as RDM devices
did it long ago, works fine. you can also access this RDMS's pools directly if you don't want to use VSphere in the future
not sure it's supported but works

 

[Samuel Tai]

RDM devices are NOT supported, and WILL result in data loss over the long term.

 

[HoneyBadger]

I would like to ask if the virtualized TrueNas can be installed in vSphere Standard Edition?

Yes:

Yes, You Can (Still) Virtualize TrueNAS

TrueNAS is a powerful storage virtualization software solution that helps businesses virtualize data. Get started today with TrueNAS.

www.truenas.com

However, you see this big warning at the top?

If best practices and recommendations for running FreeNAS under virtualization are followed, FreeNAS and virtualization can be smooth sailing. However, failure to adhere to the recommendations and best practices below can result in catastrophic loss of your ZFS pool (and/or data) without warning. Please read through them and take heed.

Read it, and the entire document very carefully.

 

[ramib]

RDM devices are NOT supported, and WILL result in data loss over the long term.

There use to be a FreeNAS VMware image in the past if I remember correctly
I don't say its a good solution but to say that you can have data loss using RDM's its not a good statement
customers are using RDM's in general for many things for years, they don't have data loss

 

[Samuel Tai]

The ONLY supported method for raw disk access in a virtualized installation is PCI passthrough of an HBA. This is the only way NOT to have data loss.

From https://www.truenas.com/community/t...ide-to-not-completely-losing-your-data.12714/:

Do NOT use VMware Raw Device Mapping. This is the crazy train to numerous problems and issues. You will reasonably expect that this ought to be a straightforward, sensible solution, but it isn't. The forums have seen too many users crying over their shattered and irretrievable bits. And yes, I know it "works great for you," which seems to be the way it goes for everyone until a mapping goes wrong somehow and the house of cards falls. Along the way, you've probably lost the ability to monitor SMART and other drive health indicators as well, so you may not see the iceberg dead ahead.