3 server setup configuration.

[SnurrDass]

Hi

I have 3 servers at my disposal.

Server1: Onsite
IBM m3400
CPU Xeon E5530
RAM: 48GB
HDD: 3x 300GB SAS
OS: VMware Sphere 6.0

Server2: Onsite
Storinator45 v1
MB: Supermicro
CPU: i3 540 dual core
HDD: 15x 1TB (soon be upgraded to bigger HDDs)
OS: Freenas 11.0 U3

Server3: offsite
HP 380 g9
CPU: 2x Xeon v3
RAM: 128gb
HDD 8x 8TB
OS: Freenas 9

How can i configure this the best way?
Server 1 is a UTM and other test VMs
Server 2 is just storage.
Server 3 is doing mostly Plex and storage

i'd like to merge server 1 and 2 and move the Freenas OS to VMware then use the Server2 just as storage and nothing else.
then offload the Server3 as the storage get full over time.

is there a way to move the Freenas to VMware and implement the storage to that VM?
what os shuld i install at Server2 to make it work in Freenas VM?

os is this a bad idea ?

 

[joeschmuck]

i'd like to merge server 1 and 2 and move the Freenas OS to VMware then use the Server2 just as storage and nothing else.
then offload the Server3 as the storage get full over time.

is there a way to move the Freenas to VMware and implement the storage to that VM?

Sure you can do this, I'm using ESXi 6.0 and 6.5 on two machines and doing just that. The trick is to have an HBA to interface the hard drives and have it in pass-through in ESXi. You could use RDM to communitact to the hard drives but then you could loose SMART data or the ability to even run a SMART test. You will have to give the VM enought RAM (locked) to operate efficiently, for storage I give 16GB of RAM on my system. Look at my system configuration in my signature.

os is this a bad idea ?

The only bad idea here might be in placing the UTM on the same machine as your FreeNAS. It's just something to consider but if you don't see a drawback then it should be fine. I just didn't like running my main FreeNAS and UTM on the same machine.

what os shuld i install at Server2 to make it work in Freenas VM?

ESXi 6.5 and create a FreeNAS VM the same as on Server 1.