Configuration suggestions

[tom__w]

Hello All,

I have been using FreeNAS with VMware esxi for a few years (5+) now. When I first installed FreeNAS I created one large volume and connected it to VMware via multiple iscsi targets. I don't think that this was the optimal configuration.

I have since put together a new FreeNAS box (SSDs / etc) and I am looking for advice on how to configure storage / sharing. I am sure that there will be lots of ideas...

My needs are:

• Ability to have multiple VMs
• Share at least one FreeNAS target to VMware as a data drive and then assign that to a VM. That drive is then shared (in Windows) to my users. (unless there is a better way to share for 35-40 users)

My wants are:

• Ability to individually roll back a VM from a snapshot if I need to (something I can't do now)
• Ability to backup / restore individual files within a VM (I am currently using backup exec for this)
• Ability to restore a previous version of a file, which I plan on sharing through Windows. i.e. using snapshots like this guy does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO6010IXwbA (very cool)

So, should I:

• Create multiple datasets on my volume, one for each VM?
• Create a large shared drive via the means I mention above (i.e. iscsi)?
• ...
• ...

Any insights or ideas are welcome.

BTW - I have 10 gig NICS on almost everything at this point.

I think I posted something like this before and things really began to run amuck .. so here it is fresh.

Thanks

 

[danb35]

Share at least one FreeNAS target to VMware as a data drive and then assign that to a VM. That drive is then shared (in Windows) to my users. (unless there is a better way to share for 35-40 users)

This seems overly complicated. Wouldn't it be much simpler to just create a share in FreeNAS?

 

[tom__w]

This seems overly complicated. Wouldn't it be much simpler to just create a share in FreeNAS?

I was advised by the guy who first set me up that sharing through FreeNAS with Active Directory enabled wasn't the best solution.

 

[tom__w]

I was advised by the guy who first set me up that sharing through FreeNAS with Active Directory enabled wasn't the best solution.

That is, I was told that eventually I would run into Windows permission problems.