Corral to 11 - how do I get VMs back?

[enry]

So after a bit of panicking after my X9SCM motherboard refused to boot USB sticks in Legacy mode, the slight panic trying to install from CD, and the further panic of not being able to find the volume until after I rebooted, I have my volume mounted and almost everything is good again (you were right! My data is safe! I apologize for doubting!)

Since I installed from scratch, I still have the VMs but am unsure how to get them back online. It would be a slight pain to recreate them but I could if needed.

 

[ArgaWoW]

Have you tried to use your zvol from Corral on FreeNAS 11? I think I have read this should work. But I am not sure.

 

[Shaheed Haque]

Have you tried to use your zvol from corral on freenas 11? I think I have read this should work. But I am not sure

I have the same question as the OP. Having gone from 9 -> Corral (where I created the VM) -> 11, I can create a new VM using the legacy GUI, and then when I try to add a disk to it, the UI graciously picks up as possible file location, several entries including:

- main/.vm_cache/ubuntu-server-16.04-vnc/os/os
- main/.vm_cache/v-baba/os

I tried both (because the second has the right system name, and the first is the OS image I used in Corral). The resulting VM cannot be kept running (when started, it shows up as RUNNING for a matter of seconds, and then goes back to stopped). I have tried to connect to the VNC console using at least one client, but I only ever see a black screen , or a failure to connect.

Is there a FAQ or similar on this (I looked, but this thread seemed the closest to my issue).

 

[enemy85]

Is there a FAQ or similar on this (I looked, but this thread seemed the closest to my issue).

Have you had a look here?
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ng-from-freenas-corral-to-freenas-9-10-11.36/

 

[Shaheed Haque]

Have you had a look here?
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ng-from-freenas-corral-to-freenas-9-10-11.36/

Yes, thanks. I used those steps to fix the aclmode and generally bring the base system up under 11. The only part I have not managed to bring up is (as per this question) the VM which hosts my open source development environment.

 

[Shaheed Haque]

I decided to take a different tack. By following/adapting the steps at https://gavowen.ninja/2016/07/installing-ubuntu-server-16-04-in-freenas-9-10-beehyve/, I got a VM running using iohyve directly. But then I realised that it was running "outside" of FreeNAS. I think the next step is to figure out how to get one running using the FreeNAS GUI. (I'm beginning to think that I'm missing some vital knowledge that links zvols to VMs and .iso files and the like...)

 

[Shaheed Haque]

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I finally worked out how to get a VM working under the 11 GUI. Basically, it boils down to this: the higher level CLI VM tools ("iohyve", "vm") don't interact in any useful way with the GUI in that none of the artefacts created by one can be seen by the other. So the summary (more details below) is:

1. Create the VM using the GUI. The VM should have preassigned devices of type NIC and VNC. For my Kubuntu VM, I needed to use the UEFI boot type.
   
2. Create a ZFS volume (not a ZFS filesystem) using the CLI for use by the VM as its disk. An example command to create a 16GB volume might be "zfs create -V 16G main/all-vms/my_first_vm/os".
   
3. Add a device to the VM of type DISK using the GUI, pointing to the ZFS volume just created.
4. Add a device to the VM of type CDROM using the GUI, pointing to your chosen .iso file.
5. Start the VM using the GUI.

Once you start the VM, connect via VNC, and perform the install. If/when asked to remove the installation media, delete the CDROM using the GUI, and then reboot.

In other words, the only thing you have to do using the CLI is step 2 above; the 11 GUI can do everything else for you.

Some gory details...

1. This page has some useful background using "iohyve" but also provided a vital clue or two around the need for a tap0 interface which was missing from my GUI network configuration summary, even though it was present on the system. Without it, the created VMs would not get a useful network setup. When I tried to add it via the GUI, I lost all connectivity to Freenas. I was able to recover from that SNAFU using the serial console shell to restart the network ("/etc/rc.d/netif start")...so make sure the serial console is enabled!
2. Sadly for me the GUI restricts you to 16 cores...I really wanted to use 20 of my available 24.
   
3. Generally the GUI seems unable to stop or reboot a running VM. For example, in my case, the ubuntu installer hung at the reboot point, and I had to resort to "bhyvectl --vm=my_first_vm --force-reset".