ESXi and FreeNAS - acceptable error?

[toyebox]

Hey all! I have been using FreeNAS for about 3 years now, and today i finally migrated my server over to an ESXi platform. It seems to work very well, with the exception of one error.



From what i have read, this is an error for bad cabling, power supply issues, failing disk etc. But, in this case, da0 is the boot device for freenas. Is it safe to assume that this is alright and simply generated due to running on ESXi? I might move the installation to a dedicated USB flash media but i would like to keep it how it is.

Thanks!
I apologize, wasn't sure if this was the right section.

 

[Jailer]

Did you read @jgreco thread on virtualizing FreeNAS?

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ide-to-not-completely-losing-your-data.12714/

 

[toyebox]

Did you read @jgreco thread on virtualizing FreeNAS?

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ide-to-not-completely-losing-your-data.12714/

Yes i have skimmed it as well as reading the 26 page thread by joeschmuck. My drives are all used via a m1015 in pciE passthrough on the VM. Am i missing something from that thread you linked? maybe i overlooked it.

 

[Jailer]

Not sure, I've never used ESXi. I was only offering that thread for ideas in case you hadn't seen it. Maybe @joeschmuck has some ideas as to what could be causing that.

 

[toyebox]

Not sure, I've never used ESXi. I was only offering that thread for ideas in case you hadn't seen it. Maybe @joeschmuck has some ideas as to what could be causing that.

Gotcha. Yeah i have PM'd back and forth with him quite a bit, and i am tired of bothering him :D:D

 

[joeschmuck]

How do I ask this... Post what da0 is (I want to know the exact hardware) and how it's passed through.

If this is the FreeNAS boot device then I need some explanation of how this is working.

On my system I have a FreeNAS VM which resides on the ESXi boot drive. Now this VM could also reside on an ESXi datastore drive. If this is not what you currently have then I need to understand exactly what you have.

EDIT: Don't tell me it's a USB Flash Drive! If so, get rid of it.

 

[toyebox]

How do I ask this... Post what da0 is (I want to know the exact hardware) and how it's passed through.

If this is the FreeNAS boot device then I need some explanation of how this is working.

On my system I have a FreeNAS VM which resides on the ESXi boot drive. Now this VM could also reside on an ESXi datastore drive. If this is not what you currently have then I need to understand exactly what you have.

EDIT: Don't tell me it's a USB Flash Drive! If so, get rid of it.

Currently, the boot device for freeNas is a thin provisioned vmdk on datastore1 ( the boot device for ESXi).

Datastore1 is a PNY ssd.

I just changed my config slightly to see if it was a connection issue. I have 8 hotswap bays, one being for the ssd. I just directly connected cables to the ssd to rule out bad cabling. I also was receiving an error in ESXi , specifying that it lost connection with datastore1 for a brief moment which was odd! I'll wait and see now.

 

[melloa]

Also check if your configuration will allow to pass though the HBA, so you can see the disks and have direct access from FreeNAS. You can test that without having FreeNAS running going to the Host -> Manager -> Hardware and check if you can allow your HBA to pass through.

 

[toyebox]

Also check if your configuration will allow to pass though the HBA, so you can see the disks and have direct access from FreeNAS. You can test that without having FreeNAS running going to the Host -> Manager -> Hardware and check if you can allow your HBA to pass through.

Yes passthrough works fine on this. Picked up the disks and everything . i can view smart data and everything . this is pertaining to the boot disk it seems. 20 minutes going strong after configuring with direct connected cables now.

edit: spoke too soon.



This is what i am looking at in ESXi. I don't think this is a freenas issue. Hardware maybe. Going a different drive as well as new cables.

 

[joeschmuck]

My first thing would be to ensure to say, Never use the Hot Swap Bays as Hot Swap. Always turn off the system before inserting a drive. Removal isn't so bad but insertion can result in an accidental power short depending on the chassis.

Okay, good to know that you are using a datastore and not USB Flash Drive.

For troubleshooting this issue here are my recommendations...
1) Replace the SATA cable.
2) Plug the SATA cable into a different Motherboard SATA port.
3) Use a different hard drive as the boot device. It's possible the SSD is flaky.

You mentioned to me that you had to do something with TRIM to installed ESXi without an error, maybe you could explain that a bit here. Maybe this is causing your issue?

Do you have an HBA add-on card or are you passing through the motherboard SATA ports to the FreeNAS defined hard drives? This is just me being curious because I see no HBA card in your signature.

 

[melloa]

i am tired of bothering him

Don't. He's an old man, so looses patience very easily ... j/k :D

 

[joeschmuck]

Don't. He's an old man, so looses patience very easily ... j/k :D

Atlanta is a quick drive from here, don't make me come down there and yell at you :D. Okay, Atlanta is a bit far for a day drive but I do drive down to Kings Bay, GA periodically to visit the grandkids. It's 11 hours for me, 10 hours for my wife. She's got a lead foot.

 

[toyebox]

My apologies, my signature is very far out of date. Here is an update of my current system for log information purposes:

Mobo: lenovo s30
CPU: e5-1620
Memory: 8 pieces of crucial ECC 8gb sticks
Add-on cards:
-M1015 (all HDS with exception of the ssd uses this in pass through to the freenas VM)
-radeon RX480 (pass through to a windows VM)
-Intel 210i NIC (pass through to freenas)

The pny ssd was utilizing an onboard sata port.

I am in the process of installing my new mobo and CPU at the moment because it showed up 10 minutes ago! So here is the new mobo and CPU:

Mobo: supermicro X9SRH-7TF
CPU: E5-2695v2

 

[joeschmuck]

Nice, new motherboard to play with. Realize that you will need to reinstall/reconfigure ESXi. The passthrough will no longer be mapped correctly at a minimum so you are best off starting from scratch. Hopefully you have a backup configuration of your FreeNAS VM so it can be up and running quickly.

So this problem is likely moot but if it comes back, just update the posting here. If it does come back then I'd still suspect the SATA cable or the SSD.

Have Fun!

 

[toyebox]

Nice, new motherboard to play with. Realize that you will need to reinstall/reconfigure ESXi. The passthrough will no longer be mapped correctly at a minimum so you are best off starting from scratch. Hopefully you have a backup configuration of your FreeNAS VM so it can be up and running quickly.

So this problem is likely moot but if it comes back, just update the posting here. If it does come back then I'd still suspect the SATA cable or the SSD.

Have Fun!

Yessir. Made the necessary backups. The lenovo s30 is an older system. I'm hoping this new motherboard will provide less issues. I have seen extensive guides and blogs about this motherboard, so I'm hoping for the best! Apologies to start a thread and change the hardware midway!

I will be reassembling the lenovo s30 in the future though, and possibly deploying it as a secondary ESXi server. Maybe then I'll be able to provide a bit more info for anyone else with the same problem.

 

[joeschmuck]

I will be reassembling the lenovo s30 in the future though, and possibly deploying it as a secondary ESXi server.

I re-puroposed my old FreeNAS motherboard as an ESXi server for my firewall and for a FreeNAS backup. The backups are not stored properly on the hard drives, they are in a VMDK but that is okay since it's a backup and it does work fine. I would never use it that way as primary storage though.

 

[toyebox]

I re-puroposed my old FreeNAS motherboard as an ESXi server for my firewall and for a FreeNAS backup. The backups are not stored properly on the hard drives, they are in a VMDK but that is okay since it's a backup and it does work fine. I would never use it that way as primary storage though.

Yeah. I currently have a i7 3770S system on a thin mini itx board for my pfsense. I absolutely love it. Can't believe it took me until 6 months ago to invest in pfsense.



Current progress on installing the new board . already tested it out of the case and it runs like a charm. It has an onboard LSI adapter I would like to migrate to. There shouldn't be an issue with migrating to that in place of my m1015, assuming I can configure pass through of course. I'll be starting with my default config though , using the m1015 for troubleshooting purposes.

 

[joeschmuck]

How do you like that keyboard? Looks interesting. Yea, I know I should be drooling over the computer but peripherals are cool too. I have always preferred wired keyboard and mice but willing to make a change. My current keyboard is a mechanical key version. It's nice enough.

 

[toyebox]

How do you like that keyboard? Looks interesting. Yea, I know I should be drooling over the computer but peripherals are cool too. I have always preferred wired keyboard and mice but willing to make a change. My current keyboard is a mechanical key version. It's nice enough.

That one is a Logitech k750 that I have had for 6 years I think. I just cant find one I like more. The extremely slim and flat keys makes it awesome for anything coding wise or just typing in general. Never had an issue and the best part is, its solar, so I have never changed the batteries.

Edit: they still sell this keyboard, for obvious reasons. Its awesome.

I did just purchase a k800 I think it is..to see how it compares , but again, the keys are much bigger and you need to press them further (that sounds stupid, but I'm sure you know what I mean). It does have a fancy backlight to the keys that is motion sensored, and of course, its rechargeable.

 

[toyebox]

So i am back up and running on the new motherboard. Even though i backed up my VM's, during the fresh install, it kindly asks if you want to salvage your VM files. So, after installing, registered the VM, added the new passthrough for the 10gbE port and the m1015, then started it up. still no errors. I know it will irritate me until i figure out what caused it, so i will probably be rebuilding the lenovo s30 system sooner than later

As for this new mobo.. apparently it's supported a little more than the S30.. given all the sensor data :D

I am very excited to push this thing to it's limits.

Hopefully i can give some insight on how to recreate, and fix the initial problem here. Thanks everyone.