ESXi > Scale

[melloa]

Hi folks,

I'm testing virtualization on Scale and seems to be working fine; creating, cloning, auto start, all good so far. Even a Win11 VM installed without any issues:

Has anyone converted ESXi VMs to Scale? I imagine step 1 would be convert the VMKD disk to a compatible format - not sure as I see zvols created for each VM, so assume those are the disks (?)

If someone can direct me to some docs for my reading pleasure I'd appreciate.

Thanks!

 

[Kris Moore]

You'd need to convert VMDK -> RAW and then if you want to use ZVols, you'd upload the RAW file and "dd" it to the zvol in question.

# dd if=<path to RAW filel> of=/dev/zvol/tank/virtual_machines/ubuntu20-XXXX

Something like that :)

 

[melloa]

Thanks Kris.

and then if you want to use ZVols,

So not mandatory to use zvols?

Something like that :)

If I get it to work will document the process.

 

[melloa]

So far: ubuntu worked

 

[melloa]

Finished a windows 10 VM migration and no issues. Windows found the new hardware (the NIC), configured at boot and got an IP from my DHCP.

Just one thing ... is dd this slow?

Code:

scale# dd if=/mnt/tank/cifs/repository/pernambuco.img of=/dev/zvol/tank/virtual_machines/pernambuco
134217728+0 records in
134217728+0 records out
68719476736 bytes (69 GB, 64 GiB) copied, 6107.84 s, 11.3 MB/s

 

[Mlovelace]

Finished a windows 10 VM migration and no issues. Windows found the new hardware (the NIC), configured at boot and got an IP from my DHCP.

Just one thing ... is dd this slow?

Code:

scale# dd if=/mnt/tank/cifs/repository/pernambuco.img of=/dev/zvol/tank/virtual_machines/pernambuco
134217728+0 records in
134217728+0 records out
68719476736 bytes (69 GB, 64 GiB) copied, 6107.84 s, 11.3 MB/s

You could/should adjust the block size of the dd command for better write performance. bs=64K is an okay start but there are scripts that can test for the optimal.

For your reading pleasure.

 

[speedtriple]

This is interesting.
So TrueNAS Scale can replace my ESXi running TrueNAS Core as VM?
And then run my W10 and my other few VM's just as good under TrueNAS Scale instead?

That would be just awsome!!

 

[melloa]

This is interesting.
So TrueNAS Scale can replace my ESXi running TrueNAS Core as VM?
And then run my W10 and my other few VM's just as good under TrueNAS Scale instead?

That would be just awsome!!

I'd say yes.

Today I run all my TrueNASes as VMs under ESXi. Just need to understand what's the back-ups available for Scale.

 

[speedtriple]

I am using ESXi Free. Backing up VM's manually with Spidsoft, works great but not automatic and not warm.
And the ESXi usb-boot must manually have a dd-backup.
So it is the backup possibilty I see with TrueNAS Scale, for the VM's, and the whole setup.
ESXi just works 100%, so if TrueNAS Scale delivers... could be awsome.

 

[rexit1982]

The real trick....getting esxi to run as a VM on Scale/kvm. esx 7.x doesn;t ahve e1000 or libvrt nic drivers so it will not install. 6.7 PSoDs... started looking into it at one point but gave up and have not gotten back to it.

 

[speedtriple]

The real trick....getting esxi to run as a VM on Scale/kvm. esx 7.x doesn;t ahve e1000 or libvrt nic drivers so it will not install. 6.7 PSoDs... started looking into it at one point but gave up and have not gotten back to it.

That sounds more like The Matrix(?) :)

 

[rexit1982]

That sounds more like The Matrix(?) :)

Need a remote witness for my 2 node vsan deployment and want to get rid of the jank litte fanless PC I have it running on now ;)

 

[theprez]

So far: ubuntu worked

How did you get Ubuntu working - which of the 3 selections under Guest Operating System under Create Virtual Machine did you use? All I see is Windows, FreeBSD and Linux?

This is on the latest RC of Scale in case that matters.

Thanks

 

[melloa]

How did you get Ubuntu working - which of the 3 selections under Guest Operating System under Create Virtual Machine did you use? All I see is Windows, FreeBSD and Linux?

This is on the latest RC of Scale in case that matters.

Thanks

ubuntu = linux flavor.

 

[jamesjfa]

@rexit1982

did you ever get ESX nested in SCALE? I want to keep an VMware lab if I can for testing and training. Ideally I can move over to SCALE bare metal rather than a VM with a SAS controller passed through to it.