Howdy folks,
I am in the process of building a new ESXi host which means I am going to convert the old host into a FreeNAS server. My storage requirements are running past 3TB so here is the plan:
I currently have 1x 3TB HDD in the ESXi host that holds everything and another 3TB drive that sits on a shelf as a backup mirror. When I build my new ESXi host the old guts will be used for the new FreeNAS server and I will buy 3x 3TB drives for it. The idea is to use the 3 3TB drives in a single vdev so I can add more storage by buying 3 more 3TB drives at a time. I just need some help configuring it.
I was thinking about this for a setup and would appreciate some feedback / comments on the idea: Use iSCSI to connect the FreeNAS box to a Windows server VM on the ESXi host that would handle all of the sharing across the network. The ESXi host will have some local storage for VM's and related storage drives and the FreeNAS box will be used exclusively for Media / VM backups and storage. I won't be running VM's off of the FreeNas box. Eventually I would like to pick up a cheap pair of Fiber Channel cards off of Ebay and pass one through the the windows VM and use the other with FreeNAS; thoughts?
I have been looking at an IBM M1015 RAID card for the FreeNAS box but would like to start off without a RAID card until I need one (when I move past 3 drives total). If I have missed any critical info please let me know and I'll post it.
Thanks,
I am in the process of building a new ESXi host which means I am going to convert the old host into a FreeNAS server. My storage requirements are running past 3TB so here is the plan:
I currently have 1x 3TB HDD in the ESXi host that holds everything and another 3TB drive that sits on a shelf as a backup mirror. When I build my new ESXi host the old guts will be used for the new FreeNAS server and I will buy 3x 3TB drives for it. The idea is to use the 3 3TB drives in a single vdev so I can add more storage by buying 3 more 3TB drives at a time. I just need some help configuring it.
I was thinking about this for a setup and would appreciate some feedback / comments on the idea: Use iSCSI to connect the FreeNAS box to a Windows server VM on the ESXi host that would handle all of the sharing across the network. The ESXi host will have some local storage for VM's and related storage drives and the FreeNAS box will be used exclusively for Media / VM backups and storage. I won't be running VM's off of the FreeNas box. Eventually I would like to pick up a cheap pair of Fiber Channel cards off of Ebay and pass one through the the windows VM and use the other with FreeNAS; thoughts?
I have been looking at an IBM M1015 RAID card for the FreeNAS box but would like to start off without a RAID card until I need one (when I move past 3 drives total). If I have missed any critical info please let me know and I'll post it.
Thanks,
