FreeNAS migration to R710 assistance

[mchias]

I will be upgrading my FreeNAS system in a week or so from a mini-ITX based system to a R710. It will go from a G3220 with 16GB ram to a dual E5645s with 72GB ram. Right now, I have a 5 drives running in RAID-Z2 mode connected straight to the motherboard, and I have a H310 card coming in for the new server.

I have some questions about the migration, specifically protecting the data. Additional information, I would like to run ESXi at the base level so that I could have a few VMs running. I run Ubuntu via iohyve right now for my Crashplan backup since I couldn't get the plugin to work correctly.

1) Would moving Ubuntu from iohyve to a VM be more efficient or a better practice instead of running it via iohyve? I am planning on adding a 6th drive specifically for the the VMs and will not be part from the zpool. I also hope to run a Windows VM for a few things so I can power down an old Acer REVO system I am still running.

2) Currently, FreeNAS is installed and running on a Cruzer USB drive. Based on what I have read, the ESXi system will run on a separate drive from the FreeNAS system, correct? The ESXi will use the internal USB port, but where do I put the FreeNAS server?

3) Like I mentioned earlier, I have all of my data backed up via Crashplan so I can download if need be, but is there a way to preserve the data in the move, especially with the possibility of virtualizing FreeNAS? The drives would move from the old case to the new one. I am not worried about recreating the jails (Plex/SAB/Trans/Sick/etc).


Thanks.

 

[Artion]

Hi,
you are going to run FN as a VM on ESXi, is it right?

 

[danb35]

I'm far from an expert on virtualizing FreeNAS, but as I understand it, the recommendation is to pass your HBA through to the FreeNAS VM. If you do that, your drives would be seen directly by your installation, and your data (and your jails) would continue to be there as they are now.

 

[mchias]

Artion, that's my original plan.

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[mchias]

I'm far from an expert on virtualizing FreeNAS, but as I understand it, the recommendation is to pass your HBA through to the FreeNAS VM. If you do that, your drives would be seen directly by your installation, and your data (and your jails) would continue to be there as they are now.

Yeah, that goes with what I have seen. Just curious where I put the contents of the FN USB drive.

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[danb35]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ide-to-not-completely-losing-your-data.12714/ should address many of your concerns.

 

[Artion]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ide-to-not-completely-losing-your-data.12714/ should address many of your concerns.

I agree.

 

[mchias]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ide-to-not-completely-losing-your-data.12714/ should address many of your concerns.

So after reading, am I correct in thinking I can skip the first step of installing FN on the bare metal since it running on another system? I just need to copy the config over to the new VM instance.

Or did I get the wrong impression from the posts?


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[Spearfoot]

2) Currently, FreeNAS is installed and running on a Cruzer USB drive. Based on what I have read, the ESXi system will run on a separate drive from the FreeNAS system, correct? The ESXi will use the internal USB port, but where do I put the FreeNAS server?

There are several approaches you can take when it comes to installing ESXi and the FreeNAS VM.

• Install ESXi on a USB drive; install the FreeNAS VM on a local datastore. You can set up two such datastores if you want to use FreeNAS's mirrored installation option. The local datastore can be a small SATA-DOM, SSD, or HDD, plugged in to a motherboard SATA port. I don't recommend this approach because USB drives aren't very reliable.
  
• Install both ESXi and the FreeNAS VM on a local datastore which, again, can be a small device plugged in to one of the motherboard's SATA ports. This approach doesn't provide any redundancy for the ESXi/FreeNAS VM installation.
• Install both ESXi and the FreeNAS VM on a redundant (RAID-based) local datastore. ESXi doesn't provide support for built-in RAID using the motherboard SATA system, so you will have to use a RAID controller to implement this. This is how I've configured two of my AIO systems (see 'my systems' below). I set up a RAID1 array of two 120GB SSDs using a Dell H200 HBA flashed to IR mode, on which I install ESXi and the FreeNAS VM.

 

[Spearfoot]

So after reading, am I correct in thinking I can skip the first step of installing FN on the bare metal since it running on another system? I just need to copy the config over to the new VM instance.

Or did I get the wrong impression from the posts?

You can most certainly import a saved configuration on your new FreeNAS VM. But I don't have any experience doing this when the saved configuration file comes from a system built on dissimilar hardware. Perhaps another forum member with experience doing this can chime in and tell us whether it will work.

Note that this is a separate issue from importing your pool: FreeNAS will import your pool just fine in either case.

FWIW: Were I in your shoes, I would build the new system up from scratch, starting with a fresh installation of FreeNAS. But that's just me! :D

You'll find quite a bit of information here on the forum about building FreeNAS-on-ESXi AIO (All-In-One) systems like this. There is also a good guide by forum member @Benjamin Bryan here: "FreeNAS 9.10 on VMware ESXi 6.0 Guide". Study, patience, and a lot of planning will stand you in good stead when it comes to virtualizing FreeNAS.

Be sure to flash the Dell H310 to IT mode, version 20.00.07.00; be sure to reserve (lock) all of the guest memory you allocate to the FreeNAS VM; be sure to connect the system to a good UPS. Be sure... That's probably enough "Be Sures"! :)

I've posted a couple of resources that may be useful to you in setting up and maintaining your system:

"Utility scripts for FreeNAS and VMware ESXi"

"Configuring UPS support for single or multiple FreeNAS servers"

 

[mchias]

You can most certainly import a saved configuration on your new FreeNAS VM. But I don't have any experience doing this when the saved configuration file comes from a system built on dissimilar hardware. Perhaps another forum member with experience doing this can chime in and tell us whether it will work.

Note that this is a separate issue from importing your pool: FreeNAS will import your pool just fine in either case.

FWIW: Were I in your shoes, I would build the new system up from scratch, starting with a fresh installation of FreeNAS. But that's just me! :D

You'll find quite a bit of information here on the forum about building FreeNAS-on-ESXi AIO (All-In-One) systems like this. There is also a good guide by forum member @Benjamin Bryan here: "FreeNAS 9.10 on VMware ESXi 6.0 Guide". Study, patience, and a lot of planning will stand you in good stead when it comes to virtualizing FreeNAS.

Be sure to flash the Dell H310 to IT mode, version 20.00.07.00; be sure to reserve (lock) all of the guest memory you allocate to the FreeNAS VM; be sure to connect the system to a good UPS. Be sure... That's probably enough "Be Sures"! :)

I've posted a couple of resources that may be useful to you in setting up and maintaining your system:

"Utility scripts for FreeNAS and VMware ESXi"

"Configuring UPS support for single or multiple FreeNAS servers"

I will definitely take all of that into account when my server comes in next week.

Thanks

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[danb35]

But I don't have any experience doing this when the saved configuration file comes from a system built on dissimilar hardware.

It should work fine, with the only reasonably-likely issue being that if (1) you've manually configured network interfaces on the FreeNAS box, and (2) your new installation uses a different NIC driver (and thus you have different device names for your NICs), you'll need to reconfigure your network interface.