How 'unsafe' will this be?

[Arwen]

I once wrote a specification for a VM memory monitoring unit, that only monitored memory page accesses. It would basically keep a sorted list of VM pages based on usage. So most recently used to least recently used, (but not monitoring locked pages). Then, when time came to evict a page, simply ask the VM monitoring unit which was least recently used and evict that one to swap. (Or, if R/O code, just re-use the page, depending on OS.)

But, that was decades ago. With the amount of memory many computers have today, my little VM memory monitoring unit might be too impractical.

 

[RegularJoe]

I have run FreeNAS/True NAS for many years under VMware. VMware from version 5.5 to 7.0. I can't recall when on the FreenNAS side I started but it was in the version 9 train(old gui) and skilled 11. I always dedicated the RAM to FreeNAS in the hypervisor.

If you have rock solid hardware and vmware supported devices I have only had an odd HP issue with a purple screen. Many of the installs were passing thru the LSI HBA so FreeNAS had direct access to the disks. Note even VMware PCI pass thru has bugs, does not pass all features thru and is not the "best" way to run storage. As a side note I never went past sata SSD drives either, so only sas/sata mechanical drives and sata SSD.

You really need to be a VMware and TrueNAS expert before doing this.

It is still the best practice to use bare metal.

Thanks,
Joe