I could use some advice on storage and VMs

[Danger]

Alright so I have FreeNAS running on a server that I built here in the office. I have a couple of different options in my head on how the VMs can interact with the storage on the NAS and could use some advice on the best way to proceed.

I have 2 ESXi hosts running a handful of VMs. I do not intend to have the VMs running on the FreeNAS box, I have enough space on SSDs in the ESXi hosts to keep them running and happy. My primary needs for the FreeNAS box are as follows:

1. File share for various files we need to access from every computer in the office
2. Backup storage for the VMs
3. File share for our surveillance cameras to record to
4. File share for disk backups of all of our office PCs

What I am trying to wrap my head around is the best way to accomplish all of this. All of the VMs are Windows Server 2008 R2 or Server 2012. All Windows servers can mount iSCSI targets, as can the ESXi hosts. Do I:
A - Mount iSCSI to the ESXi hosts and create a datastore and virtual disks for a Windows Server VM to act as a file server which then can create shares for the various needs.
B- Mount iSCSI directly to the Windows Server VMs and have them all directly access the iSCSI target for their various needs.
C- Use CIFS on FreeNAS to create shares that the VMs can access for their various needs, and use AD to authenticate users and computers to the shares. Currently AD integration has not been working.
I am leaning towards option B, however I am freaked out by the warning in Windows that bringing an iSCSI target online for multiple servers can cause problems. I could just mount iSCSI to a single Windows Server VM and have it act as a file server for everything else, but then I am dependent on that one VM. If all of the VMs can access the data on the NAS independently it would make me happier. I suppose I can create multiple targets and divide and conquer among the VMs, it just seems simpler to have a single target and one big pool of data.
Any advice is appreciated, and maybe there is an option D that is much better. I just want to make sure I am not making a big mistake going one way or another. I think all of us have experienced that "great idea" that turned out to be a really stupid idea a couple of weeks later.

 

[cyberjock]

iSCSI warning is because you cannot mount an iSCSI target on more than 1 server. Each iSCSI target should be mounted on 1 server and only 1 server. You do more and you'll corrupt your file system in plenty of fun-filled data-losing ways.

You can't do option C because FreeNAS will need to authenticate with the AD server before you could mount the iSCSI device to boot up your domain server. But your domain server won't be up because the VM has to load first. It'll be a chicken and the egg problem. (At least, I'm pretty sure that's what will happen)

You're probably better off with your domain server running separately from the rest of your network, then use FN for your VMs. Then your domain will be up to authenticate and all will be fine.

You could also put your domain server on local disks on the ESXi server, but then you' have to make sure that the domain VM never goes down with FreeNAS up or things will be... ugly. It would also force you to rescan your datastores in ESXi every time your FN server came up and stuff. Lots of complexity.

If there's one clear sign from your post its that you aren't experienced in this, but you are noticing some of the potential pitfalls with remote datastores. You question should probably be in "offtopic" as you aren't really asking about support for FreeNAS but more of support for ESXi.

 

[Danger]

Thanks cyberjock, I would move the topic if I could. Feel free to move it. I am definitely inexperienced with any NAS, I am a one man IT department, sink or swim, I typically can at least doggy paddle my way through things :)

All of the VMs will be running on local storage on the ESXi hosts. The FreeNAS machine is really for secondary storage, backups, large files, etc. If the FreeNAS machine went down it wouldn't be the end of the world, our office could still function.

I did just figure out the hard way that I can't mount an iSCSI target on more than one server, so there goes that idea. Right now nothing is in production so I am free to make mistakes.

Alright I think my current plan is to create a target for each of the 2 ESXi hosts and use ESXi to create datastores.

 

[cyberjock]

Hey, we all start by doggy paddling our way through. Unfortunately this stuff isn't included in our genes.

If the machine is for secondary storage only then you should be okay. Local storage for the ESXi host typically works best for people. Do be sure to figure out how to monitor your hard disks for failures on the ESXi server. Most people don't think about this until they have a failed disk and lose data.

Generally, if you don't have a purpose for an iSCSI device, file sharing is usually faster and better. So definitely look into how valuable an iscsi device is for your situation and determine if it really provides a benefit.

Good luck.

In an Austin Powers voice: Danger.. that's my first name...