Need help for hardware setup

[Whitesnake]

Hello,

I'm quite new to the topic, at the moment I am trying to find an ideal setup for my purpose.

What do I need?

• An ESXI Server with VMs for TrueNAS, Windows 10 Pro and 1-n Linux-systems (running Docker with Plex, Pihole, Unify Controller)
• TrueNAS should be the software where I backup my photo projects (Capture One catalogs with lots of raw pictures) and my movies for plex. I am the only person who uses TrueNAS.
• Windows 10 Pro is for software which requires Windows, because I am a Mac-guy and sometimes need Windows software.

Since I am new to the topic, I would like to have setup like this:

• ESXI installed on a USB-drive or internal small SSD
• A SSD for all VMs
• 2 x 10 TB HDD (managed with TrueNAS, and reached through to ESXI for data and plex movies) as zraid1

I have some questions:

• ESXI loads to the RAM, but where config-data written? Back to the USB-drive/SSD? Is it recommended to use an internal drive? Which one would you recommend? EVO 870 with 256 GB?
• How should I backup the ESXI-drive, is there a best practice?
• I am planing 3 VMs (TrueNAS, Win10, Linux): should I backup the VMs to a third (external?) HDD in case something happens to the VM-SSD of should I make a SSD-Raid1 for the VM? Is it correct, that in this case the managing of the VM-Raid must be done in ESXI, since it's the base for TrueNAS?
• What happens if one of my zraid1 drives fails? Can I replace it with another?
• Since my future hardware enclosure case has 8 drives: can I change the position of the zraid1 HDDs (when the system is switched off), or does TrueNAS require to have the HDDs exactly in the same position? My old Synology wasn't amused at all if I put the drives in the wrong order back to the system.

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[Pitfrr]

Hello,

I'll give you some feedback based on my experience.
I've set up FreeNAS (v9.10.x) in a VM on ESXi (v6.5).
ESXi is installed on a SD card since a SD card reader is integrated in the server.
I also use 3 disks (in HW RAID5) as VM datastore to host the VM.
Then I have the disks for FreeNAS connected to a separate HBA in pass- through (in RAIDz2).
There are some details to take into account if you virtualize FreeNAS/TrueNAS, make sure you checked them out. A good starting point is this thread.

Is it recommended to use an internal drive?

I'm quite happy with my SD card I have to say, although SD cards are known to be less reliable then HDD/SDD.
The only drawback is that the SD card I use is a bit small in size so I can't update (no space to download the update!!)...
Using an internal drive would be a good idea if you have enough connectors.

How should I backup the ESXI-drive, is there a best practice?

Well... I don't back up ESXi... but that's a bad practice!
I also don't backup the VM.
I do a backup of the FreeNAS config and the data in FreeNAS though.
My thought was that since it is only for a home usage (and mostly single user) if the server crashes then my priority is FreeNAS (which is backed-up), the rest, I don't care if I need to reinstall and if it takes time to rebuild.
The (important) data is all stored on the FreeNAS volume, so the VM datastore is only used to store the operating system (ok, ok, I have some exceptions but I'm aware of it... ).

I know it is not ideal but it is a compromise based on my use case.

should I backup the VMs to a third (external?) HDD in case something happens to the VM-SSD of should I make a SSD-Raid1 for the VM? Is it correct, that in this case the managing of the VM-Raid must be done in ESXI, since it's the base for TrueNAS?

As I said: I don't backup the VM... If anything happens then I just reinstall... Didn't have to do it so far maybe I'll change my mind once I'll be facing it! :-D
Yes if you use some RAIDx for the VM drives, you'll have to use some kind of HW RAID to set it up since TrueNAS is not installed yet.

What happens if one of my zraid1 drives fails? Can I replace it with another?

First, zraid1 does not exist so you're probably talking about RAIDz1. But with 2 disks (you mention 2x10TB) you can't do RAIDz1 but only mirrors.
Yes if one disk fails you can just replace it with a new one, have a look in the documentation (it's for FreeNAS 11.3 but it is a similar procedure for TrueNAS)

can I change the position of the zraid1 HDDs

Yes, TrueNAS doesn't care in which order you put the disks.