New to VMs

[sx3]

Hi,

I have just discovered that I'm able to host VM through FreeNAS, which sounds terrific! I was about to install FreeNAS as a VM, but I have reconsidered.
However I need some help understanding things!

- Will FreeNAS handle the OS disks for my VMs? In terms of raid or mirroring? I have a couple of datacenter SSDs that I want to host my VMs on but I want them to be mirrored for redundancy.

- I saw the guide mentioning "rancher OS", do I need this or am I able to install a couple of VMs anyway by making partitions/volumes for each VM using a bit of the SSD?

Regards

 

[Allan Wilmath]

Rancher is only for Docker, and Rancher has to be run as a VM to provide the Linux kernel that Unix does not have. You don't need Rancher to do VMs.

Yes FreeNAS will. You can create a mirror under Volumes in FreeNAS to make a pool using those disks and then create a ZVOL on that new Pool to use as the VM storage when you create the VMs.

 

[Allan Wilmath]

I think I should have mentioned that you use ZVOLs for VM disks. ZVOLs are created in volume manager on a Pool, a pool is created using the discs you want to use. So you have to set all of that up first before you make your first VM. Yes, FreeNAS will handle the storage just fine.

Most hypervisors create a directory to store the VM data including the virtual hard drive, VMs in FreeNAS stores the data as a ZVOL, basically passing though directly the storage at the block level so that the VM can manage the blocks directly.

 

[sx3]

Thanks for fast replies Allan!

So, I should I create separate ZVOL for each VM in FreeNAS?

You mention Rancher for linux kernels, I will run a couple of Linux VMs, would this require me to install Rancher?

 

[chris crude]

Thanks for fast replys Allan!

So, I should I create separate ZVOL for each VM in Freenas?

You mentiones Rancher for linux kernels, I will run a couple of Linux VM's, would this require me to install Rancher?

Required? No. But if you were to have multiple VMs, it might be easier to just run all your apps in a single docker.
Full Disclosure: I have not tried docker, but I have successfully run a Linux VM for pihole and a Win10 VM since day 1.

 

[sx3]

If I install a quad NIC card, would bhyve through Freenas be able to assign certain NIC port to a VM? Like a virtual switch that is availble in ESXi or Hyper-V?