Pass SSD through to VM

[sjp770]

I'm on a new install of 11.2 beta.

I have a 120Gb SSD I wanted to dedicate to a VM. I was disappointed to see the max space I could use when setting it to its own pool was 60Gb for the VM. Is there a way to assign the SSD directly to the VM?

 

[kdragon75]

So... I can tell you are using VMs... Care to mention what kind of VMs? You know, like the hypervisor? Also we need FULL details of your entire system including model numbers.
Once we have that information we might be able to better help you.;)

 

[sjp770]

So... I can tell your using VMs... Care to mention what kind of VMs? You know, like the hypervisor? Also we need FULL details of your entire system including model numbers.
Once we have that information we might be able to better help you.;)

FreeNAS-11.2-BETA1

(Build Date: Jul 6, 2018 22:29)

Processor:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz (12 cores)

Memory:
32 GB

Bhyve? There aren't any options as far as which hypervisor.

I've tried all combos of ahci, virtIO for disk type. Uefi or uefi CEC for the bios.

It's a server 2016 build.

I've created zfs pools for the storage I'm trying to attach but it won't boot once they are on.

What else can I tell you that's helpful?

 

[kdragon75]

I don't see any motherboard or disk controller information listed. That could be helpful in determining compatibility.

It's a server 2016 build.

I'm assuming you are refering to Windows 2016 running as a guest in bhyve. Is this correct?

I've created zfs pools for the storage I'm trying to attach but it won't boot once they are on.

Are you getting any errors, messages, or any other indication that its not booting?
What are the EXACT settings and method for adding the disk?

I don't mean to be tedious with the details but it makes all the difference.

 

[kdragon75]

Bhyve? There aren't any options as far as which hypervisor.

Lots of people run FreeNAS for xen, vSphere, hyper-v, and even kvm. Sometimes this is even attempted in nested environments.

 

[sjp770]

Thanks for your replies - sorry I didnt think the hosting hardware really come into it past if the cpu supported vt-d etc.

Gigabyte Z370 AORUS GAMING 7 - due to it having 2x native NIC's and 3x M.2 SSD support.

SSD is a Adata m.2 256Gb.. I ditched the Intel SSD as it was too small.

So even on the new hardware I could try other older guides for other virtualisation methods?

Yes, the guest OS is Server 2016. I'll be running BlueIris on it for IP camera recording. I have it setup for now on a 2Tb disk in a pool by itself - dont care if that drive gets thrashed and I can rebuild easy. Will look at 2x security rated drives later.

Stability wise - I think it was crashing to the off state when the cpu was hammered for extended periods of time. Ive given it 6 cores and 6Gb of ram. I'll find some time to look for how to's re checking bhyve logs soon. Nothing on the GUI which makes it harder for a newbie to FreeNAS.

Any combo for adding a disk from the GUI has resulted in failed boots - ie VNC opens a new tab but it shows page wont load. Creating a zvol first, adding it as AHCI or VirtIO.

 

[kdragon75]

Stability wise - I think it was crashing to the off state when the cpu was hammered for extended periods of time. I've given it 6 cores and 6Gb of ram. I'll find some time to look for how to's re checking bhyve logs soon. Nothing on the GUI which makes it harder for a newbie to FreeNAS.

So the VM was running with the disk but then crashed?

Any combo for adding a disk from the GUI has resulted in failed boots - ie VNC opens a new tab but it shows page won't load. Creating a zvol first, adding it as AHCI or VirtIO.

I'm a bit lost with your explanations. Did the VM ever power on with the disk added or not?

 

[kdragon75]

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz (12 cores)

I've given it 6 cores

Consider trying 4 cores. Without getting into how CPU scheduling works with VMs, just trust me. Sometimes less is more.

 

[sjp770]

VM built ok with one disk.

Power down, add new disk. Wont boot.. at all. VNC doesnt work. refresh VM page and the VM shows off.

 

[sjp770]

Consider trying 4 cores. Without getting into how CPU scheduling works with VMs, just trust me. Sometimes less is more.

ok - will do.

 

[kdragon75]

Stability wise - I think it was crashing to the off state when the cpu was hammered for extended periods of time. I've given it 6 cores and 6Gb of ram. I'll find some time to look for how to's re checking bhyve logs soon. Nothing on the GUI which makes it harder for a newbie to FreeNAS.

I still don't understand this statement. You are implying the system was up "for extended periods of time" but you are saying the VM does not start at all.

 

[sjp770]

It could have been coincidence as to when it went down, but what I was seeing was the server seemed stable when I wasn't asking anything of it. When I set it to process the camera feeds I could see it hitting 100% usage in the VM's task manager, then it turns off. Not a soft reboot but the VM is now in an off state.

What I mean about coincidence is this: I had it running for about 20 mins at the start and then it would crash in a similar way - turned out I needed VirtIO for the NIC. Once I fixed that it would stay up.

 

[sjp770]

I still don't understand this statement. Your implying the system was up "for extended periods of time" but you saying the VM does not start at all.

I see the misunderstanding. I hit a wall whenever I try to add a disk - with a new disk added it has never booted.

Stability was talking about before adding the other disk.

 

[sjp770]

Lots of people run FreeNAS for xen, vSphere, hyper-v, and even kvm. Sometimes this is even attempted in nested environments.

Are you saying re vShpere they run FreeNAS for iSCSI or an NFS share for datastores or can you actually run a vSphere instance alongside FreeNAS from the base FreeBSD OS? I'm familiar with vShpere - just not this bhyve system.

 

[kdragon75]

Some run FreeNAs just as a network datastore and others run FreeNAS as a VM and pass through the disk controller (and therefore the disk) to FreeNAS. This is great for a small single machine home lab but is not advisable due to a number of reasons.

 

[sjp770]

Ok, I chose to run FreeNAS natively on the hardware for ZFS - actually love the idea of the snapshots. but I went with powerful hardware to also run a VM on top. Is Bhyve the best or only option on top of FreeNAS? Seems like it might be in its early stages (guessing from the BETA part)

 

[kdragon75]

Both bhyve and its implementation in FreeNAS are far from mature. There are no running state snapshots, and no migration to name two. FreeNAS also does not support most of the options in bhyve and supports almost no monitoring. Personally, my FreeNAS is storage and a few small jails. Everything else runs on my vSphere cluster using my FreeNAS over fiber channel. Most people would go with iSCSI but I wanted the performance.

 

[kdragon75]

As to your issue, you may try selecting RAW file for your device type and pointing to you SSD at /dev/daX where x is your disk number

 

[kdragon75]

On the subject of snapshots, a snapshot will not backup a raw disk passed to the VM. Also a snapshot is disk only. If you restore your VM from a snapshot it would be like you had pulled the plug on the "server" and powered it back on. There is no way to take VM application consistent snapshots from within FreeNAS.

 

[anmnz]

There is no way to take VM application consistent snapshots from within FreeNAS.

Is this a counterexample?

http://doc.freenas.org/11/storage.html#vmware-snapshot

(I don't know a lot about this stuff, so just wondering.)