two freenas server cannot exist on same vlan

[hpcre]

Hello all,

I have a peculiar problem. I tried to search for a similar case but none have been found so far.

i am trying to install two separate freenas servers on the same vlan in a virtualbox environment.
- i boot the first one, configured and all is great
- i boot the second one, i find all its network interface configuration has been automatically deleted. i re-configure it while its up.
- i try to login from web gui but get the default nginx webpage instead "Welcome to nginx".
- if i flip the order and reboot the first server then i get the same reaction on the first server, while the second one works fine.

any suggestions ??
i'm using the "host-only" adapter from VirtualBox version 4
i'm on the latest version.. 8.3.0

 

[Stephens]

Your subject is a bit misleading. Two FreeNAS servers can exist on the same vlan.

If I'm reading you correctly, your problem is specific to running in a VM environment. Since you haven't indicated you have 2 different NICs, it sounds like you want to run two instances of FreeNAS on the same physical machine in 2 separate virtual machines with 2 different IP's. If I have this right, I look forward to the feedback you get as to using one physical NIC with 2 different IP's in two different VirtualBox VM's. If I have it wrong, you can clarify your intentions for the folks who can help you.

 

[hpcre]

well.. to re-iterate
i have a pc, running virtualbox. inside virtualbox i have two VMs. each running an instance of freenas.
both VMs have vnics configured on the same vlan, say 192.168.8.x
my problem is, is one VM is already up, configured and running fine, i start up the second one and it doesn't allow me to see the webgui, just the nginx welcome page.
when i try to restart the second VM, it starts with some random IP configuration quite different from the settings i already did the previous run.
the same goes the other way round.

 

[cyberjock]

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, that still sounds like a VM problem. FreeNAS won't just change its config and give you a different IP without a reason. My guess is the VM environment is misconfigured somehow.

 

[hpcre]

how can a VM be misconfigured ? it boots fine and if i manually configure the network device it starts working fine.
my problem is across reboots , provided there is another instance of freenas running, the configuration i made is gone and freenas tries to start dhcp on the network card again.
or sometimes, it runs dhcp and turns out with a completely different configuration. like for example, if my nic is configured in vlan 192.168.8.x, sometimes i find it starts with dhcp and turns up with ip in 192.168.40.x for example.

 

[cyberjock]

FreeNAS doesn't just make up a random IP whenever it wants. It also has no mechanism to identify if another FreeNAS machine is on the network and to misbehave if there is. I have 2 FreeNAS servers at home right now and both work fine through reboots and whatnot.

I bet you that if you take one of them and take them off the VM and run it on actual hardware it'll work perfectly. If it doesn't then its still a configuration issue, which isn't too far from my idea that the VM is misconfigured. In any case, something is misconfigured, and your job is to figure it out. Adding virtualization makes the issue much more complex because anything you do correctly in FreeNAS you can also do incorrectly in ESXi giving you bad results.

In either case, there is no limitation of FreeNAS on a given subnet, vlan, etc. You could run 20 servers and they should all work correctly.

This thread is exactly why alot of people recommend against using VMs. If something goes wrong you have an extra layer of potential problems that you'll have to diagnose through. Generally, if you aren't making a "duh" mistake, its a diagnosis that you will HAVE to figure out for yourself. If you don't have that experience, you probably won't be able to fix the issue from some forum posts. Some people are very experienced with ESXi, some aren't. Disclaimer: I don't use ESXi because I don't want to be in a situation with diagnosing my own problems and unable to expect help from a forum setting.

The fact that you're having this problem, and are the only one having this problem, tells me that you aren't too terribly experienced with ESXi and able to properly setup,assign hardware, and troubleshoot issues. My advice to you would be to abandon ESXi with FreeNAS. IMO your data is at risk if you continue to stick with ESXi and FreeNAS. The manual clearly states that running FreeNAS directly on hardware is preferred to virtualizing. My guide, which is linked in my sig, says the exact same thing for the exact same reason. Virtualizing is great for testing out FreeNAS, breaking hardware and then fixing it, but isn't really recommended for oroduction environments. The fact that you want to run 2 FreeNAS servers on the same hardware tells me you are past the experimenting stage.

I use FreeNAS as a VM on my Windows server when I want to b eak FreeNAS or intend to do things that will likely break FreeNAS. Then I can just click 'revert to snapshot' and life goes on. But for storing my data, I use real hardware.

Not trying to challenge your experience/knowledge/ego with ESXi, but not everyone can do everything. I would never consider ESXi in a production environment if a company asked me to. I know my limits. You need to figure out where your limits are. The beginning of wisdom is knowing when you are in unfamiliar territory and should be learning instead of applying.

 

[hpcre]

Thanks for your "zero value" input in the matter. especially that i did not mention i'm using ESXi, i'm using virtual box.
Also, i didn't say i'm using it as a production environment.

I'm pretty sure of the output i got, you can simulate the same thing on your windows/linux box if you want to see what i have seen.

i dont care if people say freenas should not be run in a virtualised environment, almost every other piece of software on the planet does run fine. freenas should not care if its running on virt. of real hardware.

I'm not new to freenas and i really do know what i'm doing. if you dont have any input then i suggest you not tire yourself in writing long replies which do not add any valued input to the OP or the rest of the community.

 

[cyberjock]

... And you missed my point.. completely.. if you're going to argue with me that using Virtualbox somehow means that the potential virtualization issues with ESXi don't exist with Virtualbox.

And don't try to tell me you aren't using FreeNAS in any kind of produtive environment when you're running 2 FreeNAS VMs at the same time. If you were only experimenting there would be no reason to have two.

But good luck with your problems. There's a reason nobody is providing good input, you've been dismissed already. I'll be happy to unsubscribe to this thread just so I don't have to listen to you anymore. :)

You'll eventually figure out that not all possible configurations should be done by everyone. My mom would be crazy just trying to setup FreeNAS at all.

By the way, I have 3 different FreeNAS VMs running from Virtualbox on my Windows server now, and they all work fine along with 2 non-VM FreeNAS servers. So go figure that one out hotshot.

 

[pirateghost]

I have to give my input here:

I have 2 esxi servers that I test new versions of FreeNAS and various other distros on. There is zero issues with running multiple VMs or physical FreeNAS boxes on the same 'vlan'. I am using the term vlan loosely here, because really, in your case, its not running in a vlan, but a different subnet. I currently run 2 FreeNAS physical machines and at any given moment have another instance for testing purposes running in one of my 2 esxi boxes.

You have a configuration problem here with your VBox setup, that you need to figure out. The title of this thread is misleading, as really its an issue that you need to give more info about if you want any help. You need to provide us with the configuration of the VMs specifically.

 

[hpcre]

thank you all for your input. due to my lack of time, i tried the same configuration on vmware and all is running fine now.

thanks again to all of you for your support