Virtualize FreeNAS for learning and jails ;)

[TheBlueRaja]

Hey folks,
I want to learn how to set up the plex jails etc discussed here and was looking for a way to be able to do this without screwing up my existing setup, sort of a practice run where i can configure the Plex, Sonarr jails etc and then wipe it without having to worry about screwing up my main rig.

I'm looking to run a virtualized FreeNAS with some token storage and a chunk memory where i can simply get all this running before i actually do it for real on my actual rig.

Any catches here i may not be thinking about? Would it work? I don't care about anything that will be stored on the box as its purely for testing (i know you should not normally virtualize FreeNAS).

 

[jgreco]

It normally works, if you do it right. There are guides. Pick what fits.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ative-for-those-seeking-virtualization.26095/

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ide-to-not-completely-losing-your-data.12714/

I've tried to point out the sharp edges. You don't have to follow this path, but as you get away from the well-tested path, you may discover landmines.

Be sure to bring enough forks.

 

[Allan Wilmath]

Do it right? I think doing it right is running FreeNAS virtualized. If you don't care about the data on the test FreeNAS then you don't need to do anything special to virtualize FreeNAS. Just run as a FreeBSD 11 x64 VM and go for it. You will want to likely used bridged networking for the VM to test the jails. You do the initial install, then shutdown and add a extra virtual hard drive for storage, then start the VM backup and add the new virtual hard disk as you would a real single hard disk on a physical machine. You need to have a minimum of 2 virtual hard disks. You can use more to test making complicated setups but I would not because it would add a lot of disk I/O which will slow things down, especially if you are putting all of the virtual hard disks on a single spinning disk.

It is only if you care about the data and performance that you need to be do anything special to virtualize FreeNAS.

 

[jgreco]

It's incredibly easy to do it wrong. I've spent a lot of time and effort trying to correct folks who have done it wrong. It's not really fun.

 

[brando56894]

It's also pretty easy to do it correctly haha I had it setup in ESXi in about an hour.

 

[jgreco]

It's also pretty easy to do it correctly haha I had it setup in ESXi in about an hour.

That too.