I'm on the verge of setting up my first FreeNAS, and for a number of reasons I've decided to run it as a VM on a linux server that I am about to build (using KVM).
I'd like to experiment and play around on this FreeNAS VM setup, and if it looks good over the next months, I might then move it into a standalone physical system.
I had a question about the hardware for the linux server on which I will run FreeNAS in a VM:
- As I need the CPUs to have PCI passthrough (VT-d), ECC RAM support, and multiple cores (for this and other VMs), I can see no option than going for a Xeon setup.
- Ideally I'd like to set up an E5-2670/2660 (single or dual CPU setup). But while I can find the CPU chips rather cheap, the motherboards cost a bomb. And just these 2 end up costing $500+.
- My cheaper alternative is a Dual Xeon X5670 system with a Supermicro X8DTI / X8DTI-F / X8DT6-F / X8DTE / X8DT3-LN4F motherboard. This would totally come to about $250.
Do you see the dual X5670 as a feasible option to run FreeNAS on as a VM?
[The rest of the system will likely include 32 GB ECC RAM, a SSD for the OS, 2x2TB HDD for the FreeNAS data]
I'd like to experiment and play around on this FreeNAS VM setup, and if it looks good over the next months, I might then move it into a standalone physical system.
I had a question about the hardware for the linux server on which I will run FreeNAS in a VM:
- As I need the CPUs to have PCI passthrough (VT-d), ECC RAM support, and multiple cores (for this and other VMs), I can see no option than going for a Xeon setup.
- Ideally I'd like to set up an E5-2670/2660 (single or dual CPU setup). But while I can find the CPU chips rather cheap, the motherboards cost a bomb. And just these 2 end up costing $500+.
- My cheaper alternative is a Dual Xeon X5670 system with a Supermicro X8DTI / X8DTI-F / X8DT6-F / X8DTE / X8DT3-LN4F motherboard. This would totally come to about $250.
Do you see the dual X5670 as a feasible option to run FreeNAS on as a VM?
[The rest of the system will likely include 32 GB ECC RAM, a SSD for the OS, 2x2TB HDD for the FreeNAS data]