Will this Server build work, and be stable?

[Scruffie]

Hey Guys,

 

So I'm planning on building a server. It will have the following hardware:

 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7PESH2

CPU(s): 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2620 v1

RAM: 32GB DDR3 ECC

Drives: 1 main boot drives, 3 x 2TB WD reds (configured in RAID5), 3 x 8TB WD reds (also configured in RAID5)

 

My question is, if I have windows server 2012 on the main boot drive, and host two VM's (one VM to reference the 2TB array, and the other to reference the 8TB array).

 

Will having FreeNAS, and plex installed on the VM referencing the 8TB array be stable? I'll have the other VM be a standard Linux VM hosting a few services such as rocket.chat, etc.

 

Secondly, should I configure the RAID array using windows server and have the VM reference the array, or configure the array on the VM?

 

Please let me know if you need any further clarification, or have questions about design choice. 

[Windows7ge]

If you want to use FreeNAS to handle the RAIDs it's not recommended to run it in a VM. You'd want to run it natively. The later versions of FreeNAS do have some VM support (Bhyve) but I will say it's performance/stability is a bit touch'n'go also I had no luck installing linux on it but some updates have occurred since I last tried.

[Scruffie]

Content removed

[Scruffie]

9 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

If you want to use FreeNAS to handle the RAIDs it's not recommended to run it in a VM. You'd want to run it natively. The later versions of FreeNAS do have some VM support (Bhyve) but I will say it's performance/stability is a bit touch'n'go also I had no luck installing linux on it but some updates have occurred since I last tried.

So you wouldnt recommend the VM OS for handling the raid, and stability is meh? What distro if Linux did you try and run as a VM?

[Windows7ge]

3 minutes ago, Scruffie said:

So you wouldnt recommend the VM OS for handling the raid, and stability is meh? What distro if Linux did you try and run as a VM?

If you want ZFS (what FreeNAS uses to form the RAIDs) and something to host VMs on at the same time look into PROXMOX. It supports ZFS natively and it's meant for handling VMs. Try it natively on the hardware and run Windows in a VM if you desire.

 

As for my linux attempts in Bhyve on FreeNAS. I tried Ubuntu, Proxmox (just to play with it a bit), and PFsense (again just to play with it a bit), it failed to run any of them under any circumstances.

 

Again updates to Bhyve have occurred since those attempts so things may be different now.

[Scruffie]

Sorry, I'm not sure you're understanding where the Linux VM will be. The Linux will be under its own, separate VM than FreeNAS. FreeNAS will be used to host/run Plex. Windows server will just be there to host the VMs. 

 

[Windows7ge]

36 minutes ago, Scruffie said:

Sorry, I'm not sure you're understanding where the Linux VM will be. The Linux will be under its own, separate VM than FreeNAS. FreeNAS will be used to host/run Plex. Windows server will just be there to host the VMs. 

 

I understand all that. I'm just arguing why you shouldn't run FreeNAS in a VM. If you really need good VM support but want to keep ZFS don't use Windows Server as the base OS look into Proxmox or EXSi (I don't know if ESXi uses ZFS).

[Scruffie]

5 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

I understand all that. I'm just arguing why you shouldn't run FreeNAS in a VM. If you really need good VM support but want to keep ZFS don't use Windows Server as the base OS look into Proxmox or EXSi (I don't know if ESXi uses ZFS).

Ah, fair enough. Will look into it! Was just wanting the VM's so I could separate the data without having two separate physical servers. Was trying to take advantage of virtualization 

[Windows7ge]

36 minutes ago, Scruffie said:

Ah, fair enough. Will look into it! Was just wanting the VM's so I could separate the data without having two separate physical servers. Was trying to take advantage of virtualization 

By all means do so but if you want Windows Server as the host OS you'll want to use a different software to form the RAID. Something native.

 

If you want ZFS, use FreeNAS as the host.

 

If you want ZFS & VMs. Check out Proxmox.

[Scruffie]

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

By all means do so but if you want Windows Server as the host OS you'll want to use a different software to form the RAID. Something native.

 

If you want ZFS, use FreeNAS as the host.

 

If you want ZFS & VMs. Check out Proxmox.

Why separate software? Isn't with does server capable of forming RAID configurations on its own?

[Windows7ge]

21 minutes ago, Scruffie said:

Why separate software? Isn't with does server capable of forming RAID configurations on its own?

? I'm talking about the native operating system. In your original post you asked if you could install FreeNAS in a VM on Windows Server 2012. I'm under the assumption you want to install FreeNAS to use it for it's software RAID solution correct?

[Scruffie]

5 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

? I'm talking about the native operating system. In your original post you asked if you could install FreeNAS in a VM on Windows Server 2012. I'm under the assumption you want to install FreeNAS to use it for it's software RAID solution correct?

No, I was going to use it to use freeNAS to host plex. However, I could just use Win7 to host plex. My main concer was whether I should create the RAID array in the host OS, or create it in the VM. I've come to the conclusion that creating the array in the host OS and then installing the VM on the array and using that storage would probably be better?

 

Sorry for the confusion!

[Razor Blade]

I run FreeNAS in an ESXI VM. I use PCI passthrough (of the HBA card) to pass drives directly to FreeNAS. It has been stable for several months now and there aren't any adverse affects to note. I am able to directly manage drives as if it were on bare metal. I would not suggest using virtual drives for FreeNAS. I haven't messed with Windows server but I know you can pass drives through to VMs it just takes a bit of work.

 

In your case, Plex running on Windows would probably work just fine. If you're not looking for the other features of FreeNAS it is probably more trouble than it's worth.

[Windows7ge]

5 minutes ago, Scruffie said:

No, I was going to use it to use freeNAS to host plex. However, I could just use Win7 to host plex. My main concer was whether I should create the RAID array in the host OS, or create it in the VM. I've come to the conclusion that creating the array in the host OS and then installing the VM on the array and using that storage would probably be better?

You only want to run FreeNAS so you can use the Plex plugin? Seems like kind of a waste of FreeNAS. Just install it on Windows.

[Scruffie]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

You only want to run FreeNAS so you can use the Plex plugin? Seems like kind of a waste of FreeNAS. Just install it on Windows.

Planning on it aha. Sorry, haven't really configured software on this level before. I'm still learning  Thanks for all of your help, though!

[Windows7ge]

1 minute ago, Scruffie said:

Planning on it aha. Sorry, haven't really configured software on this level before. I'm still learning  Thanks for all of your help, though!

Ah, jumping into a big project without much experience. I do that from time to time.

[Scruffie]

8 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

You only want to run FreeNAS so you can use the Plex plugin? Seems like kind of a waste of FreeNAS. Just install it on Windows.

Yeah, was thinking that. Would you recommend I just create the raid array on the host OS, and then install the windows vm (with plex) on the array, and just use the same array for storage?

[Windows7ge]

Just now, Scruffie said:

Yeah, was thinking that. Would you recommend I just create the raid array on the host OS, and then install the windows vm (with plex) on the array, and just use the same array for storage?

Basically your best interest here would be to create a partition big enough to host the VM and the files you want to store within it. If Microsoft Servers software is any bit sophisticated it should allow you to expand the VM partition as your space needs grow. This will enable you to use the remaining array space for other VMs or anything else in the meantime.