FreeNAS Production Use with VMware

[munnavai]

Hi,

can i use FreeNAS with VMware for Production Use ? i will use this for Storing production Database VM and other Application Vm also.
I want to Use FreeNAS Server as iSCSI Storage, is there any Compatibility issue with VMware ? Specially the iSCSI Protocol Implementation of FreeNAS is it fully compliant with VMware ?

Thanks

 

[blueether]

I don't use it in production (only in a home environment), but it seems to work well enough for my needs.
I do have issues that it won't auto mount after a reboot. FreeNAS is a VM that exports iSCSI back to esxi and proxmox

 

[munnavai]

Hi blueether,
"FreeNAS is a VM that exports iSCSI back to esxi and proxmox " this statement is not true, FreeNAS is a "Storage OS" you can install it on baremetal and also in VM to use as storage, i want to install it on Enterprise Server Like HPE Apollo 4200, so that i can use it as Storage for Production VM's.

thanks

 

[HoneyBadger]

TrueNAS is officially listed on the VMware HCL:

VMware Compatibility Guide - Storage/SAN Search

www.vmware.com

FreeNAS isn't officially listed but uses the same software stack (with a few changes, and production support of course) and supports the same VAAI primitives. More anecdotally yes, I've used it to run production workloads.

I do have issues that it won't auto mount after a reboot. FreeNAS is a VM that exports iSCSI back to esxi and proxmox

You need to set up a script either within your FreeNAS VM or in the ESXi local.sh startup to trigger a rescan of your iSCSI adapter via esxcli storage core adapter rescan --all - I believe @Spearfoot has something under the Resources section here.

HOWEVER

If this is "production data" as in "supporting a business" then please, please consider what the cost of downtime would be, and whether or not you want to have that be your responsibility. Don't take on a production workload as your first build - make sure you are very confident and comfortable in the building, maintenance, and administration of ZFS and FreeNAS before you take on the task of being responsible for someone else's data. If you're in doubt, hire a consultant for a few hours to help you understand your needs and build/spec out a system. (Or buy a TrueNAS from iXsystems directly.)

 

[munnavai]

Thanks HoneyBadger, i got it.
can you please share with me your experience about the Stability of the LUN's Mapping with the VMware, does it cause any trouble ? like degrades, losses connectivity for nothing, actually how stable it is for production ? i can say certified iSCSI from Open-E, Nexenta those do not causes this type of issue. is the ISCSI of FreeNAS stable enough for Long Run ? and if anything happens from where i can start troubleshooting ?

 

[HoneyBadger]

Hi blueether,
"FreeNAS is a VM that exports iSCSI back to esxi and proxmox " this statement is not true, FreeNAS is a "Storage OS" you can install it on baremetal and also in VM to use as storage, i want to install it on Enterprise Server Like HPE Apollo 4200, so that i can use it as Storage for Production VM's.

thanks

@blueether is simply describing how s/he is currently using FreeNAS, and this is a valid (although not as common) deployment.

The Apollo 4200 is an interesting platform especially if it is equipped with the rear-mount NVMe bays (and said bays are stuffed with Optane or NVRAM devices); however, I would want to be 100% sure that the SAS controller is capable of operating in pure HBA mode (with a sufficiently stable FreeBSD driver) or else be prepared to replace it with one that is.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Thanks HoneyBadger, i got it.
can you please share with me your experience about the Stability of the LUN's Mapping with the VMware, does it cause any trouble ? like degrades, losses connectivity for nothing, actually how stable it is for production ? i can say certified iSCSI from Open-E, Nexenta those do not causes this type of issue. is the ISCSI of FreeNAS stable enough for Long Run ? and if anything happens from where i can start troubleshooting ?

A FreeNAS system built with quality components that have good support and that has underwent a long period of burn-in testing should be just as stable as a "branded" storage array. Anecdotally, the system I built approximately six years ago on a Dell chassis is still fully functional, having experienced one issue during its lifespan (an HBA literally went up in smoke and required replacement).

To use a cliched phrase, a FreeNAS system will be "as stable as you build and design it to be."

If you cut corners, use uncommon, poorly supported, or known-to-cause-issues gear, don't properly burn-in test your drives, and use cheap consumer switches - then you shouldn't be surprised to have timeouts, lost/dropped packets, and all manner of grief. Up to and including lost data, if you present iSCSI without forcing sync writes (and backing that up with a proper SLOG device to ensure performance is retained as well.)

But if you build a system using parts that are cross-listed on each other's compatibility/qualified equipment lists (right down to the DIMMs you choose) do a good solid test run, and connect everything with supported non-blocking switches that can pass iSCSI traffic well; you'll enjoy the same level of stability as a "branded" array.

 

[munnavai]

Hi HoneyBadger, thanks a lot again,

Why do we need HBA mode here ? i am confused, my plan is to use the Storage as iSCSI SAN, I have 8 SSD and 18 x 10TB SATA, I am planning to Create Several Raid 10 Volume with SSD cache configured from the Raid Controller, and Advertise those to ESXi as Storage, My Hardware is with a HPE Smart Array P440 Controller, and i will use Cisco Nexus 10 Gig Switch, My ESXi are Dell R730 & R730xd. please suggest me a bit more.

Thanks

 

[HoneyBadger]

I would suggest reviewing the ZFS Primer in the documentation:

24. ZFS Primer — FreeNAS®11.2-U6 User Guide Table of Contents

www.ixsystems.com

ZFS is designed to "act as your RAID controller" as well as a filesystem, and it has its own caching algorithms. These can leverage SSDs as well for read cache, as well as specific high-performance drives for write cache (again, if you have the NVMe bays in the HP Apollo I strongly suggest some Optane P-series devices)

If you want to use the included HP SmartArray P440, I would suggest a non-caching filesystem so that you won't be "double caching" the workload so to speak.

 

[munnavai]

Hi HoneyBadger,
thank you very much for the clarification, when we add a disk to the target is it mandatory to format that as zfs vols ? Or if we select the raw disk, vmware will format that as vmfs, will it interect with zfs anyway ? My query is, is there a way to use freenas with raid controller not using its zfs cache.

thanks