Is virtualizing Freenas a bad idea for a 3rd backup box?

[RichTJ99]

Hi,

So I have my main freenas rig, a second rig for backup only. I have an under utilized ESXI box & I was thinking I could run a Esxi freenas box on it as a third backup box - as long as its running already.

Any thoughts on if this is a good or horrible idea? I know running Freenas in a VM is not recommended but is it OK as a third alternative?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Spearfoot]

Hi,

So I have my main freenas rig, a second rig for backup only. I have an under utilized ESXI box & I was thinking I could run a Esxi freenas box on it as a third backup box - as long as its running already.

Any thoughts on if this is a good or horrible idea? I know running Freenas in a VM is not recommended but is it OK as a third alternative?

Thanks,
Rich

You can virtualize FreeNAS, but you have to know what you're doing and use the right hardware. I run two servers w/ FreeNAS virtualized, see 'my systems' for details. One of these is based on a Supermicro X10SL7 which I see you also run.

Here is the thread detailing @joeschmuck's virtualization experiences:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/my-dream-system-i-think.41072/

I found this blog post by forum member @Benjamin Bryan invaluable when I built my first all-in-one last year:

https://b3n.org/freenas-9-3-on-vmware-esxi-6-0-guide/

Take your time and do things right and you'll do fine. Good luck!