Looking to move off FreeNAS -- question on unraid with ESXi clusters

[thecoffeeguy]

Howdy folks.

I will get right down to it.

I have been exploring the option of moving to UNRAID recently due to some weird issues I have been seeing with FreeNAS being used as central storage for my ESXi cluster. I have seen some 'blips' if you will with my VMs performance of late and started to research.

My setup:

 

(Home Lab used for development)

(2) ESXi clusters -- Managed by a Virtual vCenter hosted on a local SSD on one of the nodes

(1) FreeNAS box setup with single pool for storage to cluster, to host VM's. Second pool used for backups.

FreeNAS Specs:

Dual core Intel CPU (Older CPU...upgradeable)

16gb RAM that I can upgrade to 32gb RAM

(2) 2TB Red Drives mirrored for VM's

Dual NIC that I have considered setup for 'bonding' for better bandwidth.

 

In doing my research, I came across several posts about how UNRAID is better solution if you plan to run your VM's off your NAS, which is what I want to do.

I have just started to learn more about UNRAID. I am happy to purchase a license as long as it fits my needs.

 

I can start with that and provide more info it is helpful.

Much appreciated for the help!

 

TCG

[JorgeB]

I'm sorry but what exactly is your question?

[thecoffeeguy]

12 hours ago, johnnie.black said:

I'm sorry but what exactly is your question?

I guess it comes down to, is 'unraid' a better solution to host VM's that are connected to a ESXi cluster? Just based upon some preliminary research i've done, FreeNAS might not be the best solution for my setup. A few blogs I have read said unraid might/could be better.

Just dipping my toe in the water a bit.

Edited April 26, 2020 by thecoffeeguy

[Carbongrip]

On 4/26/2020 at 2:46 PM, thecoffeeguy said:

I guess it comes down to, is 'unraid' a better solution to host VM's that are connected to a ESXi cluster? Just based upon some preliminary research i've done, FreeNAS might not be the best solution for my setup. A few blogs I have read said unraid might/could be better.

Just dipping my toe in the water a bit.

Well Unraid uses QEMU for its VM's so if you've used that then you know what to expect. The storage system though is unique though in that it is NOT raid, while still having redundancy. Not exactly an enterprise solution YET but is getting there. Development of Zfs in Unraid is being talked about but isn't a thing yet. Unraid is free for 30 days with a Maxed out license for the 30days, so that should let you evaluate things for yourself.

[thecoffeeguy]

On 4/27/2020 at 5:04 PM, Carbongrip said:

Well Unraid uses QEMU for its VM's so if you've used that then you know what to expect. The storage system though is unique though in that it is NOT raid, while still having redundancy. Not exactly an enterprise solution YET but is getting there. Development of Zfs in Unraid is being talked about but isn't a thing yet. Unraid is free for 30 days with a Maxed out license for the 30days, so that should let you evaluate things for yourself.

Thx for the feedback. I was going to pull down unraid and give it a go. Looks very promising and have heard very good things about it.

Ty