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ZFS on vm: nexenta, solaris ...?

Hi,

I am checking two options for my NL40 Microserver: hyper-v and running esxi with ZFS vm.

Now for the latter, I wonder what the current status of ZFS appliances is.

Back in time, when I configure my ZFS physical machine, I couldn't make Oracle work on my HP Microserver. Since I now will run it on a vm, I might reconsider it again.

My q:

*Nexenta doesn't seem to support vmxnet3, does Solaris?
*Then also I wonder if there aren't ready made vmware appliances I can import?
*Is there a gui in Solaris just as Nexenta? I'm familiar with Nexenta now ...

Thanks for your input.
J.

janhoedt

ASKER

Napp-it? http://www.napp-it.org/downloads/index_en.html Which version then?

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

*Nexenta doesn't seem to support vmxnet3, does Solaris?

Nexenta is an appliance, so no.

Solaris is difficult to get working, with VMware Tools and the vmxnet3 interface.

*Then also I wonder if there aren't ready made vmware appliances I can import?

Nexenta, but only available commercially not free like the community edition you have to install.

*Is there a gui in Solaris just as Nexenta? I'm familiar with Nexenta now ...

Recommended to install Nappit!

janhoedt

ASKER

Thanks, why is Nappit that much better? It would take a lot of extra hassle to make that work for me (I know Nexenta now).

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

You can configure ALL by hand with Openindiana (defunct) or Solaris Express (defunct) or Solaris (current).

or use Nappit GUI.

janhoedt

ASKER

I m still a bit worries about cpu and memory impact on my microserver. What would be the best option then?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

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janhoedt

ASKER

Dedicated nas is my current situation but using to much power. Only onenl 40 should be running, my ds 1511 synology will go too. Windows hyperv is a very valid option (raid 5 of 4 ssd 120 gb, 2 ssd in raid 1 for os, soft raid for sata disks) but then I throw away all my effort in my vm s. The conversion of vm s to hyperv doesn t convince at all. Outcome insure. What if I d limit vm zfs in cpu resources and ram (f.e. only 300 MHz and 2 gb ram)? Then I can keep run my standalone esxi, 22 ssd cache, 1 log, 1 raid 5 for local vms 1 zfs for my 3 sata disks (powered down vm s and data only. Just need those sata disks in some raid for my data and powered down vm s or data vm disks.
Though one for me.

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

If a NAS is using too much power, do not use one.

You could try a ZFS NAS as a VM on the Host, but you are limited by resources, performance will be poor, but could be acceptable for you.

piwowarc

You can run BSD based VM appliance for ZFS. It works great in current releases (64bit as 32 its tricky and unstable to run ZFS). IF you need GUI, look at FreeNAS. If not, run a BSD VM samba/nfs server with ZFS as your filesystem. Part of your Hypervisor will have to be on some kind of drive not beeing ZFS, right? You can't host VM on storage it provides itself (chicken and egg problem). Or did I misunderstood you and you have 2 boxes and want to serve storage for second one?

janhoedt

ASKER

Correct, I have 3 NL 40 of which I want to eliminate 2. Last year only my domaincontroller and vcenter where running fulltime. Occasionally I boot sql and sccm. Rather stupid to have 3 servers running for 2 vm s. Hyperv seems the only most performant option in this situation but the swap is somewhat scary :-)

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

Limited RAM in a single Box is the issue.