Can't understand ESXi

[PiKe]

I understand the point of virtualization is so that you can easily move things around without the hardware restrictions you would otherwise have with bare metal, but what is the point of using VMware on HP Microservers that are primarily used at home as a NAS and/or media server?

So far I have seen that you can install ESXi o to a USB key and then have the entire zfs pool available, do you just simply locate that virtual machine on this pool or are they held on the USB key as well?

Why is it better to not have all of the machines resources available to one machine?

 

[Caged]

If you don't want to run multiple environments (or you do, but they are satisfied by the jails in FreeBSD, assuming FreeNAS), then you don't need to worry about using ESXi. It's free though and is a nice way to get remote console without paying for iDRAC. Depending on the server you are using, you can pass the disks through to the guest VM if you want, or build the array on the controller and just shove everything on virtual disks.

 

[Little_Crow]

Easiest to answer your question by saying why I use it in just the way you describe

> I can snapshot my machine prior to something 'risky' - upgrading Ubuntu, Plex or installing a new piece of software entirely.

Case in point, I managed to lock out my access to Plex last night and ended up on the command line to sort it out. I was an idiot and didn't take a snapshot, but had I done so I could have just rolled back and resolved it immediately.


> I often forgo upgrading the OS at all. I tend to build a new Ubuntu server from scratch and just attach the Virtual Disk file containing my media.
I've done this a couple of times now, each time learning things. Initially it was a default Disk configuration, it's now using separate disks for var, tmp, boot etc as I was having frequent space issues.


ESXi isn't for everyone, but generally people who are looking at a build your own media server rather than a prebuilt NAS are on the nerdier end of the spectrum - and perhaps work in IT already.

If you don't already work with virtualisation technologies, having familiarity with your own environment can only help if you're suddenly thrown into it, or a promotion beckons.

 

[Deleted member 138126]

A few other advantages of using ESXi:

- When you eventually replace the Microserver, you can move the VM (or VMs) across to the new hardware without re-installing.

- I have 16GB in my Gen8 Microserver, so I can run a few different VMs, as opposed to a single OS directly on the hardware.

- Because ESXi provides a standardised driver model, you are likely to get more things running under it. A good example is XPEnology. The current 6.x bootloader only has ESXi drivers.

- You get VMware experience -- never a bad thing. One thing to do a bunch of labs, much better to be running your "live" home systems on it and dealing with real world problems (running out of disk space, that sort of thing).

My Gen8 setup is as follows:

- ESXi boots off a USB stick plugged into the motherboard
- Bay 1 contains an SSD, where the VMs go, and where I also have a scratch VMDK (virtual disk) for one of the VMs
- Bays 2/3/4 have WD Red drives, which are passed through to one of the VMs as RDM (Raw Device Mappings)

 

[DJMK4]

I use it because it allows me to set-up multiple environments

I installed/Boot from USB, so it leaves the entire drives available for the datastores, its just much easier to spin up a VM and configure than traditional non-virtualization methods, and your getting more out of your physical hardware.

Example, I have a main MS Server 2012 for jump box/file storage/access in to environment

Ubuntu Server running multiple instances of test webservers (for below)

2 x F5 Virtual Edition VM's running for F5 load balancing (which traffic traverses to the webservers above)

GNS3 Ubuntu set-up.

plus more VMs

In terms of installing ESX just for "nas or media server" I found its generally because "next week oh I may want to setup this, or that" with a virtual environment you have this option.

 

[PiKe]

I did some more reading into virtualising storage for ESXi through FreeNAS and using direct i/o, I undersatnd the main reason for doing it like this is redundancy and protection against corruption, but is ZFS really better than having a hardware RAID solution? The page I was reading last night actually suggested flashing an LSI sas card to IT mode so you can just use JBOD and have FreeNAS deal with the ZFS and fault tolerance?

Is it not akin to reinventing the wheel?