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What free NAS to use with ESXi? [ZFS, FreeNAS, XPEnology]

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ACL is not needed as long as you have a Windows box that can administer the shares (ie a account that has full access and control over all the shares). I only use the ACL for the initial setup of the top directories (like a Users, Movies, Pictures, etc), and then from Windows I administer all directories below those top directories.

You could also do the monthly ESXi dance with OI/Napp-it if you reaaaalllly need the paid extras. Just re-install OI/Napp-it from scratch and you get the paid options again for another 30 days. You would have to redo the network setup in OI, but your ZFS filesystem, directories, shares, iSCSI settings, etc, would all be there and easy to import.
 
I tried to map the shares with root access from my Windows box, but was unable to add users. When I try to add users, it only looks at the ZFS VM as the domain. I'm unable to add workgroup usernames (no domain).

I still would prefer to use ZFS as it would probably be the speediest thing for what I'm trying to do. Speed is important if I want my "server VM" doing all of these things I have planned for it to do.
 
Currently my ZFS all-in-one runs 5 VMs

ZFS File Server (4x4tb drives in a raid10, + 240Gb read cache)
win2k8 that maps drives to the ZFS server (as root) which runs mediacentermaster/utorrent. Also a domain controller
win2k8 that maps drives to the ZFS server (as root) which runs Plex Media Server. Also a domain controller
win2k3 WHS
Ubuntu

Other than the ZFS, all of the other VMs run off of the NFS shares back to the ZFS server, which is all 10Gb networking.

All of my media shares are open with guest read access to everything.

As stated previously, it may make sense to open a root share, then create folders and administer security settings (via windows) on those folders, then share them.
 
There's the champ!!

I tried to map the shares with root access from my Windows box, but was unable to add users. When I try to add users, it only looks at the ZFS VM as the domain. I'm unable to add workgroup usernames (no domain).

For example, ZFS VM called "ZFS-Godman", it only sees ZFS-Godman\root as a user. I'm unable to add computername\Garo as a user, or just "Garo"...

How do you map as NFS and get the 10gig speed? I'm also unable to enable the NFS service. It just keeps saying offline in both server and client (not sure what "client" is for in the admin interface).
 
You need to add users in Napp-It. Use the exact same username/password that you are using on the Windows boxes. Although it may be a pita, it's best that every Windows user on your network have a password setup with their username on their machine, if you don't have that setup already in your home network.

Goto the User tab in Napp-it, then ++add local user. Again, just use the same username/password that you use for your Windows login. That's all you need to do to add users to Napp-it and to make ACL work easily.
 
You need to add users in Napp-It. Use the exact same username/password that you are using on the Windows boxes. Although it may be a pita, it's best that every Windows user on your network have a password setup with their username on their machine, if you don't have that setup already in your home network.

Goto the User tab in Napp-it, then ++add local user. Again, just use the same username/password that you use for your Windows login. That's all you need to do to add users to Napp-it and to make ACL work easily.

That's my problem. It won't allow me since I don't have the ACL extension, which is why I resurrected this thread. =/ I would pay for a license, but it's only for one year, and I'd want it indefinitely... if I pay indefinitely, it's $300!!!
 
If you are willing to give it another try, just destroy the VM and reinstall the OS/Napp-it. Then just import the ZFS pool in Napp-it. You'll be back to a fresh Napp-it install with full 30 day trial.
 
If you are willing to give it another try, just destroy the VM and reinstall the OS/Napp-it. Then just import the ZFS pool in Napp-it. You'll be back to a fresh Napp-it install with full 30 day trial.

Looks like that's probably the best option. How do I import? Do I have to do an export?
Laugh first, then reply. ;)
 
You shouldn't need to export at all, as long as the drives/hardware used for the ZFS pool are separate from the VM. You did install the OS/Napp-it on it's own dedicated virtual drive, separate from the ZFS drives, right?

I believe with OpenIndiana, you can do a fresh install on the same virtual drive and choose to wipe it clean. This way, nothing is leftover from the previous install so you can get the 30-day trial again in Napp-it. Just go through the whole install and setup as you previously did (except you do not add drives to create a ZFS pool). Once you get Napp-it running and your network setup, goto 'Pool' and choose the 'Import' option in the drop down menu. The good thing about ZFS, is that all your ACL settings and iSCSI shares (if you had any) would also be present, as well as all your files you had on the ZFS pool.
 
Correct, you can spin down the VM, reinstall OS, and import. You won't even need to do a -f (force) for the import. You should be able to add solaris users manually then setup their share privileges, instead of doing it through napp-it
 
I rebuilt it (I used the all-in-one).
Import was a breeze. The good news is this time the NFS server is showing online (and I didn't even change anything). I wonder why it wasn't working before.

I did get one error during the import that one of the shares failed on the SMB share, but I'm still able to map it via root from Windows 7.

C-dub, how do I leverage NFS now?
I want one of my VMs to have direct access via NFS to a share, and that same share then be accessible to Windows machines. I may be doing encoding/decoding from a VM, so I want fast access, and then the Windows boxes would access the same share for the data.
 
NFS is best for ESXi access to VM's virtual disks. Just stick with Samba for sharing directories between all your machines.
 
I want one of my VMs to have direct access via NFS to a share, and that same share then be accessible to Windows machines. I may be doing encoding/decoding from a VM, so I want fast access, and then the Windows boxes would access the same share for the data.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...tructions-(complete)?highlight=cw823+zfs+esxi

cw823 said:
Mount the NFS share in ESXi. Given my pool name, ip address, and filesystem name above....
in ESXi click on "configuration" tab, and "Storage"
Click on "Add Storage"
Choose "Network File System"
Server: 192.168.7.x (this is your nas ip on the separate private network for NFS)
Folder: ZFS1/ESXi (this is caps sensitive)
Datastore Name: whatever you want. Mine is NASESXi
Next
your datastore should show up now in the list, and you can start building VMs and storing them on your NAS through ESXi.

One box, high performance, many servers!

Other tweaks:
"ipadm set-prop -p max_buf=4194304 tcp"
"ipadm set-prop -p send_buf=1048576 tcp"
"ipadm set-prop -p recv_buf=1048576 tcp"

Other notes:
Do NOT do the "upgrade virtual hardware" option if you right-click a VM. This will make it impossible to change settings in the vSphere Client, you will have to use VMware Workstation 10 (limited functionality) or vcenter server (not free)

http://blog.cyberexplorer.me/2013/03...hroughput.html
 
LOL, now we're talkin'.
My mistake was the case sensitivity. I should have known. I spent 2 hours one day having issues with a security camera unable to connect to an FTP server b/c of case sensitivity on the user account.

I get an initial burst of over 650mb/sec to write from the SSD datastore to the RaidZ2 (6 disk) via NFS... eventually settles around 67mb/sec. That's over double the speed at its MINIMUM. Reading from it was less of a burst, but a higher minimum. These are just preliminary Windows copy benchmarks... not real, but good enough to show me how great it works.

Now I'm going to install the add-on for the NFS service on Windows 7. It doesn't come with Pro.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=2391
The download is mucho slow!
 
I'm still not sure why you want to setup NFS on your Windows boxes, when Samba is more then adequate enough, and much simpler to setup and use. Samba is also universal, as you already have found out, even Windows doesn't have a built in NFS client.
 
I'm still not sure why you want to setup NFS on your Windows boxes, when Samba is more then adequate enough, and much simpler to setup and use. Samba is also universal, as you already have found out, even Windows doesn't have a built in NFS client.


Agreed, I only use NFS for the shares that I present to ESXi. Everything else, even the internal VMs that map drives to the ZFS VM, are using Samba. And if you have an SSD as write log on your ZFS box, you should see 100-200+MB/s writes
 
Agreed, I only use NFS for the shares that I present to ESXi. Everything else, even the internal VMs that map drives to the ZFS VM, are using Samba. And if you have an SSD as write log on your ZFS box, you should see 100-200+MB/s writes

I may have to throw in an SSD for write, then.
Are you mapping your ZFS Samba shares to a Windows VM and then re-sharing? I'm still unable to map a drive letter as root and then add additional NTFS security permissions, even though I added users with the same username in ZFS. For example, "Garo" is a username I created in ZFS, and then "Garo" on workgroup on a Windows 7 machine mapped drive Z: as root... is unable to add "Garo" as another user on the Samba ZFS share.
 
I may have to throw in an SSD for write, then.
Are you mapping your ZFS Samba shares to a Windows VM and then re-sharing? I'm still unable to map a drive letter as root and then add additional NTFS security permissions, even though I added users with the same username in ZFS. For example, "Garo" is a username I created in ZFS, and then "Garo" on workgroup on a Windows 7 machine mapped drive Z: as root... is unable to add "Garo" as another user on the Samba ZFS share.

Does adding them to ZFS add them to samba? Let me take a look tonight at mine, I think I know where to look but don't have access to that box atm
 
Does adding them to ZFS add them to samba? Let me take a look tonight at mine, I think I know where to look but don't have access to that box atm

So because I don't have the ACL extension, I can't add users to the samba share. (I'm still within the 30-day eval, so I CAN create ZFS users).
I liked the idea you guys mentioned, and I'd tried it to no avail. That idea being, map a drive letter to the ZFS Samba share as ROOT, and then go into NTFS permissions and add the users you want in there. The samba share has share permissions to everyone, but NTFS locked down, so I figured all I needed to do was set NTFS perms via ROOT from Windows. No go. =/

Need I rely on a domain controller? I've never installed one... may be a good idea to start here, but I don't want that to have another dependency that slows me down another several months. It took me a damn year already to get back to this project, and next week I have some home improvement building to do in the house with my new 12" miter, so I'll be busy.
 
I'm scratching my head right now as I'm unsure exactly how you are trying to add in users and create the shares. As confusing as permission can be, it's pretty easy to setup what you need in Napp-It.

First: ALL user accounts must already exist on a Windows box. They should all have a login password set as well. (Actually, you can create the accounts in Windows afterward, but it just makes things easier if you already know who you have to add in.)

Second: Add in all users that you want to give access to in Napp-It via the 'User' menu. Use the '++add local user' link and add in the same exact username/password as you have on your Windows box.

Third: Goto 'ZFS Filesystems' menu. You will see your root ZFS directory (usually denoted with a (pool)). Go back to 'ZFS Filesystems' drop down menu and click 'Create'. Create another directory in your root. This will be your share(s) that other systems will access. For instance my setup is:

  • ZFS-Raid10 (pool) [the root]
  • >Shares
  • >VMs
  • >WHS
  • >iSCSI

Fourth: Go back to the 'ZFS Filesystems'. You will again see the Root directory with all the directories under root. You will also now see a "off" option under the SMB column. Whatever directories you want to share via Samba, make sure to click it and enable it. I only shared my 'Shares' directory via SMB, and all other directories below it is what I changed permission for via Windows.

Fifth: Goto ACL extensions and setup the permissions for each top directory as you see fit. This is where the user account information you added into Napp-It will be used to set permissions for each user account on each directory. In my case, I setup permissions for 'Shares' to allow my Windows account to have full control over it.

Fifth: After all that, you should now be able to view the shared directories, change their permissions, add more directories, etc, etc, etc, in Windows.
 
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