4 replies to this topic

[donwieber]

Right now I have a seperate FreeNAS build with 6 2TB harddrives using ZFS Raid-Z2 and it works great but I was wondering if I should install Windows7, and then run a virtualized FreeNAS in VirtualBox?? I would like to use the PC as a Media Center and then FreeNAS with it's ability to have it's Raid-Z2 data protection. I have never used VirtualBox with pass-through to directly access the hard drive. Does it work good? Is it a good idea to run a NAS system virtualized? What other problems might I encounter?

Thanks

Don

[jcollison]

The one big drawback to virtual box is that it really doesn't have a native way to gracefully recover from an unexpected reboot. So you would always have to be watch at windows 7 box for uptime. Not a huge deal and there are hacks around it, but it's not the best "always on" solution because of this.

On the flip side, it's very easy to use. Average guy stuff for sure.

[jmwills]

Hyper V clients handle parent reboots very gracefully and will restart themselves to the previous state.

[ikon]

And, honestly, Hyper-V is not really hard to use.

[pcdoc]

I agree with ikon, If you have Server 2008R2 (or soon Windows 8 although not where I would run it), it is not much different or harder to run than Virtual box and is far more robust for a full time environment. I think it has allot to do with what you want to do. To answer your question, both will handle the pass through just fine.