> From: Saxon, Will [mailto:will.sa...@sage.com] > > In order to do this, you need to configure passthrough for the device at the > host level (host -> configuration -> hardware -> advanced settings). This
Awesome. :-) The only problem is that once a device is configured to pass-thru to the guest VM, then that device isn't available for the host anymore. So you have to have your boot disks on a separate controller from the primary storage disks that are pass-thru to the guest ZFS server. For a typical ... let's say dell server ... that could be a problem. The boot disks would need to hold ESXi plus a ZFS server and then you can pass-thru the primary hotswappable storage HBA to the ZFS guest. Then the ZFS guest can export its storage back to the ESXi host via NFS or iSCSI... So all the remaining VM's can be backed by ZFS. Of course you have to configure ESXi to boot the ZFS guest before any of the other guests. The problem is just the boot device. One option is to boot from a USB dongle, but that's unattractive for a lot of reasons. Another option would be a PCIe storage device, which isn't too bad an idea. Anyone using PXE to boot ESXi? Got any other suggestions? In a typical dell server, there is no place to put a disk, which isn't attached via the primary hotswappable storage HBA. I suppose you could use a 1U rackmount server with only 2 internal disks, and add a 2nd HBA with external storage tray, to use as pass-thru to the ZFS guest. _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
