Replacing NAS with VM host

My FreeNAS machine just died so I'm trying to come up with the cheapest possible way to replace it. It would be awesome to get an all in one solution for running a few VMs. I would need a firewall (pfSense), FreeNAS (or something that can import my old raidz) and 2 web servers (low load)

I've got these parts left over for a build:
ASUS P5Q Premium
Q6600
8GB RAM
LSI 9211-8i
4x 4TB WD Red

I'm not sure what hypervisor I should go with. I tried booting ESXi but NIC isn't supported. So I'm left with either Hyper-V, KVM or Xen I guess. Or maybe get a network card that is supported?

I can't do passthrough without vt-d right? What's the next best option for presenting those disks to a FreeNAS VM?

Or should I just scrap the whole idea and get a proper motherboard + CPU? I really don't want to invest more into this but if there is a cheap alternative that is easier then to mess with this old hardware I might consider it.

You can't do direct passthrough, but you can pass the drives through using RDM. I recommend esxi but you need much more than 8GB of RAM, IMO.

I was thinking 4GB to FreeNAS, 1 to each web server, 1 to pfSense and the rest for the hypervisor. It's pushing it but I think it will be fine.
Do you think I could run ESXi if I just get a supported NIC? Any recommendations on a supported card?

ESXi 5.5 no longer supports by default but you can still get the needed drivers from the VMware depot.

You'll need to allow httpClient on the host firewall:


Then run the following command from command line:


Then reboot the host for the drivers to be loaded. That should get the NICs online for you.

I couldn't even install ESXi 5.5. I think I'll have to pick up a NIC that is supported first. Found a TP-Link in a local store that is supposed to work so I'll get one of those after work.

Eiktyrner said:

I couldn't even install ESXi 5.5. I think I'll have to pick up a NIC that is supported first. Found a TP-Link in a local store that is supposed to work so I'll get one of those after work.

Click to expand...

You could do that or slipstream the drivers into the ESXi ISO using ESXi-Customizer.

I just built a new ESXi server to use for work to replace my old server. I'm using a new EVGA Hadron Air case with the EVGA Z87 Stinger mobo. When I tried to install ESXi 5.5 it said there were no network cards found or something like that. After some research I had to customize the installer using ESXi Customizer as mentioned above. After browsing the web I found I could use net-e1000e-2.3.2.x86_64vib which I downloaded and then added that to the iso. Once I burned a new iso disc I was installing in no time.

I am copying over media to the datastore now as I type this... looking forward to setting up my new VMs.

Considered using ESXi 5.1?

No hazzle with unsupported nics.

FreeNAS and pfSense should be no problem, what OS do you run the web servers on?

With ESXi 5.1, the install still won't recognize the Marvell ethernet drivers, you will have to enable the module - that being sky2. I had to put an Intel NIC in first just to get the OS laid down - otherwise you can customize the ISO as described above.


Also, it is recromended not to do FreeNAS as a VM because SMART Passthrough won't work if your using ZFS for RAID