havast Posted June 9, 2018 Share #1 Posted June 9, 2018 Hope someone can help me how can i add virtual SSD for cache to DSM.. My setup is: Gen8 Microserver ESXI 6.7 Jun 1.02b loader DS3617xs 16GB MicroSD (ESXI installation) 250GB SSD (50 Virtual disk to Syno, another 100 to Windows Server) 120GB SSD (host swap, i would create 2x20GB virtual SSD to this drive) 2TB HDD (1.5TB virtual HDD to Synology, what i would cache with 1*20GB virtual SSD) 4TB HDD (3.5TB virtual HDD to Synology, what i would cache with the another 1x20GB virtual SSD) Syno VM config: loader, 50mb as virtual SCSI device, virtual disks as SATA drives. Loader working in barmemetal mode, i cant see the 50mb loader disk, SATA mapping is good, everything is fine, it's upgrading good, no errors so far. Just i can't add drives to the VM as SSD, the DSM recognize all drives as vmware virtual HDD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 benok Posted June 18, 2018 Share #2 Posted June 18, 2018 (edited) As far as I know, virtual SSD can't be used as SSD cache. In my experience, SSD cache can only be used with pass-through-ing host SATA I/F and SSDs. If you tried with success, please post about that. BTW, My recommended configuration for ESXi system is following. In the following config, whole system is hosted with SSD cache & (almost) all drives are managed by DSM. It performs well and notifies me on any disk troubles. I'm satisfied with this configuration. (I think) It's not so complex, but has enough performance & good flexibility. I hope this helps. My recommended XPEnology based configuration of ESXi system: boot ESXi from USB drive (as you do) Add 1 disk for VMFS datastore (& use it's disk inteface directly for ESXi). (this datastore is just for booting "Host DSM" VM) (*1) Make 1 XPEnology VM as "Host DSM" VM and pass through All disk interfaces (other than above one) to the VM. (This VM is used only for ESXi datastore & ESXi host.) Add all other HDDs / SSDs to make XPEnology VM & setup SSD cache & format disk group with ext4 (for VM performance). Create share folder for ESXi datastore using nfs export (better for performance & good maintainability with SMB access. you can add SMB access for direct maintenance of the datastore from client PCs.) Add that nfs exported datastore from ESXi Add your own VMs on that datastore (*2) Add Another XPEnology VM ("User DSM" VM) with thick provisioned vmdk, formatting with btrfs (for usual file sharing, etc.). Add users & apps only on "User DSM". (*3) *1) If you don't use USB sharing for VM, you can use USB disk for this datastore, perhaps. *2) I can also add Windows/MacOS Desktop VM with pass-through-ing GPU and USB. (Choose ESXi 6.0 for hosting mac. You can still use vCenter 6.5 or later.) *3) The only I wish but I can't is H/W encoding with DSM6.1 + DS916 VM. (Perhaps, you have to pass-through host's iGPU. I don't have such iGPU system.) Edited June 18, 2018 by benok 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 havast Posted June 18, 2018 Author Share #3 Posted June 18, 2018 Thanks for the answer. But I'm using only 2TB-4TB HDDs, and if i want to use cache with pass-through, i have to use one SSD/HDD. As i experienced before, the DSM used only max 20GB cache for one HDD, so a 120GB SSD could cache 3-4 HDDs.. I don't have place in my server to use 1SSD/HDD for caching :/ Tapatalkkal küldve az én SM-N950F eszközömről Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 benok Posted June 19, 2018 Share #4 Posted June 19, 2018 I don't know such limitation exists. Is there before 5.2 ? I used 240gb x2 SSD for read/write cache for 3TBx4 RAID5 for around 2 years ? since DSM5.2. Last year I upgraded to another system with 1TB x2 cache and it also works fine. I think you should check the recent document again. It almost only says about the memory requirements. https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/DSM/help/DSM/StorageManager/genericssdcache DSM caches frequently used random access area automatically within the cache size. (I also recommend not to enable sequential cache, as document says. It just works fast only for a while.) Optimal cache size depends on your workload. I'm using 10-15 VMs constantly, but my cache usage is just 45%. (Before upgrade, cache usage was very high. I can't recall the real number.) My SSD cache seems to be over spec for my current workload. If we can use Virtual SSD for SSD cache, we could share SSD for cache and datastore, but I think it's not so good both for complexity & performance loss. I didn't have investigated, but I guess virtual SSD don't have required command for SSD cache or returns bad response for some command, and DSM refused VSSD. You should log in to console via ssh and check logs around enabling SSD cache. We might get work with flag tweak around VSSD, if such flags exists... I don't have good idea for small factor server like your HP Gen8. I built my system with mid-tower PC case as I wanted to use it as both for workstation & server. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 codedmind Posted January 31, 2019 Share #5 Posted January 31, 2019 (edited) On 6/18/2018 at 8:18 AM, benok said: As far as I know, virtual SSD can't be used as SSD cache. In my experience, SSD cache can only be used with pass-through-ing host SATA I/F and SSDs. If you tried with success, please post about that. BTW, My recommended configuration for ESXi system is following. In the following config, whole system is hosted with SSD cache & (almost) all drives are managed by DSM. It performs well and notifies me on any disk troubles. I'm satisfied with this configuration. (I think) It's not so complex, but has enough performance & good flexibility. I hope this helps. My recommended XPEnology based configuration of ESXi system: boot ESXi from USB drive (as you do) Add 1 disk for VMFS datastore (& use it's disk inteface directly for ESXi). (this datastore is just for booting "Host DSM" VM) (*1) Make 1 XPEnology VM as "Host DSM" VM and pass through All disk interfaces (other than above one) to the VM. (This VM is used only for ESXi datastore & ESXi host.) Add all other HDDs / SSDs to make XPEnology VM & setup SSD cache & format disk group with ext4 (for VM performance). Create share folder for ESXi datastore using nfs export (better for performance & good maintainability with SMB access. you can add SMB access for direct maintenance of the datastore from client PCs.) Add that nfs exported datastore from ESXi Add your own VMs on that datastore (*2) Add Another XPEnology VM ("User DSM" VM) with thick provisioned vmdk, formatting with btrfs (for usual file sharing, etc.). Add users & apps only on "User DSM". (*3) *1) If you don't use USB sharing for VM, you can use USB disk for this datastore, perhaps. *2) I can also add Windows/MacOS Desktop VM with pass-through-ing GPU and USB. (Choose ESXi 6.0 for hosting mac. You can still use vCenter 6.5 or later.) *3) The only I wish but I can't is H/W encoding with DSM6.1 + DS916 VM. (Perhaps, you have to pass-through host's iGPU. I don't have such iGPU system.) @benok can you please explain a little further... i don't understand what are you suggest... but it sounds good.... (performance i like performance :p) after point two i get brain damage 😛 I have a micro gen8 with lsi, i boot from sdcard esxi Have a ssd that is the datatore in the odd sata port and then have two 4TB disk on lsi passthroug to synology vm... the performance is good compared with hp raid controller but isnt the best... Edited January 31, 2019 by codedmind , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 codedmind Posted February 6, 2019 Share #6 Posted February 6, 2019 Anyone? I'm still having issues, for instance i cannot see a tv show (720p) in kodi if the library start to update... the show freezes. The kodi is running over wifi 5G so cannot be network issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bearcat Posted February 6, 2019 Share #7 Posted February 6, 2019 @codedmind Is your kodi client running inside the same VM as your NAS, or is it a separate client (if so, what is it)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 codedmind Posted February 6, 2019 Share #8 Posted February 6, 2019 @bearcat is a mi box, android tv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bearcat Posted February 6, 2019 Share #9 Posted February 6, 2019 @codedmind Then, I would blame your mi box for the freezes, as it has nothing to do with your NAS. (or Any library update will make your client scan files on the NAS and update it's local database, scraping for meta data etc. Configure Kodi to only update library when idle. btw: do you access the shares from Kodi using SMB or NFS? (NFS would be the better choice IMHO) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 codedmind Posted February 6, 2019 Share #10 Posted February 6, 2019 Via NFS... I don't know if your are correct as esxi reports high latency in hard drives 😕 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bearcat Posted February 6, 2019 Share #11 Posted February 6, 2019 @codedmind You might do a test, and install Kodi on any computer you have, and compare how it behaves there. May I ask what other VM's you are running on your host, and how much RAM/what CPU it have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 codedmind Posted February 7, 2019 Share #12 Posted February 7, 2019 (edited) @bearcat i'm running microserver gen8 with xeon e3.1265 v2 and 16gb ram with esxi 6.7 booting from sdcard - I have a ssd 500gb in odd port 5 as esxi datastore, for two VMs (ubuntu server 8gbram and xpenology 2gbram) - I'm using a lsi1015 for the 4 drives to passtrought them to xpenology (where i have the tv shows shared via nfs) Edited February 7, 2019 by codedmind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Polanskiman Posted February 17, 2019 Share #13 Posted February 17, 2019 Was your question answered to your satisfaction @havast? For others hijacking the thread I suggest you open your own question. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Phong Nguyen Posted October 3, 2022 Share #14 Posted October 3, 2022 On 6/18/2018 at 2:18 PM, benok said: As far as I know, virtual SSD can't be used as SSD cache. In my experience, SSD cache can only be used with pass-through-ing host SATA I/F and SSDs. If you tried with success, please post about that. BTW, My recommended configuration for ESXi system is following. In the following config, whole system is hosted with SSD cache & (almost) all drives are managed by DSM. It performs well and notifies me on any disk troubles. I'm satisfied with this configuration. (I think) It's not so complex, but has enough performance & good flexibility. I hope this helps. My recommended XPEnology based configuration of ESXi system: boot ESXi from USB drive (as you do) Add 1 disk for VMFS datastore (& use it's disk inteface directly for ESXi). (this datastore is just for booting "Host DSM" VM) (*1) Make 1 XPEnology VM as "Host DSM" VM and pass through All disk interfaces (other than above one) to the VM. (This VM is used only for ESXi datastore & ESXi host.) Add all other HDDs / SSDs to make XPEnology VM & setup SSD cache & format disk group with ext4 (for VM performance). Create share folder for ESXi datastore using nfs export (better for performance & good maintainability with SMB access. you can add SMB access for direct maintenance of the datastore from client PCs.) Add that nfs exported datastore from ESXi Add your own VMs on that datastore (*2) Add Another XPEnology VM ("User DSM" VM) with thick provisioned vmdk, formatting with btrfs (for usual file sharing, etc.). Add users & apps only on "User DSM". (*3) *1) If you don't use USB sharing for VM, you can use USB disk for this datastore, perhaps. *2) I can also add Windows/MacOS Desktop VM with pass-through-ing GPU and USB. (Choose ESXi 6.0 for hosting mac. You can still use vCenter 6.5 or later.) *3) The only I wish but I can't is H/W encoding with DSM6.1 + DS916 VM. (Perhaps, you have to pass-through host's iGPU. I don't have such iGPU system.) You cannot increase storage pool on "User DSM" aka your main DSM later. And SSD cache in Synology is applied to some of their applications only as mentioned here: https://kb.synology.com/en-af/DSM/tutorial/What_are_Some_Considerations_for_Creating_SSD_Cache#:~:text=SSD cache is likely to,Synology Virtual Machine Manager Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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havast
Hope someone can help me how can i add virtual SSD for cache to DSM..
My setup is:
Gen8 Microserver
ESXI 6.7
Jun 1.02b loader
DS3617xs
16GB MicroSD (ESXI installation)
250GB SSD (50 Virtual disk to Syno, another 100 to Windows Server)
120GB SSD (host swap, i would create 2x20GB virtual SSD to this drive)
2TB HDD (1.5TB virtual HDD to Synology, what i would cache with 1*20GB virtual SSD)
4TB HDD (3.5TB virtual HDD to Synology, what i would cache with the another 1x20GB virtual SSD)
Syno VM config: loader, 50mb as virtual SCSI device, virtual disks as SATA drives.
Loader working in barmemetal mode, i cant see the 50mb loader disk, SATA mapping is good, everything is fine, it's upgrading good, no errors so far.
Just i can't add drives to the VM as SSD, the DSM recognize all drives as vmware virtual HDD.
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