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[SOLVED] Install on vmware ESXI


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Hi,

Thanks a lot for the idiot's guide !

Following it, i've been able to install dsm 4.2 ; everything works perfectly!

I created 2 RDM for my 2 physical HD's.

Using SCSI in paravirtual and HD as Mapped Raw LUN

Could you eventually confirm it's the best way?

 

On DSM, in Storage management, i see the 2 HD's without SMART :s

Does anyone knows a solution to allow SMART?

 

thanks in advance

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Hi folks

 

Thanks for all the effort that has gone into this project.

 

I've got the latest build installed under ESXi 5.1 but have noticed a couple of things which I'm unsure of;

 

Any modifications done via SSH (e.g. enabling ipkg) do not persist a reboot

All my Synology apps (e.g. Audio Station) do not persist a reboot

 

but...

 

The repository I added to install SABnzbd DID persist (in Package Center) but SABnzbd itself (nor any other apps) survived a reboot (instead showing as "Repair" in Package Center)

 

Am I missing something?

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I have followed this guide step by step (a LOT of times)... and I can connect to the web page but I get the following error:

 

No Hard Disk Found on DS3612xs.

 

The second disk is added as SCSI:0:0 and also tried adding a few more... no luck.

 

Has anyone else had this? I am running on ESXi 5.1 - Update 1.

 

Thanks

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I have followed this guide step by step (a LOT of times)... and I can connect to the web page but I get the following error:

 

No Hard Disk Found on DS3612xs.

 

The second disk is added as SCSI:0:0 and also tried adding a few more... no luck.

 

Has anyone else had this? I am running on ESXi 5.1 - Update 1.

 

Thanks

 

Yes - shut down the VM, go back into the settings and check (then double check) that the "SCSI Controller" is set to "Paravirtual" and not something else.

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Hi folks

 

Thanks for all the effort that has gone into this project.

 

I've got the latest build installed under ESXi 5.1 but have noticed a couple of things which I'm unsure of;

 

Any modifications done via SSH (e.g. enabling ipkg) do not persist a reboot

All my Synology apps (e.g. Audio Station) do not persist a reboot

 

but...

 

The repository I added to install SABnzbd DID persist (in Package Center) but SABnzbd itself (nor any other apps) survived a reboot (instead showing as "Repair" in Package Center)

 

Am I missing something?

 

Just done a clean install and things seem OK now. I'm a little concerned about why my storage drive disappeared (that's what caused all my apps and stuff to disappear). The drive was visible in DSM but there were no mounted volumes and it wanted to format the disk to create them...

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Hello,

thanks for your guidance.

I try to install dsm following your recommendations, but before you start the job, I would like to know if my hardware is compatible with your guide:

Dell Power Edge R710

cpu xeon 5550 x 2

32 gb ram

perc 6i

hd 6 x 2 TB sas raid 5

sd slot for future installation of embedded esxi

8 x Broadcom Nextreme II 5709.

I can follow step by step instructions, including "RDM VMDK Disk File Preparation"?

many thanks

for your help.

Beppe

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Details are also included about creating RDM VMDK disk images instead of VMFS based virtual disks.

Hello Tuatara,

thanks for your guide.

I try to install dsm following your recommendations, but before you start the job, I would like to know if my hardware is compatible with your guide:

Dell Power Edge R710

cpu xeon 5550 x 2

32 gb ram

perc 6i

hd 6 x 2 TB sas raid 5

sd slot for future installation of embedded esxi

8 x Broadcom Nextreme II 5709.

I can follow step by step instructions, including "RDM VMDK Disk File Preparation"?

many thanks

for your help.

Beppe

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Hi folks

 

Thanks for all the effort that has gone into this project.

 

I've got the latest build installed under ESXi 5.1 but have noticed a couple of things which I'm unsure of;

 

Any modifications done via SSH (e.g. enabling ipkg) do not persist a reboot

All my Synology apps (e.g. Audio Station) do not persist a reboot

 

but...

 

The repository I added to install SABnzbd DID persist (in Package Center) but SABnzbd itself (nor any other apps) survived a reboot (instead showing as "Repair" in Package Center)

 

Am I missing something?

 

Just done a clean install and things seem OK now. I'm a little concerned about why my storage drive disappeared (that's what caused all my apps and stuff to disappear). The drive was visible in DSM but there were no mounted volumes and it wanted to format the disk to create them...

 

 

Yes, I had the same problem! Everything was working fine... I shutdown DSM, booted it back up and suddenly everything had gone. All my apps wanted repairing and stuff...

 

The only thing I can thing of is DSM perhaps automatically updated or something. I am going to try reproducing this again. Otherwise I will be certainly concerned if this was to happen again! :smile:

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Thanks a lot for the idiot's guide !

Following it, i've been able to install dsm 4.2 ; everything works perfectly!

 

You're welcome. Glad it's been working for everyone. :grin:

 

I created 2 RDM for my 2 physical HD's.

Using SCSI in paravirtual and HD as Mapped Raw LUN

Could you eventually confirm it's the best way?

 

From my testing the difference between using a VMDirectPathIO mapped controller and a Paravirtual RDM is negligible. I was unable to find any real difference in performance, and would estimate the performance difference is under 1% - well within my experimental error in testing. Stick with RDM, since you can then use ANY disk controller supported under ESXi without any driver changes/additions required for the Synology. It would also be much more stable IMHO.

 

On DSM, in Storage management, i see the 2 HD's without SMART :s

Does anyone knows a solution to allow SMART?

 

Unfortunately this is the trade-off. The PVSCSI driver does not support SMART communications. If you absolutely need SMART, then you must go the VMDirectPathIO route and map your drives that way. But, since you're using RDM, you can easily switch between VMDirectPathIO and RDM for your datastores. Easy-as!

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The SCSI controller seems to always change to LSI Logic when the HDD is removed and re-added...

I think the documentation needs updating to reflect this.

 

Unfortunately this is a "known" bug ... something I just automatically do. It has something to do with adding the virtual hardware to the machine ... sometimes the virtualized drivers "stick", but sometimes they don't. No idea why. I guess I could add that into the "rev 2" of the Guide ... sometime.

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Any modifications done via SSH (e.g. enabling ipkg) do not persist a reboot

All my Synology apps (e.g. Audio Station) do not persist a reboot

 

Just done a clean install and things seem OK now.

 

I'm a little concerned about why my storage drive disappeared (that's what caused all my apps and stuff to disappear). The drive was visible in DSM but there were no mounted volumes and it wanted to format the disk to create them...

 

How did you shut down the VM or perform the reboot? Do you have the drives mapped as RDM or as VMDK? Depending on how you shut down the host (don't do it through vSphere!) there may be cached files which are not written to disk by the time the VM is powered off. Think of it as "pulling the power" on the machine.

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Details are also included about creating RDM VMDK disk images instead of VMFS based virtual disks.

Hello Tuatara,

thanks for your guide.

 

No worries ... glad it's helping.

 

I try to install dsm following your recommendations, but before you start the job, I would like to know if my hardware is compatible with your guide

 

If you can successfully install ESXi on the machine (USB keys are perfect for this), and all physical devices are recognized (CPU, RAM, Perc controller, etc.) then yes - you will be fine.

 

Making the RDM files - yes - just follow the instructions but substitute your drives obviously!

 

BTW: That would be one *kick-ass* machine! Not sure about the SD Slot, but you probably can map that to another VM through VMDirectPathIO.

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[

If you can successfully install ESXi on the machine (USB keys are perfect for this), and all physical devices are recognized (CPU, RAM, Perc controller, etc.) then yes - you will be fine.

 

Making the RDM files - yes - just follow the instructions but substitute your drives obviously!

 

BTW: That would be one *kick-ass* machine! Not sure about the SD Slot, but you probably can map that to another VM through VMDirectPathIO.

You can install ESXi to SD card (>=2GB) instead of USB. Its there specifically for embedded installs.

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If you can successfully install ESXi on the machine (USB keys are perfect for this) ...

Not sure about the SD Slot, but you probably can map that to another VM through VMDirectPathIO.

You can install ESXi to SD card (>=2GB) instead of USB. Its there specifically for embedded installs.

 

Learn something every day. I wasn't sure if ESXi supported SD cards - good to know!

 

P.S> I use these USB drives for all my ESXi installations. They're almost invisible, and you won't have anyone pulling them out accidentally.

Cruzer Fit™ USB Flash Drive (4Gb)

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Any modifications done via SSH (e.g. enabling ipkg) do not persist a reboot

All my Synology apps (e.g. Audio Station) do not persist a reboot

 

Just done a clean install and things seem OK now.

 

I'm a little concerned about why my storage drive disappeared (that's what caused all my apps and stuff to disappear). The drive was visible in DSM but there were no mounted volumes and it wanted to format the disk to create them...

 

How did you shut down the VM or perform the reboot? Do you have the drives mapped as RDM or as VMDK? Depending on how you shut down the host (don't do it through vSphere!) there may be cached files which are not written to disk by the time the VM is powered off. Think of it as "pulling the power" on the machine.

 

Hi

 

I shut rebooted using the option from the DSM desktop. I'm not sure how it happened but the VMDK had become "detached" from the guest so the reason all the stuff disappeared was the storage drive was no longer attached and there was no way to reattach it.

 

I've rebuilt the VM now, in preparation for installation on my new HP MicroServer, so hopefully this won't happen again. I know this is really "alpha" software at the moment, but I would have thought the intention is to get this as stable as a real Synology box (else there is no real point to the project is there?!) so that people can use this to manage their storage.

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From my testing the difference between using a VMDirectPathIO mapped controller and a Paravirtual RDM is negligible. I was unable to find any real difference in performance, and would estimate the performance difference is under 1% - well within my experimental error in testing. Stick with RDM, since you can then use ANY disk controller supported under ESXi without any driver changes/additions required for the Synology. It would also be much more stable IMHO.

 

On DSM, in Storage management, i see the 2 HD's without SMART :s

Does anyone knows a solution to allow SMART?

 

Unfortunately this is the trade-off. The PVSCSI driver does not support SMART communications. If you absolutely need SMART, then you must go the VMDirectPathIO route and map your drives that way. But, since you're using RDM, you can easily switch between VMDirectPathIO and RDM for your datastores. Easy-as!

 

Hi everyone and especially thanks to Tuatara!

 

So if i well understand, I should switch the RDM paravirtual to VMDirectPathIO - which shouldn't affect performances but will allow HDD to rest with SMART. And so reduce power consumption and hopefully extend their lifetime.

I'm a total newbie with ESXI and actually don't know how to do that...

 

first question: will all the settings and installed packages be running without having to reinstall everything if i switch to VMDirectPathIO ?

second question: would you have some documentation to share or would like to update your idiot's guide to help us setting that VMDirectPathIO?

 

BR,

Daiki

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Hope i'm not polluting this post with this! :

Has anyone tested or encountered problems with VPN Server with this DSM version on ESXI ?

I've tested it on a normal Synology (DS212) and DSM 4.1; worked immediately.

with the ESXI version, I always get a "communication interrupted by the server" (or something like that, on iphone)

 

Could it be related to the DSM on ESXI ?

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Hope i'm not polluting this post with this! :

Has anyone tested or encountered problems with VPN Server with this DSM version on ESXI ?

I've tested it on a normal Synology (DS212) and DSM 4.1; worked immediately.

with the ESXI version, I always get a "communication interrupted by the server" (or something like that, on iphone)

 

Could it be related to the DSM on ESXI ?

Apparently it's related to the DSM version 3202 - the newer version includes a patch Synology released

From the other posts:

http://xpenology.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=541

http://xpenology.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=842

 

would anyone have found a solution? Or know how to apply the patch?

 

@Tuatara : Have you planned to create a .pat with the newer version of DSM?

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Another issue with DSM on ESXI:

i have 5 USB HD that have to be connected to my DSM

 

i first added the usb devices from vSphere

no problem - they were all added

but- strange, the 4 i first added were set as SATASHARE in DSM

and the last one as a USBSHARE

 

ok why not ... but

 

if i unplug those HDD's and plug it back, they're all recognized as USBSHARE

 

then if i reboot the DSM, again as SATASHARE

 

and so on

 

The problem is that my Media Library indexes depend on those names

 

Anyone has the same issue or know a way to fix it?

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OK there is almost certainly a bug in this version where your storage device does not persist a reboot.

 

The VMDK is still attached but if you go into Storage Manager, there are no volumes.

 

I'm not sure what's happening for you, but the RDMs I'm using are all fine and survive reboots without any issues. Potentially there is something in your ESXi installation at issue. Are you using any 3rd party drivers on your ESXi whitebox? Anything special in your configuration or hardware?

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Hi everyone and especially thanks to Tuatara!

I only made the guide - others made the modifications, so thanks go to all who made it possible.

 

Unfortunately this is the trade-off. The PVSCSI driver does not support SMART communications. If you absolutely need SMART, then you must go the VMDirectPathIO route and map your drives that way. But, since you're using RDM, you can easily switch between VMDirectPathIO and RDM for your datastores. Easy-as!

 

So if i well understand, I should switch the RDM paravirtual to VMDirectPathIO - which shouldn't affect performances but will allow HDD to rest with SMART. And so reduce power consumption and hopefully extend their lifetime.

I'm a total newbie with ESXI and actually don't know how to do that...

 

If you absolutely need SMART, then you will need to go VMDirectPathIO. This requires VT-d extensions within ESXi, which permits you to map the physical hardware into the Virtual Machine. i.e. you map the physical PCI device into the VM Configuration.

 

AFAIK drive power-down is still handled by the PVSCSI driver, but I'm not sure though as I don't power them down - I'm using WD REDs (RAID/NAS Drives). If you use WD GREENs, they should auto-power down when not accessed and in that case you have no need for SMART - except to find out drive parameter status (lifetime) or temperature.

 

first question: will all the settings and installed packages be running without having to reinstall everything if i switch to VMDirectPathIO ?

Yes, because in both cases the Synology would see the Hard Drive as a physical hard drive (raw information) if you are using a RDM. If you're using a VMDK (Virtual Disk), then that sitting on top of the VMFS Filesystem like a single file would in a FAT, FAT32, NTFS, EXT3, EXT4, etc. filesystem, and that needs to be virtualised by ESXi.

 

So when switching from RDM to VMDirectPathIO - you still have the physical disk contents being exactly the same.

 

second question: would you have some documentation to share or would like to update your idiot's guide to help us setting that VMDirectPathIO?

 

If your ESXi supports PCI passthrough, then you'll have the option to assign PCI Cards to your VM. This requires a number of hardware devices to be compatible, (processor, motherboard, bios, pci card, etc.). If and only if all those are compatible, and the PCI card you want to pass through to the Synology is recognised by it (and it's hardware drivers), then you're good to go. I had to change out a fair few hardware controllers before I found one which was stable and worked in VMDirectPathIO mode. My advice, use RDM unless you really, really need SMART monitoring.

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@Tuatara : Have you planned to create a .pat with the newer version of DSM?

 

I didn't have anything to do with the original patches, but due to the nature of my work I am very interested in keeping the ESXi hardware virtualization of Synology DSM 4.x up to date and current. I'll have a look at jukolaut's work - some century when I have "free time" [what's that? :grin:] and see what is involved in updating the kernel/patches and making a new PAT file. No promises ... but being interested will keep this on the front of my 'To Do List'.

 

If anyone else is keen - AFAIK all the details are available on the site - for skillset - Linux kernel building, Binary Hex File editing, and some basic C code to stub out/handle driver calls ... and you should be good to go.

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