Hi. for the last several month I have been trying to rebuild my home file server into a virtualization/file server setup. reason for taking this long was/is I can not find a decent management WebUI for it. and I had some issues with bad ram(bad EEC modules lead to data corruptions) and bad hard drives. (lost 2 3TB drives at the same time. possibly related to the ram issues) do to my use of BTRFS I have a limited choice of configurations I can use. as per general consensus I want a headless server with WebGUI management for all my needs. i.e. I like Webmin for my system management. this limits my CLI exposure over all. but I also would like to have a WebGUI for my VM management. this way with proper config I can truly manage the whole system even from outside the home. So far I have tried: Debian 8 / Proxmox 4 Beta Debian 8 + webmin + several alternative web panels Several CentOS 7 configurations using Webmin, Cloudmin , kimchi . I have tried to setup oVirt(self hosted engine), WebVirtManager, spacewalk and some other webUI I came across but not very successfully. as it may, I figured I should try cloudmin/webmin again as I think some of the issues I had before might have been do to my RAM/HDD problems. so my needs are: Build out a single home server to host 4-5 VMs one of which will be a File server. All data storage will be hosted on the same server and provisioned via local mapping or NFS or even full pass-through to the File Server VM All Clients access to data storage will be managed vi File Server VM. NO Client (Physical or VM ) connect directly to the data stores on the main host server. basic data access schema should be : [HOST] "the physical server I am setting all up on" |_ {System Drive} -- no access by anyone |_ {Data Drive(s) Pools} --- > shared via NFS or Local Folder or pass-through to {File Server VM} | | _ {[File Server VM]} | _ {[Data Colection VM ]} --> will run a Ubuntu or CentOS7 with a WebUI managed Torrent client(Trnasmition or druple) a coach potato+sick beard + SubNZB or alike. a low resource VM as it will not be running a lot. I so not download much this days but some times need to so want a running environment for that | _ {[SAS training ]} --> special VM for SAS training for my wife | | _ [HTPC] --> a physical HTPC running Kodi. may add a second one later. it will stream the media from the file server via NFS or SAMBA | | _ ==> several physical system throughout the household to access the storage pools for personal and shared files as well as backups. so my question(s) as folow: 1. what would be the best base OS for my main host server? as it stands now I can go with CentOS 7 or Ubuntu or Debian 8 2. how should I setup my networking? I have 4 NICs but I do not really need this many interfaces on one server. considering I also have IPMI for local administration should I use teaming/bonding and transform 2 interface to 2 interface with redundancy like setup? what is the best way to do that? a NIC Bond? a NIC Team? a simple Linux Bridge on 2 interfaces? please point me to the good how-to for that. I may not be a guru or even close, but I am good at follow directions. 3. please suggest a proper way to setup users on any/all systems for this to work properly. as it is now I use same user with different passwords on all system I have I also thinking to run a DNS server on the host to provide local name resolution for all machines but not sure how to tie this in with my router from optimum. as it stands now when I am done with this setup, the next step is to build out a custom unit to replace my soho router. once that is in place I will run a DNS server there instead. my hardware is as follows: CPU: Dual Socket AMD Opteron Hex Core 2431 @ 2.4Ghz for total of 2 CPU (12 cores) Motherboard: Supermicro H8DME-2 BIOS v3.5 (latest) with IPMI Chassis: Supermicro SC846 24 Bay chassis HDDs: System Drive : 240GB SSD (this was just added in. it seams abit over kill to use it for system setup only but I have it already so why not) Data Drive(s) : 2x 1TB Seagate barracuda GPT + single BTRFS partition (eather using as separate BTRFS RAID1 pool or add to the priamry data pool below ) 1x3TB Seagate + 4 x 2TB Seagate Barracuda LP ALL GPT + single BTRFS partition each, in a RAID1 BTRFS storage pool also have : 1x 400GB WD for system and maybe couple of other 1TB and 2TB drives laying around that I might just drop in later. RAM: 49GB DDR2 PC-5300f @ 667mHz ECC Network : built in 2 x nVidia MPC55 NICs and 2 x additional ports on an Intel Pro add-on card Add-in Cards: 3 x SAT2-MV8 HBA cards , 1 x Intel Pro Dual port PCI-e NIC Power Supply: Single ATX Silencer 760 Watt ATX Power Supply
So your scope is: virtualization/file server setup, with WebUI or way to remote control and ease of use without headaches Not sure why the RAM issues, but you can implement complex policy in place, ease of user control, web, ease of VM, server that you can host sites as well, host vpn, client, and server vpn, with remote backup if needed or even play music or host media files to be served to your smart tv or phones, or even hook up surveillance equipment and record stream and have all them bells and whistles than you need. The only thing that won't do is cappuccinos. What you have described to me is a QNAP or Synology machine. People want to tinker and get all them options on a home-brew machine that sometimes cannot be archived without major hacks, addons and well long story short, life is too short to get lost in the details or hacks.
well RAM issues where just what it says, I had a bad ram chip in the machine which caused a lot of memory errors. I also had a hard drive failure, the physical failed drive. all at relatively the same time. so many of my issues I might be able to attribute to that failure. as for what I want to do, you right it does look like QNAP or Synology ,but I already have the hardware, why not use it. both the QNAP and Synology are expensive options that I do not have.
You could use it for something else, but I could have been in the same boat as you are. I have several desktops in my garage, or eMachines that I could have turned and to FreeNAS, or web servers, or firewalls and such but after much experience from the past I can truly say at least for me that is not worth the time and the headache to maintain Linux distros, packages software updates, hiccups and issues 1 upgrading or updating. Time is too precious to mess around and tinker, when there is something out there that can actually do everything plus more for now in the future. I have couple of Super Micro 1u and 4u, but I'm not ready to turn my garage into a data center and the power consumption on these are going to be 20 times more than what a small 2 Bay QNAP or Synology will use. If you check on eBay you could buy some of these for under $160 with no drives.
while I appreciate the discussion of good vs bad use and such this is not very productive. we all have our needs/wants and preferences. unlike many people out there I am shooting for more or less set it and forget it setup. I do not play with the setup much once it is up and running the way I want it to. I had run an unRaid server for 3 years without touching it too often. in 3 years I probably log in to it maybe 5 times (not counting the initial setup and configuration time.) and 3 of those times where because power failure to the house(needed to shut it down and power up when restored). the option you propose is good, but they are not as flexible as DIY solution for me. first of all, I have a mix of drives at hand, 1TB,2TB,3TB, couple of 400GB and 500GB. I want to use them untill they go and I need to replace them. Second, I already have the server built and setup in a rack. modded to use normal ATX PSU for silence and power saving options. I also have the data pool using BTRFS with data sitting and waiting to be plugged in into the server to shared. Third, the QNAP and Synology units on ebay are mostly 4 drive setup so it will be cost prohibitive to get the same storage I can get now with a mix of existing drives on this units and it will not give me the option I am seeking anyway as they have a rudimentary virtualization support using their own VM solutions. as a simple NAS this devices are great but anything more and I am better off with DYI. on my setup, if I want to run Plex server I can spin-up a small VM, load the Plex server on it and try it out. if I don't like it drop the vm and I am done. I want mythTV, same story. owncloud, see above. etc.. etc.. etc..
