Hi @Jim, This is possible for us too, but with ZFS and ARC technology.
Read here: http://open-zfs.org/wiki/Performance_tuning (the principle is the same)
As long as the distribution knows about ZFS, then you can use ARC.
This should be I think, in the installation setup part of NS. After that part is done you do not need a UI too much to tweak the fs. parameters. You will not do to much to tweak the file system anyway because you can break it,
A UI is needed only to Add / Remove / mount and scrub pools, and manage snapshots. But only after you have set up the base system.
But this feature is a must have… When You look that there’s NAS project that have Squid Proxy (http://www.mynas.com.au/mynas-features/ ).
There’s other project like OpenMediaVault that have a Firewall management feature…( without GUI forProxy, install Squid is possible ).
It will not take a long time before have in the place a NAS with a full Firewall Features…
True. The best I have used is the disk utility in Ubuntu. It looks nice but its hard to find a few things. I do think it does a good job at keeping the user from breaking things and with a few tweaks I think it could be great for some one new to Linux.
You would think that would be the case but it seems that most in the server community are against it. When I have talked to professionals about it they tell me that firewall / networking and file storage should be done on different hardware due to security and storage failure reasons.
Yes, the right thing to do is separate the firewall from other servers…
But:
Nethserver is an all in one, so, why tolerate a firewall with an AD Server with shared folders… And not tolerate a firewall with NAS features!!! It’s absurd.
I agree!! As long as you have a good backup system an “All in one” solution is the way to go. If the firewall / routing is “jailed” or kept separated virtually or something (this part is a little beyond my expertise) than I don’t see how it could be a risk.
I also think that we have a great opportunity here, working with Linux, to accomplish any and everything we need with or without a GUI. I think in the mean time it would be great to see some well thought out and explained command line tutorials on how to achieve the same needs that we are asking to be added. Now I am not near skilled enough to fill that need but I am sure others in this community could rise to the occasion.
@SkintArtist, thanks for sharing your valuable thoughts (here and in other threads). Really appreciate it.
@alefattorini, some of the commands are common to other distributions and information is available with an Internet search, even thought, having it documented in one place will be less error prone and easier for users.
Commands that allow you to configure the same things as the user interface does (config setprop …) could be added to existing wiki guides. I had already though about that, but I’m not skilled enough to do it myself.
For other tasks still not covered by the wiki, we can create a FAQ, a Troubleshooting section, or extend the useful commands guides.
A troubleshooting section can also be part of each specific guide.
Also, some of those guides could be first a blog post that help spread the word. @stephdl has experience on that.
I was looking Distrowatch, and seeing that Nethserver isn’t in the top 100 anymore… but another project, Rockstor, younger than the nethserver project is.
I’m still thinking that the NAS feature could be a big step for Nethserver, for all little structures ( smaller than 10 computers ). That need a gateway and a share storage, without LDAP.
I agree with that. Especially I think that it must be easy to manage via GUI because that is mostly the advantage of specialized solutions. Mostly small environments don’t have IT-Experts that can use CLIs etc. with knowing what they do. It is just because they are the chosen one in that company with the most IT knowleged - and that doesn’t need to be very large.
I can agree with you guys @Hunv , I don’t know if things are changed with NethServer 7, in the meantime.
AFAIK Rockstor is based on CentOS 7 too, it would be interesting to figure out how they have addressed that feature.
Its been some time since I have posted, and have now used a few different NAS/Gateway OS’s. I think to really compete for users there are a few must haves, and I think this is one of them. All the NAS setups I have used in the last year have had some sort of GUI disk utility with Raid 0-5 setup and manage ability after installation.
The thing is that it really does not matter what everyone wants NethServer to become. Its that it must have the features to compete for users. Everyone is going to use and put time into what has the most features and does it the easiest/best. I think this is the where the “plugin” modal comes into play. If you are not in this category of user than you are going to just use a basic install of Linux and command line.
Bottom line its a must… and I think a well thought out plugin is the way to go.
I don’t do that process often enough to memorize, or want to memorize, it. In Windows, it’s a few simple clicks with no math required from the disk management tool.
Expanding a vm disk is frequent enough that this feature needed to be implemented a long time ago. Businesses often expand disks, and some MSPs will only charge for provisioned disk with easy growth ability. It’s conceivable that a NS box could be used to implement a lightweight NAS since the storage control is good enough. With @stephdl’s NFS implementation, it’s even compatible with vmware’s requirement for datastore access.
