I have ask some questions couple of years back, and since than I have been searching all over the place for a distro to help me setup my home server. so far have not found anything that would fully satisfy my needs/wants for the setup. so here I am again.
again, at the time the nethserver did not have support for some futures I want, specifically BTRFS ,but v7 does have it out of the bag so it is a huge plus for me.
the questions I have are :
#1. Does anyone run NethServer as a Virtualization server.
I know there is a build in support for KVM setup and WebVirtManager plugin is there as well. but does anyone useing it?
#2. if Q#1 is a “Yes” , can you do a passthrough to VM on this setup?
I am not sure if I need it just yet, but good to know if it is possible. also if you can help on how to do it properly.
Now does this seams doable and reasonable configuration ?
#3. if Q#1 and #2(optional) are “Yes” can I build a setup like so:
a. A nethserver on my hardware (I have a 24 bay superMicro with dual 6 core CPU and 49GB ram. 2 ssd and 6 or 8 hdds of various size )
I will install nethserver on raid1 SSD set
and all data will be on the btrfs raid10 pool
I will install the webVirtManager and File Server plugins.
I will setup a BTRFS pool (I know it have to be done manually and in CLI )
I will mount and create storage folders on the pool etc…
b. I want to install and setup webMin on Host to help with other management chores. I tested it and it seams to run and work just fine.
c. I want to setup an NFS share(s) on the host to provide an access to specific folders and data to VMs.
now the more difficult questions…
this server will be behind the firewall/router but I want/need to
a. provide access to the data from outside(internet)
and maybe a VPN config to be able to access the server for management.
what are my options and how to set this up properly?
b. how can I setup SMART monitoring, so it would alert me for any drives failure or possible failure?
c. what is the best way to setup an access to the server from outside the network(internet) ?
I am building out a SFF PC with Proxmox and pfSense for my firewall
where I will provide the forwarding and such, I can however switch to NethServer instead but i am not sure how to setup and manage the firewall and other things safely. I used pfSense before so it a bit easier but nothing stops me from making a second VM and try the nethServer, hence the Proxmox setup as opposed to bare metal.
what really appealing, for me, with NS is the support for BTRFS now, so I can easily have a Virtualization and file server on the host.
thanks for the kind words and help. Vlad