Server for a Teen Community

[mrmarkuz (Markus Neuberger)]

Hi @DarkCorner ,

welcome to NethServer Community!

@DarkCorner

I only have a small server with an older ASrock FM2A85X with a dual-core AMD CPU, 16GB DDR3 RAM, 7 SATA ports, 1 SSD, and 4 WD 1TB HDDs.

What’s the size of the SSD?
NethServer 8 usually needs fast disks (at least SSD), see System requirements — NS8 documentation
HDDs for data volumes can be used additionally but it needs to be setup manually, see also NS8 Add storage path setting like in minio to other apps - #10 by davidep

@DarkCorner

As I mentioned, the Internet will always be disabled in the classroom, but the presence of a firewall will allow me to run a simulated In/Out protected access with VLANs and user group rights.

NS8 itself needs internet access to be able to pull the app packages.

@DarkCorner

I was thinking of installing OPNSense separately, but if it can be managed with an integrated firewall, my job would be easier.

The NS8 firewall is a basic protection for the services running on NS8 so I don’t think it will fit your needs.
There’s also NethSecurity, a separate firewall product that’s simple to setup (in comparison to opnsense), see Introduction — NethSecurity documentation

@DarkCorner

I’ve worked with SMEServer on CentOS in the past, but that was over 10 years ago.

NS8 has a different design, it’s a containerized application server using podman now, see also Introduction — NS8 documentation

@DarkCorner

I’d also appreciate advice on which apps to install.

@DarkCorner

So, I was thinking of implementing an “SMB” server that natively incorporates:

• folder management to simulate the sharing of files saved by students
• a mail and chat server to simulate communication between offices
• possibly a web server to simulate and manage internal documentation between departments.

• Install a Samba user domain including fileserver (enable “Provide file shares and authentication to Windows clients”), see User domains — NS8 documentation
• Install Mail, see Mail — NS8 documentation
• Install Ejabberd as chat server, see Ejabberd — NS8 documentation
• A multi-site web server based on Nginx is available, see WebServer — NS8 documentation. If you prefer Apache, there’s also ns8-lamp. As it is about documentation, you may also like Dokuwiki.

@DarkCorner

Although I have thirty years of experience with Debian and Ubuntu servers and CMS, I need something “out of the box” that only requires configuring services, users, folders, etc.

The apps can easily be installed via Software Center and configured in the Web UI (cluster-admin)

There’s also a Wordpress app if you need a CMS too.

If questions arise, feel free to ask.