Other Discussions (Non-Vinyl Related) > The Lounge
Building a Linux based home server
BSD2000:
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I've avoided Linux most of my 30+ year career as a computer professional. Sure, I dabbled here and there, but for the first time I actually want to use it full-time for my home server.
Specifically, I'm looking to replace my Windows Home Server with a Linux distribution that will act as my own web accessible 'cloud' server, file server, web server, ftp server and anything else I throw at it.
To start, I'm using an older Intel Q8300 quad core (socket 775) with 4GB of RAM and roughly 15TB of hard drives. Right now, it's running Windows Home Server, which is basically a neutered version of Server 2003. WHS doesn't support advanced format drives, which is becoming a problem since all new drives are advanced format. WHS uses a JBOD system called Drive Extender which makes adding and removing drives to a drive pool a breeze.
On the plus side, WHS is extremely stable. It just sits there, happily doing it job for months at a time without a single issue. There are rare times when it reboots (after receiving an update), but for the most part, it's very reliable, stable and robust. Plus, the files are written using the standard NTFS file system - so in the event of a crash, you can pull any of the drives in the pool and read them using any Windows PC.
On the downside, WHS can be slow. Sometimes, excruciatingly slow; and sometimes it just ignores your requests while it happily sits there indexing files and looking for file system errors - things it should only do while idle, not when files are being requested. For example, I can be watching a movie and half way through, the server will slow to a crawl - forcing my home theater PC to stutter as the movie stream slows to a crawl. This is really unacceptable since the servers first priority should be to serve files!
So far, I've tested Ubuntu Server 12.04 and Amahi 7.1. I also downloaded the latest versions of Debian, CentOS and OpenSuse since those are the main distributions that are the most frequently mentioned for server use.
Tonight I plan on installing Debian, Suse and CentOS on a spare PC to put them through their paces. I could try them in a virtual environment, but since I want to setup drive pools using LVM, it's better to test it out on actual hardware.
As I go through this process, I'll post my thoughts and experiences along the way.
This could get very interesting! :)
lshin80:
Prepare yourself for warp speed ;D
BSD2000:
Ok, so far I'm not impressed. :(
While installing Debian, it stops to ask you to insert other install disks (there's 3) - but you can't because it locks the DVD drive door! How stupid is that? So, I disconnected the IDE DVD drive and started the install over using a USB DVD-RW drive. When it came time to insert the other disks - I used a paperclip to pop open the drawer so I could swap disks. This is a MAJOR bug and I just can't believe the developers released it like this. ::)
During the install of Debian, I selected web server, file server and database server. After the install completed, I logged in and tested the web server. It worked! So far, so good. But I couldn't test the MySQL database because myPhpAdmin wasn't installed. So, I went into the software installer and searched for myPhpAdmin - it was already selected; as if it was already installed. I checked the var/www and the myphpadmin folder was missing. I tried uninstalling it, then re-installing it - but that didn't work. The installer fails when it tries to configure everything. You end up with a window that won't close because the installer crashed. Clicking the 'X' doesn't do anything. >:(
So far, the only Linux distro that sort-of worked is Ubuntu Server. I got Apache, PHP, MySQL and Samba file server to install and work. I also got LVM installed for drive pools. At this point, it looks like I may end up going with Ubuntu...
CentOS is next to try out; hopefully that goes better than Debian.
lshin80:
:// Never heard of so much troubles with a Linux OS...Makes me think of an incompatibility issue with your hardware, especially considering to the locked DVD drive door.
BSD2000:
I'm trying dozens of distributions and the one that I'm currently messing with is Zentyal Small Business Server, which I believe is built on Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS. What I find interesting about it is the easy to use, custom web based interface and the integrated software packages. The interface is like webmin, but much more polished and integrated. Plus, you can add webmin on top to add even more control. Eventually, the server will be sitting in a corner running 'headless' so I need to control every aspect of the server remotely.
So far, it seems to do everything I need. It's compact, fast and works on my older hardware. I want to make sure I can get all the features I need up and running on a test server before I make the switch. One of the big tests will be how it handles drive pools and share volumes. I like the fact that it installs with a GUI desktop because I really hate doing everything from a CLI. :-[
I did mess with FreeNAS, which also worked, but it lacked many of the more advanced features I need and I didn't want to spend a week trying to manually install and configure stuff. ::)
So far, it looks like I'm leaning towards either Ubuntu Server or Zentyal. 8)
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