Enlighten my path, pls

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
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Hello there! this is my first post and my second week using Linux

I’m diving into virtual machines and servers for fun, and develop interesting new workflows for myself and friends.

I’ve decided to start with Proxmox. My idea its to run multiple vms and experiment with performance and ease of use. I’d love to read the experience of more advanced users and know if I’m setting the right objectives.
Vms im setting up:

  • Ubuntu server — media storage using next cloud
    (already working in LAN environment :confetti_ball: )
  • Pfsense — all around network administration
    (waiting for a network card to start playing with it a bit more)
  • Linux mint — render machine for blender
    (right now I’m fighting with the gpu pass though for the render machine)
    :stuck_out_tongue: some complicated stuff there.

Over all i’d love to hear suggestions regarding software recommendations, fun things to try out and learn along the process. Rn I’m getting some dedicated hardware to continue playing around, get testing a bit further and ask more questions

Thanks for reading and have a nice day :slight_smile:

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Hey welcome to the forums!

How many computer devices (excluding cellphones, tablets and laptops) do you have at home?

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Right now 2:

  • Laptop with a i7-4700k 16gb-Ram and a 1060 6gb
    (this its what im using to test distros, learn proxmox and server stuff)

  • Desktop tower ryzen5 1700, 32gb-Ram and a 3060ti
    (this its my work station, I cant play to much with it since my day job depends on it :stuck_out_tongue: )

But I’ve bought parts to build a custom server :stuck_out_tongue: nothing too fancy, i5 10400f, 16gb of ram and I’ll put an old 1070 I have here. it should be built by next week

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If you have HDDs to spare, I’m currently having a blast exploring what TrueNAS Scale can give me on my old PC (now converted into a NAS).

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TrueNAS sounds very intresting. I wanted to try out nextCloud since it has a very comfy interface but i’ll check out nass for sure.

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You can run Nextcloud as an app on top of TrueNAS with the all benefit of having ZFS underneath

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If a configuration that uses proxmox as the main OS I should run my raid directly in proxmox ore in the TrueNAS vm?

Thanks in advance

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I think you can do that but you have to be mindful of the VFIO passthrough. A cursory search of “SATA VFIO passthrough” seems to be having issues all over, so there is that.

You didnt really specify which mobo chipset you are using. People claim that B550 motherboard is bad for passthrough overall and you can have more luck with an X570 mobo.

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I will be using :

  • Gigabyte B560M Aorus S1200
  • 1x 16GB Corsair Vengance Lpx 3200mh
  • SSD M.2 Team 500GB 300MB/s
  • i5 10400F 4.3GHz
  • Psu BeQuiet! 600W
  • Asus strix 1070
  • 2x Kingston 240 A400 500MB/s

After setting up everything I’d like to add 2 nass drives

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First thought: If you want to play with virtualization, get more RAM. However much you think you need, just get more - in my experience that’s what you run out of first (compared to CPU/disk)

Just yesterday I put TrueNAS SCALE on a bit of leftover hardware at work, and it’s probably everything you want to start with: Debian Linux as a base, ZFS out of the box, Virtualisation with GPU pass-thru(I haven’t tested it, the box at work didn’t have something to pass through, but there’s a drop-down where you can select any un-used GFX Cards) and it will run things nextcloud right there in a docker container on the host if you just want a container.

TrueNAS CORE is FreeBSD based, which is nice, but not nearly as polished as Linux as a base.

If SCALE was this feature complete 18 months ago my personal NAS would have been running it instead of CORE.

I’d start with TrueNAS SCALE, but whatever you choose, put the ZFS directly on the disks. Hypervisors come and go, ZFS is forever.

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Noice, do you think i can run a pfsense vm in TrueNAS SCALE and secure my network too?
If that’s in the range of possibilities I’ll test it first when all the components arrive :stuck_out_tongue:

Time to get educated with Mr. Wendel about what zfs is What Is ZFS?: A Brief Primer - YouTube lul