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1

Hi All,

I'm relatively new to Linux and have only really messed with a base install of Mint on a VM. Been a windows man my whole life and looking to make the switch to Linux at home. I know it's a gamble, but I think it's probably worth it.

I have a home all-in-one server that I've just rebuilt. Server is currently used as NAS (standard shares) / HTPC. HDMI outputs directly to the main TV using on-board graphics.

Server specs are as follows;

CPU: i3-6100
Motherboard: MSI B150M PRO VDH
Memory: 8GB DDR4
SSD (Win 8.1 dedicated): 1x Samsung 850 Evo 250GB
Storage: 3x 2TB 3.5" Sata drives

I have been contemplating the best way to move all of my data to a Linux environment, reading numerous articles and this has led me to consider installing a hypervisor such as ESXi or ProxMox. This will allow me to build multiple VM's to cover different requirements (1x HTPC, 1x NAS, 1x Firewall/VPN, etc). The ability to power down and run up multiple machines without affecting others would be preferred.

I guess I'm not sure if this is the best way to go, and what kind of setup I should have.

Some of my questions;

  1. Which hypervisor is best? I have used ESXi at work, but it has its limitations. Proxmox looks neat, stable and well supported?
  2. Do I buy another 250gb SSD and then put both SSD's in a RAID configuration, and use this primarily as a VM datastore?
  3. Which NAS solution is best? freeNAS, OpenMediaVault or something else?
  4. Would the best RAID configuration for the NAS be a RAID 10? Does freeNAS / OpenMediaVault use something else?
  5. For the HTPC virtual machine, I want to pass-through the HDMI to this VM. Do I need a PCI graphics card or will the on-board work, and is this easy enough to configure?

Apologies for all the questions, but I am trying to be as organised as possible before I attempt an entirely new rebuild to a completely different operating system environment.

This is jumping in the deep end for me, but I'm hoping to learn a lot along the way.

Any feedback and suggestions would be great :)

Cheers!

S.

2

Don't do a Firewall and NAS in VMs on the same box.

It is way more prone to failure. That and BTRFS and ZFS (file system your NAS will most likely use) need hardware access to the drives to prevent data corruption.

Also ESXI and Proxmox don't have much of a GUI to run for the HTPC. They are more web administered. And you couldn't pass through the onboard graphics to the VM either it would require a standalone GPU.

3

I would save some budget and buy an NAS (Thecus or synology) or build one based on FreeNAS. And upgrade your currect box with an i5 or if possible an i7, maybe second hand from ebay or something. Then Use an 64 GB SSD or spare SSD you have as the Proxmox OS Drive and use the rest of the SSD for storage of your VM's Hard Drives.