I need a little guidance since I have read so many wiki,guides,propositions and I am still at zero in the matter of proper installation according to my needs
Still I am unable to decide which file system would be suitable for OS. Since I ll need your advice on that it would be wise to tell you my configuration. System is comprised of
2x intel xeon (12 cores, 24 threads) with 32gb for sure maybe 64 though if the budget allows it. 2x1gb nic onboard. Perc H310 controller is out, after reading the worst about it as performanceand lack of ssd trim support.
For storage i intent to use
-2x128gb (consumer ssd) for OS mirrored (but what is the point in using zfs when the vm’s, containers,backups,snapshots will be stored in another storage media. Do you think zfs would help somehow?)
-2x480gb (I ll try for 960, consumer ssd) for Vm’s and Containers mirrored
-2x480gb (possible again for 960gb) for backup and snapshots mirrored
The Os will be Win Serv2012 or 2016 with the role of DHCP, DNS, AD, SQL base 2014 (if I can recall) and 2-3 network printers (all these are already running on an ancient dual core x3130 xeon on a dell t300 or something - I m on vacation and forgot to take the notes with me).
Since a new ERP is going to be installed and I asked for a new SQL instance to work properly and a small win10 pc running 1-2 special services. Do you think that I should break the win serv in 2 or 3 vm’s for all the workload. O fcourse then it would be the extra cost of licenses (By the way in VM the licenses types are the same as for the bare metal server?) Best possible solution is to use Linux OS for DHCP,DNS,SQL but I haven’t done that in the past and that is beyond the scope of this post.
Since all the storage is going to be ssd what do you think about the filesystem in each of the above mirrored storage devices? I ve heard about trim isnt supported yet there is a read through something like that on zfs that makes trim not needed (still unsure about it ). Also even if Vm’s are on ssd’s do I really need ssd since the Vm’s are used for services only and not being used directly? Same goes for backup purposes. Will ther be some gains using ssd’s? It is going to be used a sas onboard intel controller(not in raid mode. I think there is an option that disabled raid yet I dont know if that makes the sas controller work in passthrough mode)
Why do you want to virtualize what one OS install can do?
Why would you run windows serve as a guest when its going to do all the work?
Why do you feel the need for SSD storage when you only have 1gb nics?
Why zfs?
It sure seems to me like and extremely complicated setup for a system that needs to just work™
tend to agree that you probably don’t need proxmox if the plan is a single use install, and windows server has hyper-V, which is excellent if you do need vms
Now to your questions.
Of course it seems odd to use virtualization for a single OS, probably a second one for ERP - they need some services running not from the win server for a reason (security maybe) but Its an opportunity for me to see other system configurations, and start with more easy tasks than have to install and configure multiple OS for different use reasons.
Also is the snapshots that makes proxmox except from freeware attractive.
Nics are 2x1gb truth is but the plan is to add a 10gb card and tansfer backups of data VM’s and Containers to a nas I have already assembled.
Last ZFS giving me nightmares (already have setup a demo server running proxmox but I am trying to figure out most of its functions before I transfer it to work) but has good error / bit rot correction without having to use hw raid controllers which fails have specific life time are getting very hot compromising the slot upon which they are installed and the whole system (even if others are running them for years I have examples of friends working at IT departments and having these controllers to ruin systems and data)
So now that you know why do you have a more specific answers for my issues above?
Sure but its not always what you need but what you want also. My intention is to have Win Server replaced by Debian installation taking care of AD, Dns, Dhcp, Sql Server and a bunch of network printers. Since I dont know how and going step by step I want to familiarize myself first and proceed accordingly,
fair enough. if you want debian, have you considered just using that as the hypervisor instead of proxmox so you don’t have to spin up multiple guests in tandem?
Yes but then I have to re invent the wheel since many of the automations proxmox has for VM’s, in a core Debian distribution needs to be reconfigured from scratch which means knowledge…since I am not a pro I would like the basic to be able to accomplish by GUI.