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Am I mad? Virtualize the lot!

  • 21-12-2015 12:37pm
    #1


    Very decent chance I'm looking for a camel for the price of a donkey, and so would be fine with people telling me so immediately if the case! I've already scratched the surface of the topic in the servers & systems forum.

    I am looking to build at least three machines, and potentially a NAS, however....

    I only want to build/buy one physical machine (p), and ideally spend less than £650 doing so!

    What I'd like to be able to get from the server (p)
    1. RDP
      most if not all access will be through RDP / VNC / logging in via the network (and internet through port forwarding). Ideally I can leave this headless and only connect to the tv screen for initial setup and once in a blue moon for trouble shooting.
    2. Lowish power
      If possible I'd rather not be spending 3 figures a month running it!
    3. Quiet
      Will be running away from the TV etc, but would not like something whirring like a helicopter when my missus logs in externally to do some gfx work.

    Required Machines (v) within my machine (p)
    1. Low weight Lubunutu setup for Python development, simple low requirements (easily virtualised)
    2. AutoCad / Drawing machine... This is where it gets complicated and my knowledge plummets to 0. Initial reading is that this will be absolutely pants as a virtual machine unless I passthrough a physical GFX card to it. Licencing etc potentially a nightmare! (probably a win machine, though potential to convince the missus of benefits of running draftsight in linux if it is far cheaper!)
    3. File Server - Not even sure that this necessarily needs to be a standalone virtual machine, though I like the idea of it. No problem using a simple Ubuntu Server VM for this and just running cifs/samba or something similar. Could also run FreeNas or similar. Serving the other VMs on the server, and also some kodi htpcs on the physical network.
    4. Windows VM for .Net development.
    5. VMs for dicking about with Linux distros / containers and other stuff.

    Currently my plan is to grab one of these standard enough servers*
    http://www.serversplus.com/servers/tower_servers/fujitsu_tower_servers/svfuj-t1311sx190
    • increasing the RAM to 32GB (with same RAM as already part)
    • adding a GFX card (to be chosen - I haven't a clue!)
    • adding a Samsung 850 EVO (already own) as the VM hard drives
    • adding a couple of 1TB drives (already have) for storage (potential to add some more at a later date)
    • installing a hypervisor to run it all from (probably ESXi but still to be chosen! - probably booting from thumbdrive so as not to waste a SATA)

    Simple questions.
    1. Am I mental to considering isolating each element of the home needs to it's own VM? Something 'feels' right to me about doing this, but I could be miles off!
    2. Is the passthrough to the AutoCad VM going to work? Be honest about the chances!
    3. Is AutoCad going to be ****e even with the passthrough?
    4. * Lenovo TS140, Fujitsu TX1310, Dell Poweredge T20 etc - Are these all basically the exact same?
    5. Is there a better way to spend this money to get a setup that matches the requirements? Wouldn't mind doing some building to learn a bit more hardware side stuff!

    So who can offer this free consultancy service for me that I'm clearly angling for? :pac:

    and tl;dr
    budget ~ £650/€1,000
    main purpose ~ file serving, development server, autocad server, plex server
    copy of windows ~ not yet (not part of budget)
    parts ~ EVO SSD, Storage drives (2.5 and 3.5)
    monitor ~ no
    peripherals ~ no
    overclocking ~ hopefully not
    payment ~ any
    purchasing ~ within next 8/10 weeks
    help building ~ am uk based so I'll be on my own if building!


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,048 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    How many VMs do you envisage running concurrently?

    How many cores would each guest OS require to run adequately considering the workload they would have to do?




  • How many VMs do you envisage running concurrently?

    How many cores would each guest OS require to run adequately considering the workload they would have to do?

    realistically, fileserver would be always on (but with low footprint / requirements).

    Development servers .Net / Python would probably be mutually exclusive (never on at same time).

    AutoCad Server an absolutely massive unknown.

    Heaviest use would be ~ FileServer & .Net Development & AutoCad VMs all being run concurrently.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,407 ✭✭✭✭justsomebloke


    ye, I would be steering well clear of trying to put autocad on it. Even if you get the graphics card to passthrough, autocad can still be very processor intensive which would basically kill all the other virtual machines as well as making it's own virtual server be dog slow




  • ye, I would be steering well clear of trying to put autocad on it. Even if you get the graphics card to passthrough, autocad can still be very processor intensive which would basically kill all the other virtual machines as well as making it's own virtual server be dog slow

    Was very worried that this would be the case.

    I have no knowledge whatsoever of the bottlenecks / requirements / quirks of AutoCads (and alternatives), and unfortunately neither does the user (artist and not a techie!) so it's tough to figure out what is/isn't' acceptable in terms of performance etc.

    I personally am not even certain that AutoCad is the correct software for her to be using, and could be massive massive overkill.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,498 ✭✭✭Lu Tze


    Was very worried that this would be the case.

    I have no knowledge whatsoever of the bottlenecks / requirements / quirks of AutoCads (and alternatives), and unfortunately neither does the user (artist and not a techie!) so it's tough to figure out what is/isn't' acceptable in terms of performance etc.

    I personally am not even certain that AutoCad is the correct software for her to be using, and could be massive massive overkill.

    What is she going to be using cad for?


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  • Lu Tze wrote: »
    What is she going to be using cad for?

    This certainly is the right question to ask, unfortunately I'm having trouble getting a clear answer myself!

    She works in retail design - shop layouts, fixtures and fittings etc.

    On a day-to-day basis, designing and working with planograms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planogram. This is a small part of the point of building the system.

    The job she is working towards uses AutoCAD and as such she is eager to get more familiar with it in her own time. The 'what' they use it for is almost totally a mystery to me at this stage.

    I can't imagine (though have no real basis for this other than the current -> prospective job path) that she requires more than a bog standard system for this, but as before she is not a techie and we're having some language issues trying to ascertain what exactly I'm trying to build for her! Was hoping to just Overkill it (within budget) and be safe that there is plenty of overhead, but it sounds like I'm going to have to figure out a way to define her needs far better before considering this now.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,498 ✭✭✭Lu Tze


    This certainly is the right question to ask, unfortunately I'm having trouble getting a clear answer myself!

    She works in retail design - shop layouts, fixtures and fittings etc.

    On a day-to-day basis, designing and working with planograms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planogram. This is a small part of the point of building the system.

    The job she is working towards uses AutoCAD and as such she is eager to get more familiar with it in her own time. The 'what' they use it for is almost totally a mystery to me at this stage.

    I can't imagine (though have no real basis for this other than the current -> prospective job path) that she requires more than a bog standard system for this, but as before she is not a techie and we're having some language issues trying to ascertain what exactly I'm trying to build for her! Was hoping to just Overkill it (within budget) and be safe that there is plenty of overhead, but it sounds like I'm going to have to figure out a way to define her needs far better before considering this now.

    Looks like 2d cad only. Which under normal uses isn't all that demanding, but would imagine there will be lots of textures and photos embedded for the planogram?

    Would recommend an minimum of 8Gbs of ram if that's the case. It's really only with 3d and rendering that autocad becomes very heavy on the processor. The graphics card shouldn't be of much benefit for 2d either. I don't think it brings that much to the table


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,307 ✭✭✭Xenoronin


    I would recommend dropping the autocad requirement. Everything else has a definite spec attached to it and you can build the server relatively cheaply. I'd advise a second physical machine for autocad just so it doesn't mess with everything else. It also allows you more freedom to upgrade should she move into 3D applications and rendering down the road. It will end up being more expensive probably but will probably save a lot of heartache down the road.




  • Hmmm, I'll conservatively park the cad machine (not drop it!) until I can get a better handle on the needs. Reducing hardware is a pretty big part of the plan here. I've just moved to a new place and there's significantly less space for 'stuff'! Realistically, the only physical change from not adding this machine to the mix is not requiring the GFX card from the outset...

    Anything else I've got above of concern? I'm not doing something stupid by virtualising a file server over just getting a dedicated NAS am I? Anything I'm not including that I need to consider.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    File servers aren't particularly intensive from a CPU or RAM persepctive, so no problem running it as a VM. The only minor thing is that because it's a NAS as far as the other boxes are concerned, you have a small amount of overhead (like tiny), in the data effectively looping back within the machine through the virtual switch.

    Plan your backup/recovery strategy on the file server properly. Your data storage virtual disks should at least be separated from the system disk. At least in a hardware NAS if your OS goes tits up, you can attach the disk to another machine to recover your data. If a virtual disk becomes corrupt, the data may be irretrievable.

    You are also functionally limited to Ethernet speeds between the file server and the other boxes, even though the discs live in the same hardware. That said, upgrading the virtual NICs to 10Gbps and bonding multiple interfaces is free (and easy) on a VM, and is neither free nor easy on a hardware network.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,048 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    While I can see the need for a Windows VM guest with the host OS Linux, I cannot see the benefit of other VMs.
    Your lightweight Linux would be very capable of doing file sharing/serving as well as Python development and be easily managed.

    Your Windows .Net VM might easily accommodate Autocad.

    A VM for testing other Linux distros could easily be accommodated also.
    It would have very little impact due to intermittent use.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,498 ✭✭✭Lu Tze


    Hmmm, I'll conservatively park the cad machine (not drop it!) until I can get a better handle on the needs. Reducing hardware is a pretty big part of the plan here. I've just moved to a new place and there's significantly less space for 'stuff'! Realistically, the only physical change from not adding this machine to the mix is not requiring the GFX card from the outset...

    Anything else I've got above of concern? I'm not doing something stupid by virtualising a file server over just getting a dedicated NAS am I? Anything I'm not including that I need to consider.

    Just another option is phanteks have a case that can accommodate both an itx and m-atx build inside. You could have the benefit of you low wattage file server and Linux distro on the itx and the heavy lifting (cad/vms) on the m-atx board, only on when needed reducing power requirements.




  • While I can see the need for a Windows VM guest with the host OS Linux, I cannot see the benefit of other VMs.
    Your lightweight Linux would be very capable of doing file sharing/serving as well as Python development and be easily managed.

    Your Windows .Net VM might easily accommodate Autocad.

    A VM for testing other Linux distros could easily be accommodated also.
    It would have very little impact due to intermittent use.

    Yeah I'm not at all certain about the compartmentalisation of aspects of the system, as I said, something just 'feels right' about having single usage machines (i.e a file server that does nothing else, a python dev bench that does nothing else) etc although I don't really have any strong reasoning behind this other than 'It feels like it makes sense'.

    I'm aware that there is a cost (overheads etc) to having standalone VM servers instead of just having a Linux/Windows split with 'big spec' do-it-all machines but I think that given that we're talking of <10Vms overall and probably no more than 4 ever running concurrently, on a pretty well specced homelab/home server it should be tolerable.

    I have been reading up on ProxMox and dockers / containers with LXC but am very early in my understanding of it as an alternative to several Linux VMs.

    Again, happy to be told I'm talking ****e!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,170 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Running an Unraid host on the bare metal, allowing it to be the file server and also hypervisor then plonking the other machines within it could end up with a really nice system.

    My concern is CPU horsepower, a deal on a second hand dual socket tower is probably the avenue I'd chase down.




  • Have almost no working knowledge of Unraid as a hypervisor. Do like that it integrates Dockers well (very useful for plex server etc - docker instead of VM) though.

    RE: CAD Build
    Had a 'test run' last night to get a handle on some of the CAD requirements. Installed draftsight, sketchup and maya on my laptop workstation (4 years old - 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6620G, A8-3500M ) and got her to log in from her laptop via team viewer and have a mess around trying to show normal usage.

    The laptop handled it absolutely fine, so am now far more comfortable about the CAD build as should be easy enough to give that machine more power than my laptop. As expected, they just kind of touch the edges of the capabilities of CAD and so though its a requirement, it's a very low demand requirement.

    Probably should have gone a step further and stuck it on a VM and got her to access that instead of the laptop directly to check, but can do that at some other stage before trigger gets pulled.

    Re: Dual socket / extra cores etc, there is the 'pre-loved' route available - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PC-Dell-Precision-T5500-Intel-Xeon-X5570-24GB-RAM-1TB-HDD-NVIDIA-Quadro-2000-/261942075232?hash=item3cfcf6df60:g:5WUAAOSwT5tWH79W




  • Some very decent dual socket boxes available at good prices here too

    http://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/dell-precision-t5500-configure/
    http://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/dell-precision-t7400-configure/

    Or a single socket Hex Core - http://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/lenovo-thinkstation-s20-/

    Taking a slight hit in Ghz for extra cores?

    Not too worried about the pre-loved state either. Am a little worried about power/noise from these options though.

    Any thoughts?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,181 ✭✭✭Serephucus


    The CPU in that server you linked to - an E3-1200 v3 - supports both VT-x and VT-d, so you should be able to pass a graphics card through to your AutoCAD VM without any issues, and it should perform pretty much normally. I can't say for certain as I've never done this though.

    Something that might be worth looking at is this video, where Linus runs two gaming PCs off one box, using UnRAID as the hypervisor. He passes a dedicated GPU through to each VM, and both of them end up playing Star Wars without issue.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJYMCbIbPk

    As to the compute power needed, or what's best value for money, I'll leave that to someone else. I haven't looked at the compute side of things in a very long time.
    It's almost never worth buying Quadros new though, as you pay a premium for what is usually a pretty average GeForce card with some better thermals and drivers. Most people buy GeForce cards and flash them. In recent generations though NVIDIA hasn't been implementing double precision on their GeForce line as much, so only some cards will work with this.

    As far as VMs, I'd tend to agree with you here. If you're going to be running a bunch of them, it makes sense to let each thing have its own one, or else what's the point of VMs? If they're not that intensive - file servers, for example - you can always stick them on LXLE or Puppy or something.

    The dual socket boards: They could be very nice. Handy to have extra cores to throw at things, generally speaking. As long as whatever you're putting them in has room for third-party coolers, the noise can be taken care of fairly easily. The only thing would obviously be physical size. I dunno how much of a concern for you that is.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,012 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    Those dual socket systems are relatively loud, pull a fair bit of power and usually involve 2nd CPU sets to add another cpu. I should know, my daily driver is a dual hex core z600.

    You seem to be of 2 minds about all this.

    Its either a low power, quiet, medium performance device or a beast of a workstation.
    What I'd like to be able to get from the server (p)
    1. RDP
      most if not all access will be through RDP / VNC / logging in via the network (and internet through port forwarding). Ideally I can leave this headless and only connect to the tv screen for initial setup and once in a blue moon for trouble shooting.
    2. Lowish power
      If possible I'd rather not be spending 3 figures a month running it!
    3. Quiet
      Will be running away from the TV etc, but would not like something whirring like a helicopter when my missus logs in externally to do some gfx work.

    When you involve RDP, the graphics card does nothing unless there is some sort of necessary floating point offload or the system is utilizing some specific tech.

    Required Machines (v) within my machine (p)
    1. Low weight Lubunutu setup for Python development, simple low requirements (easily virtualised)
    2. AutoCad / Drawing machine... This is where it gets complicated and my knowledge plummets to 0. Initial reading is that this will be absolutely pants as a virtual machine unless I passthrough a physical GFX card to it. Licencing etc potentially a nightmare! (probably a win machine, though potential to convince the missus of benefits of running draftsight in linux if it is far cheaper!)
    3. File Server - Not even sure that this necessarily needs to be a standalone virtual machine, though I like the idea of it. No problem using a simple Ubuntu Server VM for this and just running cifs/samba or something similar. Could also run FreeNas or similar. Serving the other VMs on the server, and also some kodi htpcs on the physical network.
    4. Windows VM for .Net development.
    5. VMs for dicking about with Linux distros / containers and other stuff.

    In reality most of that will run fine on a low end core I3 with 16gigs of ram and a SSD.




  • Definitely in two minds! Basically looking for the coverage and capacity of the larger spec machines but with the size and power usage of the smaller ones.

    Kind of a case of aiming too high and falling short will still end up with a better setup than I particularly need.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,578 ✭✭✭Slutmonkey57b


    Look at it this way; you need to run two separate tests:

    A software test of how usable you both find a "multi vm" solution to be. You won't know this unless you set up the main 4 or 5 uses into vm's.

    A hardware test of what the software needs in order to run. This is easier to assess, software makers tell you, and making the assumption "midrange specs = minimum spec performance in a VM" is probably reasonable.

    I'd load up autocad and a few other vm's on your spare laptop, and then you and the gf should both use some of your heavy duty scenarios concurrently.

    Ssd's and ram are your friends where vm's are concerned, obviously.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,012 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    I'd load up autocad and a few other vm's on your spare laptop, and then you and the gf should both use some of your heavy duty scenarios concurrently.

    Why bother. The odds of each VM doing anything significant at once is slim and none.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 114 ✭✭ponzook


    Xeon and 32GB of ram do? Will you have more than one vm in use at once maxing out a core and ram at one time? Not giving enough information really.

    File sever will use feck all resources and a .net development machine and autocad machine can give 2 cores each and 12 gigs of ram, shud be plenty.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,578 ✭✭✭Slutmonkey57b


    Why bother. The odds of each VM doing anything significant at once is slim and none.

    Because he's proposing a server which will be used for two people to access simultaneously.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,381 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    Why bother. The odds of each VM doing anything significant at once is slim and none.

    Not when each VM is being simultaneously used by a different human operator, with a fileserver quietly chugging away in the background to boot. Its basically Two Users (and a NAS), One PC :p


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,012 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    Because he's proposing a server which will be used for two people to access simultaneously.
    Solitaire wrote: »
    Not when each VM is being simultaneously used by a different human operator, with a fileserver quietly chugging away in the background to boot. Its basically Two Users (and a NAS), One PC :p

    Its his whitebox, he will be aware of what others on it will be doing. Even if his development VM or her AutoCad VM start to utilize cpu it will have little effect on others if he only assigns 2-3 cores to each. That's the beautiful thing about virtualisation, he can controls what resources a max can use. And am modern day quad core with hyperthreading(or AMD sudo 8 core) is more than capable of handling multiple machines doing tasks.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,307 ✭✭✭Xenoronin


    I gotta say that watching that 1 CPU 2 Computers build by Linus made this seem a whole lot more realistic to me even with the restricted specs.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,170 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    7 games one PC (CPU) works, so this should be childs play ;)


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,381 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    ED E wrote: »
    7 games one PC (CPU) works, so this should be childs play ;)

    It worked courtesy of tens of thousands worth of server hardware including dual 14-core Xeon processors :P Whereas here even giving each user an i3 worth of power would entail a super-pricey i7 build :eek: Likely overkill, but still... :o


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,170 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Solitaire wrote: »
    It worked courtesy of tens of thousands worth of server hardware including dual 14-core Xeon processors :P Whereas here even giving each user an i3 worth of power would entail a super-pricey i7 build :eek: Likely overkill, but still... :o

    Obviously a 30K$ Canadian endeavor this is not, but as a "proof of concept" it was nice.

    Its tight, but should be doable *crosses fingers*


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  • Really appreciate the discussion guys, almost certainly questions I've not (but should have) considered!

    Any further thoughts on these parts of the puzzle?

    Intel Xeon vs AMD FX 8...
    Realistically, my current laptop, with its 4 year old CPU is more than powerful enough for 99.99999% of what I would want from the CPU (AMD A8-3500M).
    I've only ever really thought / read about using a Xeon (E3-v1226v3 most likely) but am very open to other options! Not sold on anything fully yet. Do I need additional cores?

    Off the Shelf Workstation server vs Case & Build
    One of Lenovo TS140, Fujitsu TX1310, Dell Poweredge T20 or would someone care to recommend a better option in terms of a mobo and case setup? Would be somewhat interested in the idea of getting my hands dirty and doing it myself if there were some tangible benefits (other than the learning experience!)

    DIY was suggested here previously

    Group VM - Name Purpose OS Always On? Ram Cores Storage
    Servers routServ router pfSense yes 512 1 8
    fileServ / dbServ files & databases Ubuntu Server yes 4096 2

    Desktop Environments pyLub python Dev Bench Lubuntu no 3072 2 12
    oCado Auto Cad / Drawing Windows 7 Pro no 8192 2
    netDev .Net Development Windows 7 Pro no 4096 2


    Anything I'm not talking/thinking about that's important too?

    Thanks


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,181 ✭✭✭Serephucus


    How in the world did you get that lovely sortable table?! :eek:

    As regards the build, I'd look at a 1230v3 as well. Very similar chip, but for €40-ish more, you get Hyperthreading, which would probably help you out.

    If you're using PFSense, will you need a NIC as well? I'd imagine you won't get very far having a router with 1-2 LAN ports.

    As for pre-builds, I have little experience with them. I recently specced out a dev server for the office, and AFAIK they ended up going with a Dell... PowerEdge something or other. They're nice because they have things like redundant PSUs and remote management, but they're not cheap, and probably more than what you need, to be honest.

    You can get most of what's on offer with DIY server boards too. ASRock does a bunch of them, all with IPMI, which lets you access the hardware over ethernet (inc. BIOS, power cycling, etc.) through a web UI.




  • For table formatting, use the 'head' tag in your table tags (use [] not {} ) - {TABLE=head}{/TABLE}

    --
    Lenovo TS140 Xeon E3-1226 v3 from ebuyer working out at only £225 after cashback!
    CPU alone costs almost that!
    http://www.ebuyer.com/670719-lenovo-thinkserver-ts140-xeon-e3-1226-v3-3-3ghz-tower-server-70a50022uk

    Only 4GB of RAM installed, so will need to pick up 32GBs from elsewhere to replace.
    Potentially here - http://www.cclonline.com/product/173722/KVR16LE11K4/32/Desktop-Memory/Kingston-ValueRAM-32GB-4x8GB-Memory-Kit-1600MHz-DDR3L-ECC-240-pin-DIMM-CL11-1-35V-Unbuffered-2R-X8-with-Thermal-Sensor/RAM2389/?siteID=8BacdVP0GFs-ms45roUloQkbv3G_236yRA

    --

    pfSense is there out of a interest / pipe dream of sorts. Could easily not actually be included in the build!

    Things like additional NICs etc I'm sure I've not thought out properly!




  • Forgot to come back and update this.

    I went for the TS140 from Serversplus in the end. 24db and 35w idle.

    It had Xeon V3-1226, 1TB plate and 4GB ECC unbuffered.
    I added in my own Samsung 850, another 1TB plate and got another 16gb EEC unbuffered, another NIC and an eSata connection (annoyingly is low profile so doesn't fit).

    Installed UnRaid (possibly easiest install I've ever done) onto a 'FIT USB' key, and am booting to that. 60 days trial is free, trial limited by #disks but I'm low there so no issues. If wanting to buy, will only cost $60 so nothing ridiculous.

    Currently still trialling and testing everything and trying to break it as often as possible before making the full push to the 'hog & thin clients' approach, but at this stage nothing has broken on me.

    UnRaid has taken care of the NAS element by treating my plates as a JBOD. I'm using the EVO as a cache drive, and installing the Boot drives of the VMS on there too.

    Have messed around trying to get a couple of variants of linux working, Linux Mint with Cinnamon hasn't been a goer as requires GPU (recall, all connectivity is via VNC / RDP), but have working installs of Lubuntu, an xfce Linux Mint and an openSuse all running alongside a Windows VM (useful site - https://dev.windows.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/windows/). XRDP installed on each of the linux distros gives us simple access from windows. VNC also available when remoting in from linux, and there's the No VNC option that UnRaid provides when connected to the home network through any browser.

    No performance issues seen with multiple users on the box. AutoCad / Photoshop performance over RDP is absolutely fine for what is required.

    Video performance is shocking. AFAIK that's an RDP issue though. This wasn't part of my requirements however, as MXQ/Pi/MK808B+ style client pulling from the server should cover all of that.

    Still have a fair bit to learn about using Docker instead of spinning up VMs (plex server as a Docker install instead of in a VM makes more sense), and still have some way to go before I heave all my media onto the disks in the NAS, but early stages are all showing promise that this is a really viable solution.




  • 10 month update.

    Fully embraced the setup at this stage. unRaid (basic - paid for it as works so well and wanted to contribute) runs everything great. No disk errors through 10 months. Parity drive there as coverage for if/when it all goes tits up.

    Docker implementation within unRaid is great too, able to spin up RStudio docker images for data analysis within any browsers / any OS (no vnc/rdc protocols required), run a Gitlab repo as well as some SQL instances and Redis and Mongo too.

    DuckDns docker allows me to access the server from outside the network without worrying about changing IPs. I've also enabled the unRaid DVB plugin, which means that with a simple USB DVB-T adapter and a TVHeadend Docker I'm able to serve all the Freeview channels to my MK808b+ libreelecs which means that screens are all that are required and you can give up using the TV's tuners.

    Due to the dockerisation of many of my requirements, I've actually chopped up a load of VMs and now have a '.Net Dev' VM, a 'CAD Windows' VM and a 'All Other Linux' VM ticking away.

    Port forwarding on the home router allows me direct VNC/RDC logins to the VMs (simply expose the correct ports to the server) from outside the network, and likewise I can access the docker applications in the same way.

    Means I have a beast of a workstation available to me even though the client in front of me is my simple Chromebook.

    Power consumption is tiny and noise has never been a deal - TS 140 was a great fit for this in retrospect.

    Project worth doing imo!


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