home server

[ranger12]

Another option you might want to look into is Zentyal. The 3.0 version is based on ubuntu server 12.04 lts.
Http://www.zentyal.org

[RobertKH]

Great info guys! Thanks for the replies! Alas you've hit a low spot in my computing knowledge. I know just about nothing when it comes to setting up virtual boxes. Anyone have a link?

Another question I have is on RAID and hot swappables. When I run out of room (hopefully that doesn't happen) do I need to replace my 2tb and 500g or the entire 5tb worth of space? Would it just rebuild my existing data or would it overwrite what was on the mirrored drives?

Yet another question would be about backup. I have no idea how I would run a backup. Would it have to be to another 5tb server? If so what's the point? Wouldn't I have the same problem on my backup as I would have on my home server? How large would the backup space have to be? Could I just plug in a 5tb external and have it backup nightly to that? If you have any questions on my setup please see my original posts.

Really though, thanks for all the info it's helping out quite a bit!

[ranger12]

On the question of backup, ubuntu 12.04 server does come with a program called bacula. There is a section dedicated to it in the server guide. I have not tried it myself although I should install it and start doing backups on my server. I am going to look into it more myself. Here is the link to the bacula website if you want to check it out: http://www.bacula.org/en/
With the question about RAID; I do not know about that since I do not have RAID setup but maybe someone else who has experience with that can chime in and help.

[mobo]

After just setting up a Ubuntu server with Raid I found this Video to be an absolute no brainer. I use Plex on the server for the home media side and it runs very well, IOS, PC's, and TV's all talk to it fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQtUBp5aad8

[lykwydchykyn]

You might want to look at ClearOS; it's got a really slick web-based interface. Based on CentOS. But freeNAS is good too.

Not that Ubuntu is bad, but nothing in particular commends it as a file server over anything else.

[RobertKH]

Ok so a slight change in plans. I decided to go with 2 1tb drives due to the fact that the box allows me to add 2 more quickly when needed.

Now on to the new questions. I have a 1tb external laying around (Seagate 7200rpm FreeAgent) and was thinking I could use it for a backup. Is this possible?
How do I set it up to stripe the drives, or use them in a pool, an backup to my external?

I'd also like to setup OpenVPN on this server so I can access my data from anywhere. Anyone know any good tutorials? I am so-so with Linux so you'll have to bear with me. I'm also looking at setting up FTP and samba for my windows laptops. Would openVPN allow my PowerPC Mac to access the drives?

As I've said the motherboard/CPU comes with a HDMI port so ill likely have it plugged into my tv which shouldn't be a problem. I'm wondering if I can stream from my server to my Blu Ray though. It recognizes my laptop but I haven't tried using Ubuntu with it.

Another question I have is should I install a small HDD to run the OS? If I am planning on striping, shouldn't both drives be the same size exactly? Can I stripe and run the backup I've described?

I plan on documenting this entire build and posting it on my blog for the rest of the noobs out there. Thanks for the help and insight so far. Keep it coming!

[RobertKH]

So I am still trying to figure this whole remote log in stuff out. I want to be able to be on the road and basically dial into my NAS for file viewing. These files could be pictures, videos, spreadsheets or whatever else I have stored on there. Does anyone know any good ways to log in remotely. I've searched the forums (maybe not enough) and it seems as though everyone is ssh'ing into their servers while on the same wifi. I understand how to use putty or filezilla, but I don't understand how to go about finding the address for my box. Does this make sense to any of you? Can I do such a thing? I know openVPN will probably be the best way and I will probably go that route. I just need to be able to access the entire server while on the road or possibly abroad on a business trip (it can get pretty boring sitting in meetings all day without being able to access the pictures or files on my server).

On a side note my stuff should be here Thursday so I'll start buildling it next weekend!

[RobertKH]

Ha, just found a decent write up in the middle of this lifehacker thread. So disregard my last posting. Anyone wanting to figure this out themselves check it out here.
http://m.lifehacker.com/5553789/what...y-wi+fi-router

It's for the linksys wrt54g but you get the gist.

[RobertKH]

So I just found some information on virtualbox and I plan on doing some testing when I get home with setting it up. I do have some questions on it though. Can I use ubuntu server and install virtualbox for a gui? Or is that not a great idea? When using virtualbox, if I wanted to see what creating a volume was like, wouldn't that create a volume out of my physical HDD's? If so, that's no big deal as I don't need to try it.

On a side note, if I were to run straight up Ubuntu and not server edition, what is really the difference from setting up windows on a 2.5' drive and just sharing the entire thing? I get the added security and CLI, but in all reality isn't the same thing? This box has all the pieces of a normal desktop, just more drives added into it.

Could I set up to boot to Ubuntu and then run Ubuntu Server in a virtual box? Or is that a poor way to go about it?

[darkod]

Too much going on. I can't even follow the questions.

So, right now what do you want to know? Accessing from the internet? Something like SFTP (secure FTP). Opening your server to the internet for any other kind of access would be quite dangerous.

SSH can work from internet but with SSH you access the command like, it's not quite like (S)FTP.

I wouldn't run ubuntu server in VBox for any serious task. It's one thing if you only want a quick check for something, but running the server in VBox full time is not what I would do.

As far as I know you can install text version of VBox on ubuntu server with no GUI, but I'm not familiar how easy the management is. I think it does have a web GUI you can access from another machine on the same LAN so that you can set up your VMs more easily. VBox should create a VDI file for the VM, it doesn't partition your physical disks.

I didn't understand the question about installing ubuntu desktop and running windows from a 2.5" disk.