Hello.
A couple of months ago I decided to build a home server and since, I've been researching about every possible aspect I can think of. Now I'm close to actually building the machine and start setting up the system. Before I do it I wanted to ask for some opinions on virtualization. I'm gonna try to make this as brief as possible, though it's hard or me to write this in English.
I plan to run ubuntu server 12.04 LTS. I want this system to host multiple VM using KVM. The main reason I want to do that is so I can separate different services, and so if a part of the system breaks it won't be as terrible. This is what I was thinking:
-The host to run basic services. With this I mean printing and backups for all of the computers in my house.
-A VM running ubuntu server 12.04 which I want to use only as a media server. Here I plan to include torrenting, and media streaming on the local network and also over the internet (less often), and also on the fly transcode.
-A VM running ubuntu server 12.04 for a camera monitoring system. I plan on having 2-3 security cams on the outsides of my house and be able to remotely watch what those cameras are seeing. I'm not sure how to implement this yet but I'm sure I'll eventually find out a way.
-A VM running windows so I can use windows apps from my ubuntu laptop. I mostly plan to run office on the server and use it from my laptop. That way I'll finally be able to not have to dual boot linux and windows.
The machine I'm building is capable of running this number of VM's. The thing I'm not sure is if running the "basic" services on the core installation is the best idea. Another alternative would be to run an additional ubuntu VM for the printing and backups services.
Or it might also happen that I'm overusing the virtualization concept and a better solution would be to have only 2 VM, one for the windows OS and another for the media server, having all the rest on the core install.
I hope I was clear enough. Basically I want to be sure if what I plan to do with VM's makes sense or not for a home server. Maybe it is an overkill and it'll brng more problems than it'll solve. Or maybe it's the perfect idea. I just want to be sure before I invest serious time setting up the system, this way I don't have to do everything again if I make a terrible mistake.
I trully appreciate any response, comments, tips you can give me!
Thanks!
A couple of months ago I decided to build a home server and since, I've been researching about every possible aspect I can think of. Now I'm close to actually building the machine and start setting up the system. Before I do it I wanted to ask for some opinions on virtualization. I'm gonna try to make this as brief as possible, though it's hard or me to write this in English.
I plan to run ubuntu server 12.04 LTS. I want this system to host multiple VM using KVM. The main reason I want to do that is so I can separate different services, and so if a part of the system breaks it won't be as terrible. This is what I was thinking:
-The host to run basic services. With this I mean printing and backups for all of the computers in my house.
-A VM running ubuntu server 12.04 which I want to use only as a media server. Here I plan to include torrenting, and media streaming on the local network and also over the internet (less often), and also on the fly transcode.
-A VM running ubuntu server 12.04 for a camera monitoring system. I plan on having 2-3 security cams on the outsides of my house and be able to remotely watch what those cameras are seeing. I'm not sure how to implement this yet but I'm sure I'll eventually find out a way.
-A VM running windows so I can use windows apps from my ubuntu laptop. I mostly plan to run office on the server and use it from my laptop. That way I'll finally be able to not have to dual boot linux and windows.
The machine I'm building is capable of running this number of VM's. The thing I'm not sure is if running the "basic" services on the core installation is the best idea. Another alternative would be to run an additional ubuntu VM for the printing and backups services.
Or it might also happen that I'm overusing the virtualization concept and a better solution would be to have only 2 VM, one for the windows OS and another for the media server, having all the rest on the core install.
I hope I was clear enough. Basically I want to be sure if what I plan to do with VM's makes sense or not for a home server. Maybe it is an overkill and it'll brng more problems than it'll solve. Or maybe it's the perfect idea. I just want to be sure before I invest serious time setting up the system, this way I don't have to do everything again if I make a terrible mistake.
I trully appreciate any response, comments, tips you can give me!
Thanks!