Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls
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Thanks everyone for the input.
I have an old HP server I can use, dual Xeon, 24GB RAM but only 500GB 15K SAS disk.
I don't know what Proxmox is, I'll take a look.
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@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
I don't know what Proxmox is, I'll take a look.
ProxMox is a "package" of KVM. Unlike installing KVM or Xen on your own and needing to assemble all of the parts, it's a complete ecosystem package like vSphere is to ESXi. So you get the GUI, the web interface, the API, the file systems, the backup tools, and so forth. It's an "install and use" system, not a "pick each piece and put it together yourself" system. Nothing wrong with putting your own together, but unless you are getting some extreme advantage from carefully knowing and tuning every piece that you select, better to go with something already assembled, known, and supported rather than reinventing a really well built and free wheel.
ProxMox is basically the XCP-NG of the KVM world.
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@scottalanmiller said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
I don't know what Proxmox is, I'll take a look.
ProxMox is a "package" of KVM. Unlike installing KVM or Xen on your own and needing to assemble all of the parts, it's a complete ecosystem package like vSphere is to ESXi. So you get the GUI, the web interface, the API, the file systems, the backup tools, and so forth. It's an "install and use" system, not a "pick each piece and put it together yourself" system. Nothing wrong with putting your own together, but unless you are getting some extreme advantage from carefully knowing and tuning every piece that you select, better to go with something already assembled, known, and supported rather than reinventing a really well built and free wheel.
ProxMox is basically the XCP-NG of the KVM world.
Yep, I've had a quick read, it looks absolutely fantastic, this is something I'm going to get my hands dirty with.
Thanks.
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Is it possible to run Proxmox up on an online hoster like Vultr or similar so I can have a look at it. Any suggestions??
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@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
Is it possible to run Proxmox up on an online hoster like Vultr or similar so I can have a look at it. Any suggestions??
You don't have any extra desktops or laptops not being used so can install Proxmox on it?
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@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
Is it possible to run Proxmox up on an online hoster like Vultr or similar so I can have a look at it. Any suggestions??
No, because that requires nested virtualization and no provider is going to allow that. That creates a mess for cloud providers and makes their products not work properly or make sense. So while for a lab that would be handy, allowing it for a lab would potentially make a production nightmare that they all want to avoid.
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@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
Is it possible to run Proxmox up on an online hoster like Vultr or similar so I can have a look at it. Any suggestions??
You'd need to use a bare metal server. Vultr offers these, but only at $120/month currently.
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There are a few issues that haven't been really vetted.
You mention that these servers run a custom software that allows access to the the data. This is fine, so long as you can virtualize the existing physical servers and run them as virtual machines.
- The big if being that there isn't some custom hardware that doesn't support virtualization
The next question to be raised is if they were hit with a virus, how would virtualizing these systems fix this issue? Virtualizing offers many features, including the easing recovery from such events, but that doesn't make the system more secure from viruses.
- Are these systems going to be air-gapped from the rest of the world?
Last you've asked what hypervisor should be used, there are a plethora of them.
- ProxMox is a full management stack and hypervisor in one.
- XCP-Ng is another, that you'd then optionally install XenOrchestra (likely by "building it yourself" or using my github script).
- You could of course install Hyper-V and use Hyper-V manager as well (another totally free Hypervisor and management solution, albeit backups aren't included)
I believe ProxMox is locally managed only (meaning you'd need to be on the LAN). If you're performing any maintenance for the client in the end, this may be an issue.
XCP-Ng can be managed from XenOrchestra which can* hosted in a cloud environment easily and securely.
Hyper-V has no such option as far as I'm aware.
You also mentioned TB's of storage, virtualizing a physical server does nothing to reduce the amount of storage the system is using or has allocated. You're just changing where and how the storage is presented.
I'm assuming these servers likely have hardware or software RAID, converting these VMs for this may be a bit more tricky due to this.
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@black3dynamite said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
Is it possible to run Proxmox up on an online hoster like Vultr or similar so I can have a look at it. Any suggestions??
You don't have any extra desktops or laptops not being used so can install Proxmox on it?
Last night I remembered I have an i7 16GB laptop lying around, so I'll fire that up. Thanks for the help.
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@travisdh1 said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
Is it possible to run Proxmox up on an online hoster like Vultr or similar so I can have a look at it. Any suggestions??
You'd need to use a bare metal server. Vultr offers these, but only at $120/month currently.
Yeah, I started looking at these last night, too expensive. I remembered I have an i7 laptop. Otherwise I might have bought a 2nd hand something online.
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@DustinB3403 said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
There are a few issues that haven't been really vetted.
You mention that these servers run a custom software that allows access to the the data. This is fine, so long as you can virtualize the existing physical servers and run them as virtual machines.
- The big if being that there isn't some custom hardware that doesn't support virtualization
The next question to be raised is if they were hit with a virus, how would virtualizing these systems fix this issue? Virtualizing offers many features, including the easing recovery from such events, but that doesn't make the system more secure from viruses.
- Are these systems going to be air-gapped from the rest of the world?
Last you've asked what hypervisor should be used, there are a plethora of them.
- ProxMox is a full management stack and hypervisor in one.
- XCP-Ng is another, that you'd then optionally install XenOrchestra (likely by "building it yourself" or using my github script).
- You could of course install Hyper-V and use Hyper-V manager as well (another totally free Hypervisor and management solution, albeit backups aren't included)
I believe ProxMox is locally managed only (meaning you'd need to be on the LAN). If you're performing any maintenance for the client in the end, this may be an issue.
XCP-Ng can be managed from XenOrchestra which can* hosted in a cloud environment easily and securely.
Hyper-V has no such option as far as I'm aware.
You also mentioned TB's of storage, virtualizing a physical server does nothing to reduce the amount of storage the system is using or has allocated. You're just changing where and how the storage is presented.
I'm assuming these servers likely have hardware or software RAID, converting these VMs for this may be a bit more tricky due to this.
Thanks for all the info Dustin, much appreciated.
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@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
@black3dynamite said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
Is it possible to run Proxmox up on an online hoster like Vultr or similar so I can have a look at it. Any suggestions??
You don't have any extra desktops or laptops not being used so can install Proxmox on it?
Last night I remembered I have an i7 16GB laptop lying around, so I'll fire that up. Thanks for the help.
Now if you planning using the laptop, you will want to disable the laptop from going in to standby mode when or if you close the lid.
https://thedaneshproject.com/posts/disable-laptop-lid-action-for-proxmox/ -
@black3dynamite said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
@black3dynamite said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
Is it possible to run Proxmox up on an online hoster like Vultr or similar so I can have a look at it. Any suggestions??
You don't have any extra desktops or laptops not being used so can install Proxmox on it?
Last night I remembered I have an i7 16GB laptop lying around, so I'll fire that up. Thanks for the help.
Now if you planning using the laptop, you will want to disable the laptop from going in to standby mode when or if you close the lid.
https://thedaneshproject.com/posts/disable-laptop-lid-action-for-proxmox/Thanks black3dynamite, i'll bookmark that.
Also found out that Proxmox doesn't have an easy way to get onto wifi, so i'm sorting that out atm. -
Gave up on wifi, found it's not worth the effort, can be a bit finnicky.
Anyway, got Proxmox installed with a test Windows server, a relatively painless process.
Next on the look into list, is see if I can create VMs from vhdx files in Proxmox?
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@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
Gave up on wifi, found it's not worth the effort, can be a bit finnicky.
Anyway, got Proxmox installed with a test Windows server, a relatively painless process.
Next on the look into list, is see if I can create VMs from vhdx files in Proxmox?
Converting from vhdx to qcow2
https://mangolassi.it/topic/19781/converting-hyper-v-to-kvm
https://www.servethehome.com/converting-a-hyper-v-vhdx-for-use-with-kvm-or-proxmox-veImport a qcow2 into Proxmox
https://mangolassi.it/topic/21751/import-a-qcow2-into-proxmox -
@black3dynamite said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
Gave up on wifi, found it's not worth the effort, can be a bit finnicky.
Anyway, got Proxmox installed with a test Windows server, a relatively painless process.
Next on the look into list, is see if I can create VMs from vhdx files in Proxmox?
Converting from vhdx to qcow2
https://mangolassi.it/topic/19781/converting-hyper-v-to-kvm
https://www.servethehome.com/converting-a-hyper-v-vhdx-for-use-with-kvm-or-proxmox-veImport a qcow2 into Proxmox
https://mangolassi.it/topic/21751/import-a-qcow2-into-proxmoxFantastic, thanks mate, that's great. I really appreciate your help.
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just had a quick look at xcp-ng, it looks very good as well.
I'm wondering which one I should concentrate on, Proxmox or xcp-ng?
I don't know either. Possibly the biggest thing I'd like to be able to do is be able to migrate VMs off Hyper-V and onto one of these 2.
Does one have a better support community than other?
Does one have a more mature product than the other?
Does one have better tools than the other?
Is it easier to migrate from Hyper-V to one, more than the other?Thanks for any help.
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@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
I'm wondering which one I should concentrate on, Proxmox or xcp-ng?
My straight up answer is to try them both out.
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There are tools to help with migrating VMs. I know we have guides here for KVM (Proxmox). I believe we have some here for XCP-ng or XenServer.
Personally, I would create a new VM on Proxmox or XCP-ng and then sync the data over.
They both have pretty good community forum.
XCP-ng
https://xcp-ng.org/forum/Proxmox
https://forum.proxmox.com/ -
@siringo said in Windows Servers Archived onto Linux, suggestions/help pls:
I have a client that wants to repurpose 3 Windows Servers that are no longer used but contain data that needs to be kept.
The data can be read by specialised software that is installed on the servers.
I'm thinking of running up a Linux box and having these servers run as VMs on the Linux box so the data can still be accessed.
Remember licensing. MS Server is licensed after physical cores on the hypervisor, not the VMs. So moving from a physical server to a virtual might require higher licensing costs.
Same goes for the software that's on these servers. You have to know what it is and how it's licensed.
