Software for a router/server combo

[MYSTICmayonaise]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any software (some distro of linux perhaps?) that would allow me to run a small home server (like 2-4 harddrives in RAID) and a wireless/wired router for my home (for a few computers, game consoles and mobile devices)

 

I could use some virtual installations to do both from one machine, but I would prefer to have one OS for handling both systems for simplicity. 

 

Thanks in advance. any suggestions would be nice.

 

Also if there is a thread already for this topic please direct me to it

 

 

[imperialplanet]

Ubuntu has some cool elements to there network OSes

 

Edit; http://www.ubuntu.com/server 

        http://www.ubuntu.com/cloud

[MYSTICmayonaise]

Ubuntu has some cool elements to there network OSes

Ive played abit with ubuntu, but didnt get that deep into it, and I only have a little experience with linux at the moment. 

 

How does networking with ubuntu work? Are there plugins/addons that I need to download, or is there a safe/reliable version out there that already has that built in?

[imperialplanet]

Ive played abit with ubuntu, but didnt get that deep into it, and I only have a little experience with linux at the moment. 

 

How does networking with ubuntu work? Are there plugins/addons that I need to download, or is there a safe/reliable version out there that already has that built in?

in my experience the networking is good, you can download the Ubuntu server OS {http://www.ubuntu.com/download/server} here, i think it is reliable, but it more just personal preference. 

[MYSTICmayonaise]

in my experience the networking is good, you can download the Ubuntu server OS {http://www.ubuntu.com/download/server} here, i think it is reliable, but it more just personal preference. 

I can check that out, Does that have router capabilities as well? Id like to have a powerful and expandable router instead of relying on $200-$300 normal routers to do the job.

Or should I just VM the server and the router in 2 separate instances on the same machine

[imperialplanet]

I can check that out, Does that have router capabilities as well? Id like to have a powerful and expandable router instead of relying on $200-$300 normal routers to do the job.

Or should I just VM the server and the router in 2 separate instances on the same machine

i dont know if it does. 

[DarrenP]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any software (some distro of linux perhaps?) that would allow me to run a small home server (like 2-4 harddrives in RAID) and a wireless/wired router for my home (for a few computers, game consoles and mobile devices)

 

I could use some virtual installations to do both from one machine, but I would prefer to have one OS for handling both systems for simplicity. 

 

Thanks in advance. any suggestions would be nice.

 

Also if there is a thread already for this topic please direct me to it

I'd split your budget 70/30. 70 for a server, and 30 for a router. On the router run PFSense, on the machine, pick your poison. 

[MYSTICmayonaise]

I'd split your budget 70/30. 70 for a server, and 30 for a router. On the router run PFSense, on the machine, pick your poison. 

I could to that, But I would rather keep everything together to save space and power, that and then I would need to spend a bit more for 2 systems, two mobos/CPUS/PSUS/ etc

[Master Valafar]

Thing is, if the main machine fails and it's running all of your services (router + file sharing + print server + webserver) and your computers are linked to that server, you'll be out of internet connection and won't be able to use the file storage (obviously).

 

That's where, as you said, you could use Virtual Machines. That way, it's easier to manage your services and if one needs maintenance (say, resetting the network adapter, you won't affect your other services). Also, it allows for better encapsulation : if a security flaw is found on your webserver and it gets hacked, the hacker won't have access to the host, thus keeping your other services and files away.

 

Are you using a regular desktop computer as a server or are you actually using a machine designed to be a server ? I assume it is the former, but in the case you're using the latter, you may have a difficult time finding an AC wifi adapter that will fit the small form factor of the PCIe brackets (happened to me). This is why I haven't yet converted my server as a wireless router.

Of course, you can decide to plug your main computer directly to your existing router, so that if the machine fails, you don't lose Internet connection.

 

I think you may already have found this thread, but here it goes anyway :

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/6398-howto-create-your-own-linux-home-server-using-debian/

 

If you already have Linux experience, it's quite easy - if not, it's really not that bad, and very fun.

[MYSTICmayonaise]

Thing is, if the main machine fails and it's running all of your services (router + file sharing + print server + webserver) and your computers are linked to that server, you'll be out of internet connection and won't be able to use the file storage (obviously).

 

That's where, as you said, you could use Virtual Machines. That way, it's easier to manage your services and if one needs maintenance (say, resetting the network adapter, you won't affect your other services). Also, it allows for better encapsulation : if a security flaw is found on your webserver and it gets hacked, the hacker won't have access to the host, thus keeping your other services and files away.

 

Are you using a regular desktop computer as a server or are you actually using a machine designed to be a server ? I assume it is the former, but in the case you're using the latter, you may have a difficult time finding an AC wifi adapter that will fit the small form factor of the PCIe brackets (happened to me). This is why I haven't yet converted my server as a wireless router.

Of course, you can decide to plug your main computer directly to your existing router, so that if the machine fails, you don't lose Internet connection.

 

I think you may already have found this thread, but here it goes anyway :

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/6398-howto-create-your-own-linux-home-server-using-debian/

If you already have Linux experience, it's quite easy - if not, it's really not that bad, and very fun.

I plan on building a custom system for the server/router, AMD dual core on FM2, nothing insanely powerful, but I can buy a better CPU later (AMD A6-5400K Trinity Dual-Core)  but since the 8350 has dropped insanely low in price, i might go with that and experiment with undervolting to reduce power draw, but itll be in a small case though, but big enough to hold a PCI-e card or two, and VMing would be a better option.

 

just pick up a distro of linux and run the VM's in there? 

run PFsense in a VM, and get something like ubuntu server to run the server on?

[Master Valafar]

You don't need something powerful for a server, so your choice is good. You only want a powerful server if you want to encode video streams on it (to lower the weight on the actual machine that is running the stream (eg: game)).

Heck, you only need good adapters. Try getting on ebay : they have several server parts for VERY low price (Gigabit NICs, RAID controllers, etc.)

 

Yeah, you pick a distro and run the VMs. If you see the link I prior posted, there is a tutorial on how to setup VirtualBox on your server. You will control the states of the VMs within a browser using phpVirtualBox.

If you have a GPU in your build, you could be good using a desktop (no CLI), but using the command line only (i.e: no graphical interface) lets you learn a lot more about how stuff works. It also helps reduce the load on the computer.

 

Get Ubuntu Server or Debian, or any other distro you feel comfortable with (although I suggest picking between these two).

You can use your main OS for file storage (samba network) and use VM for routing. Keep your main router up and running and try some configurations

Keep in mind that you will need to setup the NICs for use in the VM running the router OR you can just make VLANs. There are several guides out there for them.

 

I'll leave this here, so you can read about some of the options :

http://www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/comments/1uwfph/using_pfsense_in_home_network_in_a_vm/

[MYSTICmayonaise]

You don't need something powerful for a server, so your choice is good. You only want a powerful server if you want to encode video streams on it (to lower the weight on the actual machine that is running the stream (eg: game)).

Heck, you only need good adapters. Try getting on ebay : they have several server parts for VERY low price (Gigabit NICs, RAID controllers, etc.)

 

Yeah, you pick a distro and run the VMs. If you see the link I prior posted, there is a tutorial on how to setup VirtualBox on your server. You will control the states of the VMs within a browser using phpVirtualBox.

If you have a GPU in your build, you could be good using a desktop (no CLI), but using the command line only (i.e: no graphical interface) lets you learn a lot more about how stuff works. It also helps reduce the load on the computer.

 

Get Ubuntu Server or Debian, or any other distro you feel comfortable with (although I suggest picking between these two).

You can use your main OS for file storage (samba network) and use VM for routing. Keep your main router up and running and try some configurations

Keep in mind that you will need to setup the NICs for use in the VM running the router OR you can just make VLANs. There are several guides out there for them.

 

I'll leave this here, so you can read about some of the options :

http://www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/comments/1uwfph/using_pfsense_in_home_network_in_a_vm/

Sounds like a plan, also I plan on using my current router for the wireless aspect of my network, since I do have a few mobile devices that use wifi, but I might get a wireless network card for the router/server system later.

 

And I was reading up on PFsense and learned a few cool things you can do with it, like file caching, and website caching, so thats cool:)

 

I probably witl get an AMD 8350 (around $170) and a cheap motherboard from biostar (like $50ish) and a found a few NICs on ebay for $60 (two 4 slot NICs O_O) 

 

 

but i want the extra horsepower from the 8350 to use active encoding/decoding, and to utilize several of PFsense's add ons, and maybe install a few more VM's on it to play with, make a dedicated streaming machine or something