New to OMV: Need advice

jtuplin · 7. Juni 2017

Hi,

I'm building a NAS server. I'm fairly experienced with Debian, so that isn't an issue. I just want to know if what I want to do will be possible with OMV, and how I would achieve it. I have little experience with NAS servers, and the only thing that I have done is made a OMV server on a raspberry pi - installing it on top of the existing Raspian install.

These are my requirements:

I have three 2TB hard drives that I want set up in Raid 5. The OS will be installed on a separate SSD.
I would like separate, personal 'areas' for the few (~5) people that will be using it.
I would like a larger area that is accessible by everyone - I understand how to set up separate users and permissions on OMV.
I would like to maintain the functionality of Debian for other things, however - this will be the first thing to be installed on it

Regarding installation, should I go about installing Debian (in which case which version?) first and then installing OMV on top - or is there a better way.

I'm sorry if this is a lot to ask, but it would be greatly appreciated if someone could help.

I look forward to my time using OMV.

ryecoaaron · 7. Juni 2017

Zitat von jtuplin

I would like to maintain the functionality of Debian for other things, however - this will be the first thing to be installed on it

This is very vague. What other things?

Zitat von jtuplin

I would like separate, personal 'areas' for the few (~5) people that will be using it.

Shared folders solves this.

Zitat von jtuplin

Regarding installation, should I go about installing Debian (in which case which version?) first and then installing OMV on top - or is there a better way.

OMV 3 is Debian Jessie. Personally, I would use the OMV installer.

Zitat von jtuplin

I have three 2TB hard drives that I want set up in Raid 5.

Backup?

jtuplin · 7. Juni 2017

1. I don't know what other things yet - what I mean is that I don't want to lose the basic functionality of Debian by installing omv

4. I want everything to be stored one these drives. Primarily incase anything goes wrong etc. Would this be possible?

Any other advice would be appreciated.

vl1969 · 7. Juni 2017

still a bit vague...

do you mean you want to have Debian setup with Desktop and run OMV ?
if yes than it is not possible. OMV is not compatible with desktops.

if you mean a server, headless install, it will work but do understand that OMV does a lot and some things are done differently compared to vanilla Debian, so you need to be very careful of what you doing in CLI.

the best setup would be running OMV on its own, and use Plugins to extend functionality natively to OMV not Debian. it is still possible to do things in CLI (as if it was plain Debian) but you need to take care not to intermingle with OMV functionality, do your research first.

remember, Raid is not a backup, hence "ryecoaaron" question

yes you can setup and use Raid in OMV. it uses regular MDADM. but you still need a backup.
for when SHTF.

jtuplin · 7. Juni 2017

Ah yes, I mean headless sorry.

The main thing that I want to install at the moment alongside OMV is OpenVPN, would that work?

I did see something elsewhere on the forums about running it on a VM, is this a possibility so that I can use CLI on a different VM and not have to worry about anything - or would I be jumping too far into the deep end?

I understand how RAID works, and that it isn't a backup. However does OMV have any tools for backups?

Thanks both of you for your time.

vl1969 · 7. Juni 2017

I am sure there are more experienced people here,and they will chime in with more detailed info.
that said, yes there are several backup options that you can do in OMV.

first thing first, just an FYI, when you setup OMV do not forget to install and setup OMVExtras plugin as soon as you can. OMV on it's own have very limited set of addons. most of plugins are maintained and distributed via OMVExtras repo and plugin interface.

there is a backup plugin , and I do believe someone is working on another one.
you can also setup an rsync script to sync to a secondary machine.

as for VPN, there is a plugin already exists (OMVExtras remember ) that will help you to install and configure it on OMV system WebUI. but I understand that it is possible to install it via CLI as well.

Like I said before, check out what exist first.
the best way to see what is there is to simply spin up a VM somewhere, install OMV in VM
install extras, you will need to download the file and upload it to OMV or search the forum and get the CLI commands for that. and look through the list.
believe me, you will be pleasantly surprised on how many things are there for you to use.

I do most of my testing on my Windows10 PC hyper-V config.

Jetzt mitmachen!