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Forums at Wegotserved gone?


Umfriend

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Really OT but I know some here used to visit there as well. Has Terry Walsh ditched the forums he had on wegotserved? If so, what is a good alternative?

 

Sometime this year I will build a new server running WS2016 essentials and as I have got no real clue about VMs I need some advice. Basically I want to build a big-ass Server for client backups and file sharing and, running on the same HW but isolated wrt access, a virtual desktop. The idea is that I can then someday buy a very light laptop that would basically be a VDI(?) and actually run my work things on that VM/RDP (but without any danger of damaging the actual Server part of the Server).

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Yes, he did.  A while ago.  He posted a warning on the forums about it.... .THAT DID NOT GET EMAILED OUT.  And I was kind of upset about that.  

 

Worse yet, much of the forums were not indexed by Archive.org, so a lot of data was lost. And ... now it just doesn't show up. (due to changes to the robots.txt). 

 

 

As for where to go, I would highly recommend the Home Server Show forums.  A lot of good people and good advice there. 

Otherwise, there are a number of other forums, and reddit can be a good resource. 

http://homeservershow.com/forums/index.php?/forum/18-virtualization/

 

That said, I wouldn't recommend running HyperV on Windows Server Essentials. Especially if you plan on enabling the website (the VPN specifically), as this can cause issues with HyperV. 

 

Running Essentials in a VM is fine, but that's different. 

 

As for what you want to do, that's actually exactly what I do for my work VM.  I have a separate VM running on HyperV for my work environment.  

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So I know this is not the forum for it but just briefly if you don't mind: You have a VM that runs (a) your work environment and (B) a server? Or seperate machines?

 

I have built PCs and know my way around them somewhat but virtualization and networking (a.o VPN, proxies) are simply not my forte.

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@Umfriend

 

I have this same setup at home. Here is very briefly how it is done:

  1. Install Server 2016 Standard on your server hardware as normal (USB key, DVD, etc)
  2. Once it is up and running, go to Server Manager and install the Hyper-V role
  3. A Hyper-V option will then appear in Server Manager where you can right-click on your server and start Hyper-V Manager to configure networking and create/manage virtual machines.
  4. When creating a VM, it takes you through a wizard where you configure its characteritics, the most common being CPU, RAM, Disk, and Network

You have a few options when it comes to networking in Hyper-V. You can just use your existing NIC as a bridge to carry both host and VM traffic, meaning that all your VM's will be on the same network as the server. You can also configure the NIC as a trunk with your switch to carry traffic for multiple networks on separate VLAN's, meaning your VM's can be on different networks from your host. You can also install a router VM in Hyper-V and use that to route between the VM's and the bridge NIC on your host, meaning your VM's can be on different networks, that do not exist outside of Hyper-V, from your host.

 

In the most simple setup, you would just bridge your NIC and install whatever VM's you want. Hyper-V uses the concept of vSwitches internally. You create a vSwitch if there isn't one by default, allowing the management operating system to share it. Then you just pick that vSwitch for the NIC on all the VM's you create.

 

In my case, I have a trunk between the server NIC and my switch so I can pick the vSwitch for my VM NIC's and then assign a VLAN ID to it that tells it what network (VLAN) it is in. I am running Essentials and Hyper-V on mine against @Christopher's warning, but I do not use the VPN function...that is on my router. I have a VM for Emby, one for NextPVR, and one that runs Apache, ISC DHCP Server, Bind9, MRTG, and TeamSpeak.

 

I hope this helps!

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This certainly helps, even if already a bit over my head (for now).

 

Teamspeak? That has been ages for me when I did Red Alert II and Fighter Ace, LOL.

 

Anyway, could a single program running on the "main" Server connect to a VPN (to have some private transfers, you know...)?

 

Now mostly I would want to RDP in the "work" VM but sometimes I may need to RDP into the Server. How does that work? Port forwarding on the router and use a specific port for the Server? What would I need to do in the Server to make it recognise that port (or does the router translate external port to internal port at internal Server IP address)?

 

Will everything from the VM be stored in a .vhdx file or can it just access the HW that I assign to it? Could the VM logon to the Server and/or a SQL Server instance running in the Server as opposed to the VM? How do I backup the VM? Is it a "client" on which I could install a Connector and have client backups or is it part of the Server Backup as a whole?

 

Oh, and you run Standard? Is that becuase Essentials does not support VMs? And I guess I need a W10 license for the work VM? How does that work. Install a spare W7 instance and then upgrade for free to W10?

 

As you can see, no clue.. :D

 

But I am looking forward to perhaps running a Zen-based 16C/32T server. Building it will be so much easier than actually installing OS/SW right.

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Teamspeak? That has been ages for me when I did Red Alert II and Fighter Ace, LOL.

 

LOL! Nobody even uses it anymore since I stopped playing all the MMORPG games. I don't know why I am still keeping it around.

 

 

 

Anyway, could a single program running on the "main" Server connect to a VPN (to have some private transfers, you know...)?

 

Yes, this is certainly possible. You will have to allow VPN passthrough at your router in order to do it, and you will need to enable split tunneling so all the servers traffic doesn't go across the tunnel. My router supports site-to-site VPN, so I just connect to a couple of my friends that way instead.

 

 

 

Now mostly I would want to RDP in the "work" VM but sometimes I may need to RDP into the Server. How does that work? Port forwarding on the router and use a specific port for the Server? What would I need to do in the Server to make it recognise that port (or does the router translate external port to internal port at internal Server IP address)?

 

Whether a physical machine or a VM, they are just hosts on the network, so nothing changes with RDP or the way you do it. I RDP into my work machine from my desktop as well. As long as your traffic is local, it does not go though NAT/PAT, even if it is a different network. The only time NAT/PAT are used is when the traffic goes out to or comes in from the internet.

 

 

 

Will everything from the VM be stored in a .vhdx file or can it just access the HW that I assign to it? Could the VM logon to the Server and/or a SQL Server instance running in the Server as opposed to the VM? How do I backup the VM? Is it a "client" on which I could install a Connector and have client backups or is it part of the Server Backup as a whole?

 

Yes, all the data is stored in a .vhdx file. There are other files in another directory that store the VM configuration data and temporary files. You can allow communication between the VM's and the host. This is called a Private newtork/vSwitch type. You would have another NIC to configure on the host, and then add another NIC to each VM to facilitate this communication on any network range you would like. This traffic does not go outside of Hyper-V.

 

 

 

Oh, and you run Standard? Is that becuase Essentials does not support VMs? And I guess I need a W10 license for the work VM? How does that work. Install a spare W7 instance and then upgrade for free to W10?

 

Yes, and I am also doing Active Directory and NPS on it. Yes, you will need a license key for W10 the same as always. Microsoft actually stopped doing the free W10 upgrades last year I think it was. This is why my NextPVR VM is actually Windows 8.1.

 

 

 

But I am looking forward to perhaps running a Zen-based 16C/32T server. Building it will be so much easier than actually installing OS/SW right.

 

Yes, building the hardware is definitely the easy part. Once you get into installing and configuring the software, you will see that it gets to be a lot! My wife gets upset when I tell her I need to do an upgrade or update something because to her, that means that something isn't going to work. :) She has to have her TV, and downtime is not acceptable!

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FCOL, that is expensive (WS2016 Standard). Any chance I could run once WS2016 as the real server and another as the Work environment? So many considerations. I *think* I would want to have SQL Server run on the main server and connect to it from the Work VM. I would have to be able to RDP into both through the internet. I guess I could do *all* communication between the internet and my won network through a VPN by configuring the router?

 

Anyways, I guess I can try a couple of times before I really migrate away from WHS2011 for client backups/file sharing/streaming. Did you install the Essentials Role?

 

AD, another thing I have no clue about. Ideally, it would all be simple without me having to upgrade to a network/database/server/security administrator. WHS2011, in that sense, was almost perfect for me.

 

Oh, and thx for the input sofar, it is very helpful to me.

 

Edit: Do thing get easier if I get a mainboard with 2 NICs?

Edit2: And don;t get me started on licensing, I don;t get that at all (and I did try!). If I want to have a client PC backed up and be able to logon for filesharing, does that require a User CAL? How many you got?

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So I know this is not the forum for it but just briefly if you don't mind: You have a VM that runs (a) your work environment and ( B) a server? Or seperate machines?

 

I have built PCs and know my way around them somewhat but virtualization and networking (a.o VPN, proxies) are simply not my forte.

 

Well, if you check my "rackmount" link .... 

 

I have a storage server, and I have a separate VM server (HyperV).  My work VM is a dedicated VM on HyperV that is running all the time, and joined to the storage server's domain.  Since the storage server is using Essentials, and I have the website configured, that means that "Remote Desktop Gateway" is setup automatically.  Remote Desktop Gateway is basically like a VPN for RDP, so it's as secure as your SSL certificate is. 

 

And I'm running Windows 10 in the VM.

 

 

 

As for Essentials, it does support Hyper-V but only in very specific configuration, for a specific reason. using it outside of that is outside the scope of it's license. 

 

As for Server Standard, you get the "rights" for 2 VMs, so you could use Server for one of the work environments. But I HIGHLY recommend against this, as some applications/programs will not run on a Server OS.  

 

IIRC, you also get "downgrade rights" to essentials, so you could run Essentials in one VM, and Standard as the host and another VM. Then if you have additional WIndows licenses, you can run those in VMs as well. 

 

But this all gets expensive quickly. 

 

 

As for SQL Server ... I would highly recommend dedicated hardware for it.  It may not be necessary for home use, but ... SQL servers are resource expensive.  A seperate VM with just it would be a good idea, and running it on a dedicated SSD would be a good idea, as well. 

 

 

As for VPN, if you have your router/server connecting to a VPN, it can make hosting services a nightmare.... 

 

As for WHS2011... WSE (essentials) can be configured the same way, just look up the "skipdomainjoin" stuff.  

 

As for dual NICs, yes, at least with HyperV.  You should have a "management" NIC that is only meant for connecting the host to the network, and then a second NIC to dedicate to VMs (eg, don't enable "allow management OS to share this network adapter)

 

As for licensing ... yeah, this stuff gets complicated.  It's why having an MSDN account suddenly becomes a huge asset.  It's expensive, but ... man does it make things easier. 

 

As for CAL's .... yes. At least for Server Standard or DataCenter.  Essentials doesn't require CALs, which is why it's so nice.  And I mean the SKU, not the role.  If you install the "Windows Server Essentials Experience" role on standard or datacenter, you're still supposed to use CALs... 

 

And these are very expensive.  But not strictly "required". It's more of those "on faith, until your audited" things. 

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Really OT but I know some here used to visit there as well. Has Terry Walsh ditched the forums he had on wegotserved? If so, what is a good alternative?

 

 

I just noticed this as well.  Hum, hate to see it go, WGS was like my first my first experience into the world of home servers, it's like a part of me has gone missing.  I don't frequent the forms as much as I use too, not doing anything new to my setup, and my WHS2011 server keeps chugging away with DP and scanner, MCE, ceton ETH, etc, etc.  I've been going strong since 2009(WHS V1) because of WGS, Stablebit, Homeservershow, AVSforum, The green button, and many others that no longer exist. 

 

But I must say that I 'm looking forward to file vault this was one of my suggestions many years ago, 2013 if I recall.  You guys can all thank me when it's finally released. ;)

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Yeah, I was very sad to see it go.   Even worse, is that there was some sort of change recently and now the entire site is unavailable even on Archive.org.  

 

it's like it was erased from the internet. :(

 

But yeah, a lot of us have had builds/setups that haven't changed in years. A lot less people posted. Microsoft discontinued WHS (sort of).  So not really a surprise. 

 

As for FileVault... well, you're far from the only one that suggested it. ;)

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All, thanks for your info, it has been most helpful. I have decided that Viagra is cheaper :D

 

I'll wait for a while and at some stage, probably 2018-2020, go the Essentials route and not to do the VM stuff. Just to complicated for me, not motivated to educate myself on this and save the expense. It will allow for a cheaper server. I'll test-drive on some old machine I got lying around and then use the existing i7-3770 machine and that setup should last me another 10 years. In 4 years or so I'll simply buy a new even more powerful lappy for work.

 

The only real thing that does not work currently is a BMR of my lappy given that WHS2011 is W7-based and does not support the newer USB-standard but I guess a small converter-card would allow me to plug my NVMe SSD into a PCIe slot in an existing machine and BMR there.

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On 4/25/2017 at 5:04 PM, Christopher (Drashna) said:

Yes, he did.  A while ago.  He posted a warning on the forums about it.... .THAT DID NOT GET EMAILED OUT.  And I was kind of upset about that.  

 

Worse yet, much of the forums were not indexed by Archive.org, so a lot of data was lost. And ... now it just doesn't show up. (due to changes to the robots.txt). 

 

 

As for where to go, I would highly recommend the Home Server Show forums.  A lot of good people and good advice there. 

Otherwise, there are a number of other forums, and reddit can be a good resource. 

http://homeservershow.com/forums/index.php?/forum/18-virtualization/

 

That said, I wouldn't recommend running HyperV on Windows Server Essentials. Especially if you plan on enabling the website (the VPN specifically), as this can cause issues with HyperV. 

 

Running Essentials in a VM is fine, but that's different. 

 

As for what you want to do, that's actually exactly what I do for my work VM.  I have a separate VM running on HyperV for my work environment.  

Sorry for the huge necro but I found this post while trying to find out what happened to ironically homeservershow.. (ps anyone know? other than that it disappeared a while back now.)

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