ML
    • Recent
    • Categories
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Groups
    • Register
    • Login

    How many Linux servers do I really need?

    IT Discussion
    8
    43
    7.1k
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • A
      Alex Sage
      last edited by Alex Sage

      I have a whole bunch of Linux servers for:

      • OpenVPN
      • LAMP Stack with Nginx Reverse Proxy
      • ScreenConnect
      • Unifi Controller
      • Playing with Let's Encrypt
      • Etc

      I was thinking today, do I need these each as there own VM, or could I just use one VM for everything? Pros and Cons?

      R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • S
        stacksofplates
        last edited by

        You should keep everything separated as much as possible. That way one function doesn't interfere with another. I've mentioned it before other places, but I've been using LXC a lot. It takes about 10 seconds to start a container (after the first template is downloaded) and I just create a bridge device and let each container have it's own IP.

        Updates can be made easy with ansible. Once you write your playbook, you just add the hosts to the ansible hosts file and it updates everything. It's also handy for editing hosts files on each server.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • S
          scottalanmiller
          last edited by

          It's always best practice (except for critical resource issues, specific technical issues, tight coupling or licensing issues) to have workloads kept as discrete as possible. Separate means easier to tune, update, patch, and much better for security.

          A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
          • A
            Alex Sage @scottalanmiller
            last edited by Alex Sage

            What about if I use Docker? 😄

            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • D
              DustinB3403
              last edited by

              Docker Docker Docker Docker Docker Docker Docker !

              I Hate you.....

              Docker doesn't add more to what you need, unless you want to go that route, and split the services with it... But virtualization would do this just as well in your case.

              A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • A
                Alex Sage @DustinB3403
                last edited by

                @DustinB3403 said:

                Docker doesn't add more to what you need, unless you want to go that route, and split the services with it... But virtualization would do this just as well in your case.

                What about all the processing, memory, and space I save only having 1 OS?

                S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • D
                  DustinB3403
                  last edited by

                  Docker is meant to be running a bunch of identical processes side by side.

                  If for example you needed to run a Web Store with the capability of support a ton of concurrent connections.

                  It wasn't designed for this use, although it may very well work.

                  A T 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • A
                    Alex Sage @DustinB3403
                    last edited by Alex Sage

                    @DustinB3403 said:

                    Docker is meant to be running a bunch of identical processes side by side.

                    Hmmmmm..... I didn't know that. This course makes it seems like a container is a super lightweight VM.

                    S S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • T
                      travisdh1 @DustinB3403
                      last edited by

                      @DustinB3403 I agree. Docker wasn't really meant for this. You can use it to do this, but it's very early stages currently. I give it another year before it even becomes useful for tinkering with in a lab.

                      In the mean time, most of those services don't require many resources at all. Depending on the hypervisor being used you may not be using more than a single kernel. My personal VPS is on that type of system, I can do anything with it but update the kernel, because the kernel is shared between all instances running on the server.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • D
                        DustinB3403
                        last edited by

                        They are for all intensive purposes, but their supposed to be super targeted, with a very specific work-load. Which often needs to be run concurrently across a ton of discrete containers.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • S
                          stacksofplates @Alex Sage
                          last edited by

                          @anonymous said:

                          @DustinB3403 said:

                          Docker is meant to be running a bunch of identical processes side by side.

                          Hmmmmm..... I didn't know that. This course makes it seems like a container is a super lightweight VM.

                          Traditional containers are (LXC, OpenVZ, jails, zones) docker is a different animal.

                          A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                          • A
                            Alex Sage @stacksofplates
                            last edited by Alex Sage

                            @johnhooks said:

                            Traditional containers are (LXC, OpenVZ, jails, zones) docker is a different animal.

                            What one would be recommend in my use case?

                            S T S 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • S
                              stacksofplates @Alex Sage
                              last edited by

                              @anonymous said:

                              @johnhooks said:

                              Traditional containers are (LXC, OpenVZ, jails, zones) docker is a different animal.

                              What one would be recommend in my use case?

                              If you're on Linux, I would recommend LXC. Ubuntu is making some interesting things with LXC and it's called LXD. One big feature is it will have live migration.

                              If you are on Solaris you would use zones, if you are on BSD you would use jails.

                              A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • T
                                travisdh1 @Alex Sage
                                last edited by

                                @anonymous My default is XenServer now that it's gone to a free to use, pay for support, model. Linux performance wise, it is among the best you'll find.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • A
                                  Alex Sage @stacksofplates
                                  last edited by Alex Sage

                                  @johnhooks said:

                                  If you're on Linux, I would recommend LXC. Ubuntu is making some interesting things with LXC and it's called LXD. One big feature is it will have live migration.

                                  It's going to be Linux for sure. I am confused because this class has you to believe that Docker is better then LXC - there was a full 10 minute video comparing the two if I remember correctly. It seems that docker will some day support windows, where I don't think LXC ever will?

                                  S S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • S
                                    stacksofplates @Alex Sage
                                    last edited by stacksofplates

                                    @anonymous said:

                                    @johnhooks said:

                                    If you're on Linux, I would recommend LXC. Ubuntu is making some interesting things with LXC and it's called LXD. One big feature is it will have live migration.

                                    It's going to be Linux for sure. I am confused because this class has you to believe that Docker is better then LXC - there was a full 10 minute video comparing the two if I remember correctly. It seems that docker will some day support windows, where I don't think LXC ever will?

                                    Wait, are they saying you can run Windows in a container or that you can run containers on Windows? I've heard something similar the latter, but not the former.

                                    A S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • A
                                      Alex Sage @stacksofplates
                                      last edited by

                                      @johnhooks said:

                                      Wait, are they saying you can run Windows in a container or that you can run containers on Windows? I've heard something similar the latter, but not the former.

                                      Running containers on Windows. Run windows in a container would be nuts 😄

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                      • DashrenderD
                                        Dashrender
                                        last edited by

                                        LOL - I was wondering what benefit you'd get from running Windows inside a Linux container? (though I suppose one could say we already do that with XenServer - lol

                                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • S
                                          scottalanmiller @Alex Sage
                                          last edited by

                                          @anonymous said:

                                          What about if I use Docker? 😄

                                          Docker would be just as acceptable as LXC or separate VMs. Not likely a good choice as it is not designed for your needs, but it would work. Just be a lot more work.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • DashrenderD
                                            Dashrender
                                            last edited by

                                            maintaining all of these micro VMs seems like such a pain in the ass. But I'm guessing there are tools, or at least scripts that can be written that will take care of all of them at once?

                                            S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • 1
                                            • 2
                                            • 3
                                            • 2 / 3
                                            • First post
                                              Last post