Switch from WHS to Linux?

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Bigzaj

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
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I just built a new server that is sitting on my living room floor. I currently have a WHS server for all of my media that serves 3 HTPCs around the house. With W7 being "replaced" with W8 (which I do not like) and WHS support ending I was considering moving to linux.

My media is stored on 2 Dynamic NTFS Raid 6 arrays from an Areca 1882 controller.

My concerns are the following:
- Will Linux recognize the dynamic NTFS partitions and be able to expand them if I add drives?
- Given that I intend to leave the NTFS file system Windows should have no issues reading it right?
- If I were to change to EXT4 how would I share files over the network to Windows machines and could I allow for READ and WRITE access, most of what I have read is geared towards read access

Should I just abandon my Linux hope? The only thing my server needs to do is run mySQL for XBMC, CouchPotato, MakeMKV, Sickbeard and Sabnzb. I am leaning towards linux because I want 24/7 uptime without restarts for updates, etc.

Any advice on OS would be appreciated!
 
You might consider WSE 2012 instead.

But really, WHS does the job so why replace it?
 
Bigzaj said:
Should I just abandon my Linux hope? The only thing my server needs to do is run mySQL for XBMC, CouchPotato, MakeMKV, Sickbeard and Sabnzb. I am leaning towards linux because I want 24/7 uptime without restarts for updates, etc.

Any advice on OS would be appreciated!
Click to expand...

You'd still require restarts for some security/kernel updates, but not as often.
 
Install linux on a virtual machine and try to get it set up how you want. If you're happy, make it a permanent setup, or else nuke it and move on.

And if it is a server, the reading and writing will be done through the samba protocol to the clients, not directly with the NTFS partition- so I would go with EXT4, or with ZFS since it is all the rage these days.

And I don't know what dynamic NTFS is, or if ntfs-3g supports it
 
Does EXT4 allow for online expansion if I add drives to my raid array?
 
If you're planning on using RAID, you should be using md (software RAID) and then putting whatever filesystem you want on top of that. If you're going to run Linux on your server, don't have your drives be in NTFS - the drivers still just aren't as stable, particularly if you're using weird stuff like dynamic NTFS. If you're set on switching, you should backup your data to another system, setup your server on Linux, and then copy the files back to the server. To share to Windows machines you'll need Samba. Samba can be set up with per-user permissions (I have exactly that on my home server). The ACLs aren't quite as friendly to work with as Windows' but it'll get the job done.
 
You have a couple of options available to you. If you are familiar with WHS, you could jump to WHS 2011. You lose DE, but since you're using Hardware RAID, then that is irrelevant anyway. You could also go Windows Server 2008 or 2012. 2012 has a very good user interface and still has the connector plugin style system of WHS.

On the Linux side of things, I'd say check out Amahi. It gives you pretty much all the "features" of WHS, but has the benefits of Linux. You can use a base install of Fedora or Ubuntu Server. If going Linux, do NOT stay with NTFS. I would say use Ext4, and software RAID. As others have said, the Samba network protocol will translate the file system so that Windows and Mac users will have full access.

MDADM (Linux Software RAID) does indeed support online expansion with new drives. I personally don't have any experience with this, but I'm sure our Linux Guru's can shed some more light on it.

I personally use WHS2011 + FlexRAID for my home file/media server. I originally tried WS 2012 Essentials + Storage Spaces, but Storage Spaces had way too many bugs at its current state for me.

I have an LSI 8888ELP RAID card, but my drives are a mish-mash of various sizes and all consumer level, which is why I'm using FlexRAID instead of Hardware RAID. I plan on eventually getting some WD RED drives and go hardware RAID, but not any time soon.
 
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