Ever get fed up with upgrading or re-setting up PCs? I did! Then I thought - Why not just run a VM? What about using Linux? What about only having one premium PC?
The rest is history! I now have a home network & server setup that is pretty interesting and works well! So what is it?
A Billion VNOX 7404 for the wired & wireless home phone & network...
- ADSL2+ - Intenet Connection
- 3G USB - Backup Intenet Connection [not currently used]
- VOIP - Saving HEAPS on our call costs with Freshtel
- VPN - Connect to the home network remotely and securely
A high end PC running Ubuntu Server...
- CUPS for printer sharing
- SAMBA for file sharing and as a domain controller
- Apache, MySQL & PHP for a home web server
- VirtualBox to host VMs
- X11 so I get a GUI on the server
- Awesome as a really lite window manager rather than suffering plain X11
- Guake as an easy access terminal program
- Remmina to access my RDP while at the server (when the VM is headless)
What's with the VMs...
- The VMs can be backed-up quickly and easily [no re-build, just restore!]
- The VMs can be cloned - Make one and copy ;-)
- The VMs run "headless" on the server for myself, the wife and the three kids and can be accessed from any "terminal"
- I can access my PC from the terminal in my son's room, then he can switch back to accessing his PC!
- More importantly - I can administer each VM from the Server!
- I generally access my VM directly on the server, hence the addition of Awesome and Remmina.
- One day I expect all new TVs will come with a Wireless Network, a Bluetooth Keyboard & Mouse and an in-built RDP channel - a ready to go terminal!
Some of the advantages so far...
- Setup one PC and made four more copies
- Each VM is always running so they auto-update regularly
- Files & Printer available anywhere, shared into the VMs and accross the LAN
- One of the family had trouble while I was away so I connected in via the VPN and remotely administered their VM - problem solved!
- Server GUI locked up while I was "playing" and I used SSH to connect and kill the offending process - no need to reboot the server!
