Using USB stick as system drive

[gregor3000]

Is there a "how to" to install Zentyal to USB stick and then use it to boot from it (as system drive) ?

would this even work well ? or would it destroy the USB too fast?

so far i installed Zentyal in virtualbox to try it out. i am thinking, if there is no other solution then maybe it would be possible to install it to USB in virtualbox.

Only i saw some other servers (e.g Openmediavault - Debian based) have issues if they run from USB while others actually recomend this method (eg freenas). What is Zentyal's community opinion on this? good idea? or not?

i am thinking moving log files onto hard disk. and maybe /tmp & /swap

btw found some older posts which didnt' really have a definitive answer on this.

[tigerman]

Zentyal sits on top of standard Ubuntu so you can just follow a guide to running Ubuntu from a USB Stick.

As you say moving the most frequently accessed drives will save wear and tear on the USB Stick.

If you are not experienced in this (as I am not) then it may be worth thinking about virtualising the Zentyal install on top of KVM or ESXi or ProxMox

All depends what your motivation is...

[jbahillo]

I just would like to point that I would not expect a really good performance on such a kind of setup

[gregor3000]

I just would like to point that I would not expect a really good performance on such a kind of setup

really? and why not? which is the part I am interested to hear...

So far I have found that some systems have issues with being on USB drive (OMV) while others recommend it (freeNAS). so If I oculd do the install as planned what would actually be the downside?

note that I intend to use HP micro N54L as file server (own cloud and maybe VPN for 10-12 users - but not much else). at the moment the whole zentyal is a bit of an overkill but the interface is so nicely made and I am pleased with the tests that it came into my top 3 GUI servers. having met with ubuntu before on desktop is just another plus...

[jbahillo]

USB 3.0 : up to 5 Gbit/s (625 MB/s)

USB 2.0 : up to 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s)

SATA revision 3.0 - 6 Gbit/s - 600 MB/s

SATA revision 3.2 - 16 Gbit/s - 1969 MB/s


Not even comparing with SAS disks

[gregor3000]

hmm but that would only mean slow boot no?

i mean with 4 GB ram most stuff could work from RAM. or am i intepreting this wrong?

Ok i understabd why desktop would run slow but server?

I have Openelec on RPi and it's responsive once it boots. i bet the CLI server on it would be responsive as well.

note: i plan to run the headless server accessed via GUI.

i was thinking of getting an SSD or a smaller HD for the OS later on if USb would proove problematic.

still i think here that once you boot the services are loaded and mostly could run in ram or are they being recorded to swap and then loaded when needed?

[tigerman]

gregor, In my experience with the N54L you will be better off booting from SSD if you can rather than USB

FreeNAS and ESXi both run well from USB but I've not had so much luck with Ubuntu

[gregor3000]

well that's good to know. I will see what I can get and at what price. I also plan to test it a bit first before setting it all up. now I just need to order it and get it here at a good price. if it get's too complicated I will assemble my own mini server. I already have components checked out, but you can't beat the price of this HP server.

so I also plan to try out debian and centos to check their performance ( I found some interfaces I could use on them as well). so far I only tested all this stuff in virtualbox, so I can't wait to get my hands on some "metal". though I am still hoping Zentyal will run good enough as it seems the simplest interface with many services available & preconfigured as an add on. and most I won't be using but I will need a few.