Zentyal Forum, Linux Small Business Server
Zentyal Server => Installation and Upgrades => Topic started by: interlinux on January 17, 2011, 07:11:59 pm
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Hi Forum
We at Interlinux Ltd (UK Bronze Partner) have been testing Zentyal on low powered Mini-ITX motherboards. We think this is an excellent way to promote Zentyal for small home offices (home offices are very popular in the UK) and small enterprise.
This is a description of our example gateway server for 1-5 users:
CPU: model name: VIA Esther processor 1000MHz, cache size : 128 KB
Ram: 500MiB
HDD: 2.5 inch 5400rpm 60GiB
Power Supply: 60W
Average CPU time: 0.3-0.5
Zentyal Services:
Network
Firewall
Antivirus
DHCP
Backup
Events
Logs
Mailfilter
Monitor
Users and Groups
Webserver
Mail
Filesharing
Groupware (Zarafa)
Modifications:
/etc/init.d/zarafa-indexer stop
/etc/crontab set daily,weekly and monthly for 03:00hrs
I intend to attach a Current Cost IAM device to monitor power consumption http://currentcost.co.uk
This is our hardware supplier http://linitx.com
This is us http://www.interlinux.co.uk
Damian L Brasher
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Hi Damian,
I don't know if that processor has enough performance to install all that modules, it depends on users usage and load. I have an ITX board too, this one with an Atom processor. It has also low power consumption and is more powerful than a C7 (Atom 230, nowadays there are newer ones, better and multi core). It's running Zentyal with File sharing, VPN, and some more modules, it works pretty well.
I don't know how much will it cost that hardware but you can compare and/or give it a try. If you want I can do test for you on my own hardware ;)
Here you have a store with some solutions with this technology:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=47
Best regards
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Hi
Yes the CPU is under heavy load, you can run these services - I do. But performance is not high. The VIA CPU is fan-less and that is the attraction.
I'm working on more configurations:)
Best Regards
Damian
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Hi Damian,
How did you get on with this?
Im hoping to use:
Fanless (silence is bliss) dual core 1.6ghz Zotac Atom Mobo
4gb ram
500gb Caviar Black for o/s
4 x 2TB drives storage to run the following:
Network
Firewall
Antivirus
DHCP
Backup
Events
Logs
Mailfilter
Monitor
Users and Groups
Webserver - (Vtiger CRM running on this) (Zentyal could do with a module for this really :-))
Mail
Filesharing
Groupware (Zarafa)
Transparent Proxy -SQUID
It will only be for 5 users in a home office scenario.
Has anyone else tried installing Zentyal on a low power PC ?
How easy would it be to build into web interface HDPARM to spin down storage drives when not in use? I know green computing is not Zentyal projects main concern, but if they want to be popular and last the distance - need to keep it in mind.
Media Streaming capability would also be a dream .....
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Helllo
I run Zentyal on an old Compaq SFF Desktop:
- Pentium III - 800 MHz
- 512 MB RAM
- 2 x 1.5 TB - WD Caviar Green
- 1 additional SATA-controller
- 1 additional PCI-NIC RTL 8139
- FD- and CD-drives removed
These modules are installed and running:
Network
Firewall
DHCP
DNS
Backup
Events
IDS
Logs
Monitor
NTP
VPN
Users and Groups
FTP
File Sharing
HTTP Proxy
User Corner
Printer Sharing
With
- 2 of 5 users online at the moment, there is a system load of: 0.26, 0.42, 0.35
- one of the HDs sleeping (as it's only a backup HD)
the power consuption is 50W.
The system ist working fine except the very slow responding zentyal webinterface.
Peter
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Nice peso7,
If you want you can try Zentyal 2.1 (RC), we have worked on a faster GUI response. Stable version will be released in September but you can join the debugging effort!
If you do it don't forget to tell us the result ;)
Best regards
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Although an almost ancient topic, but I do want to share my experience on the powerconsumption of a zentyal server.
I have a server running with the following specs:
Supermicro SC733 TQ-500B - Midtower
Supermicro MBD-X8SIL-F-O Motherboard
Intel Core I3 540 Processor
Kingston KTA-MP1333 Memory (4 * 2GB)
Western digital 500GB WD RE4 Sata2 (2 * 500GB in Raid1)
This setup is not the most energy saving solution, but I was looking for the best price/performance combo and the most important thing for me was to use enterprise grade parts. That is why I used Supermicro case and board, and WD RE4 disks.
I hooked up a energie counter between the outlet and the server for almost 36 days and energy consumption turned out like this:
| Total use 41,5 kWh |
| Total time 35d and 21h |
| Average use 48 W |
| Minimum 41 W |
| Maximum use 85W |
This can be lowered easily by using an SSD or 2.5" drive for system and a Raidset for data. When the server isn't used at night it isn't a biggie to spin down the Raidset for less power consumption. There are examples of systems equipped with an Intel Core I3 that consume less than 10W (http://ssj3gohan.tweakblogs.net/blog/6112/85w-core-i3-based-desktop-computer-%28english%29.html).
Since powerconsumption and 'green' computing are hot topics, I started to monitor power consumption. I really think low power consumption is a selling reason and although hardware is a great factor, the powersettings in the OS used are important to get to a low power consumption too.
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I'm pretty glad this topic it launched again.
I'm running Zentyal on mini-ITX too (Atom 330) and I'm strongly promoting use of lighter solutions within Zentyal.
I'm totally convinced that use of Apache as core HTTP server for console, webmail, user corner and other stuff like this is waste of resources unless you set up a very tightly controlled Apache environment.
I would go for either lighttpd, NiginX or even Cherokee that are all faster and lighter in term of CPU and memory.
Apache is too much powerful for this :P and should be kept for Webserver (although even for this I would keep one of the above)
I'm also testing some VIA CPU as NAS server (testing FreeNAS and Openfiler because Zentyal Samba is too much complex in term of account management ::)): the main drawback is lack of X64 support.
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@chris i completely agree with you that , changing the httpd to something more suitable for 'embedded' use (also excluding lighthttpd) could be benefitial for use with the administrator pannel, i do however wonder when we would want to start using lighthttpd or apache.. could we still use nginx or cherokee when using zarafa, or for example tikiwiki or some other dms like alfresco?
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I have Zentyal running on a small fanless atom pc from http://www.tranquilpcshop.co.uk/ (http://www.tranquilpcshop.co.uk/) I bought over a year ago.
It's always on so needs to be conservative with it's power and noise. It handles everything really well and even has a transmission server running.
Agree with the above comments- Apache is a bit 'fat' for home use.
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What I am curious about is when you reach the max situation you can handle with an Atom processor and when you need to scale up to something like Core I3 (or similar AMD). If you look at a more or less standard office user with internet acces, how many users could be run with an Atom CPU without stressing the server too much? What impact would database use have on an Atom CPU? Or would you guys never choose an Atom based server in production environments?
Also the used power unit has great influence in total power consumption. The closer the actual power consumption is to the uptimum, the least energie is wasted. Most server powers have 500+W power units. When they 'idle' on 42W (like my server does) this is far from optimal.
If you follow the link I posted about less than 10W ono a Core I3 system, you see that a pico PSU was used in that particular case. Now a Pico PSU is not that suitable for a server, but it would be great to have high efficient PSU's (80%+ efficiency) with lower capacity (like 200 - 300W peak).
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You are pointing in the right direction in term of wording: one have to distinguish between low power consumption and efficiency.
I don't think Atom is very efficient compared to other new Intel CPUs. Performance/consumption is not the best but consumption is low.
Then building system with new CPU and specific power supply might be better than Atom. BTW this is where systems like blades (IBM and HP) show their efficiency: multiple redundant power supplies able to adapt to power requirement: you may have only 4 power supply running at half their power for up to 16 blades where standalone servers must have at least one power supply per server. This to explain that CPU itself is not the key point.
Back to Atom: it really depends on what you do with Zentyal:
- network routing, firewall rules, DHCP and DNS consume nothing and Atom may server hundreds of users.
- proxy really depends on what you filter and how (regular expressions with Squidguard can be really slow)
- mail is OK for quite a lot of users depending on number of attachments to be scanned by anti-virus.
- not the best platform for heavy Samba users (I also run Samba -but not Zentyal) on another Atom 330
Here is a screenshot of my Zentyal internet gateway (Atom 330 = 2 CPU + HT) for one year period.
- 5 users (including 3 hard-gamers boys ;D )
- mail, proxy, firewall, DNS, DHCP, VPN
As you can see, this is pretty low 8)
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Wow christian,
I'm impressed with your setup!
Just some notes, probably you already know this but just in case, you can stop zentyal's apache (and the system one if you don't use it). That will save lot of ram and it's only needed to access the GUI. You can always start it when needed:
/usr/share/zentyal apache stop
Very interesting project!
Cheers
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I'm also using Web server but only from time to time, reason why CPU is low.
Apache is indeed consuming quite a lot of memory (although this can be tuned a bit) reason why I'm promoting use of lighter HTTP server, especially for admin purpose.
As we discuss this topic: I tried long time ago to run Ebox on the very first fitPC: it doesn't fit, because of high memory requirements while I was able to run similar services (still on this fitPC) with my own settings. Ah ah, we are very far from the various embedded VM ;D ;D
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Hi..
I used zentyal for almost a year using 1.5 - 2.0 .. but just try 2.2.1 on Oct 24th 2011, i use Dual Core Atom D510 1,66Ghz, memory 3gb, casing CFI 150watt, almost DVD size, fanless trough out this whole time since 1.5.
feature setup for gateway, FW, proxy+dansguardian+no-ads, trafficshaping, DNS, DHCP, antivirus, PDC, fileserver, monitoring, and GUI always on.
daily traffic average almost 1gb, got user with movie fanatics, kid's playing online gamers.
i remember usually system load under 1, never goes higher than 2.
this is what i got from monitoring after change into 2.2.1 for a view days. but for memory usage .. its always high ..
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Just one note,
Even if you are using webserver module you can turn off Zentyal's apache, it will free lots of memory.
*Note that slaves need it enabled to receive updates from master
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What is the server behind Zentyal webserver module if you can turn Apache off ?
Isn't Apache also used for User corner ?
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They are different apache instances, so you can turn them off individually.
zentyal apache stop will stop zentyal's gui
zentyal usercorner stop will stop User corner
zentyal webserver stop will stop common apache
Cheers
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Hi
I do not use usercorner, but use the webserver for lightsquid .. never work on weekly stat in sarg .. :p
I need to monitor 12 pc, 9 of them are my neighbours community, which is deeply in love with facebook, fb games, youtube, some online movie site and 3 teenagers that could not stop playing PointBlank Online, ..
i try to disable the zentyal webserver service as per cperez said ... hope it can reduce the memory usage ..
Regards
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At this moment we are testing the AMD Athlon II Neo N36L an N40L processors in combination with the Proliant solution of HP. We are using Ubuntu 10.04 and 11.10 as base platform in combination with Virtualbox (headless) with 3 Zentyal VM`s (Firewall, LDAP/PDC and Zarafa).
Hardware:
2x Seagate Barracuda Green 160GB 7200rpm (raid 1) os disks.
2x Seagate Barracuda Green 1T 7200rpm (raid 1) VM/Data disks.
1x dual port PCI-e nic (pci-e1x)
1x quad port PCI-e nic (pci-e16x)
2x 4gb DDR3
On full load 71.1 We have 5 setups running in production environment (between 4 and 10 users) and it really runs great. Thats why we are planning a new business solution for a all-inn rent with support and hardware for 149 euro a month (with full next business day support).
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Hi JeanPaul,
Interesting setup. Do you have any figures about performance of the AMD processors? (load and max amount of concurrent VM's and users etc...
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Hi Rob,
We did some testing with 5 concurrent VM`s (all with dedicated nic`s) in the following configuration:
Firewall with Content Filter and IDS (2 nic - 1 wan / 1 lan)
LDAP (1 nic)
Samba (2 bound nics)
Zarafa (1 nic)
Infrastructure with DHCP, DNS and Intranet webserver (1 nic)
The main power of VM in my opinion in a small environment is that 1 error or problem in a VM/OS doesn't shutdown the whole proces in a company.
The only problem we discovered are some issues with the Zentyal OS in a Virtualbox environment. But we are working on those configuration items outself.
At this moment we are running Status2K on the Ubuntu 11.10 units. So at the end of this week i can tell you some more about load at operation, nightly cloud backup and idle.
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Hi Jean Paul,
Any updates on this?
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The main power of VM in my opinion in a small environment is that 1 error or problem in a VM/OS doesn't shutdown the whole proces in a company.
Could you please elaborate a bit on this? What do you mean and what is the based line:
Multiple VMs on one single hardware to be compared to many applications on on single OS?
Which would mean that you perceive VM as a way to segregate processes in "safe" (from OS standpoint) environments.
In such a case, I believe, but might be wrong, that this is supported by the BSoD syndrome ;D
Notice I'm not saying that VM is bad, useless, or whatever like this. This is rather the opposite but I'm also willing to understand better why people are so prone to deploy such kind of environments.
I mean VM without highly available back-end storage and highly available hardware is as risky as one single server supporting all your applications isn't it?
There is an extra "cost" because of the underlying OS and extra complexity, benefit being, as you wrote, that BSoD will not crash everything but only one environment.
Am I correct with this understanding?
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I think you are right with assuming he seggregates each service in a 'sandbox' / VM.
I think it is debatable if that is the most efficient way to go since you have to devide memory over all VM's. This could end up in a lot of swapping of 1 VM while other VM's have still a lot of memory available.
However, a great advantage of VM's is the option of making backups quickly through snapshots. You have to figure out for yourself what the best/easiest/cheapest/etc... way is in your situation.
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Your point about snapshot is correct and capability to reinstall easily your platform because your VM is made of one single file is pretty clear. (assuming backup is made outside of your big platform obviously ;)
But backup is complex.
This is another very interesting topic where I've unfortunately poor (kind of) understanding.
How will VM behave compared to file system like ZFS for what concerns snapshot capability and how will this provide capability to restore consistent environment?
For platform made of flat files, almost everything works as there is very little chance to have inconsistent data. But as soon as you have relational database, snapshot without prerequisite action might not be enough to ensure that what you have saved can be reused once restored.
You may have to put your DB in "begin backup mode", take the snapshot and then "end backup" to apply pending write operations on your DB.
Will VM have some advantages from this standpoint? I need to learn a bit more in this area... :-[
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You want low power? We've been running a FitPC2i (2GB
RAM, 2 GBit ethernet ports) for a year now.
It consumes a whopping 7 watts at full load (I've measured it, it's about 5 watts when idle).
Primary uses: DNS, DHCP, Firewall, HTTP Proxy and Samba
My one major complaint is apache. If I use ssh -X and lxsession to use log into the Zentyal user interface, the response is reasonable. If I connect from a workstation via https, the response ranges from ok to pathetic. I definitely wouldn't recommend it as a web server, although, come to think of it, my apt-cacher page loads instantly, although I'm not certain that it uses apache or has it's own web server.
We have a 750Mb internet connection which we regularly max out with no problems from the FitPC2i.
From an end-user's point of view, it does the job nicely. From an admin's point of view, where I depend on the web interface, it's irritating but workable. If I'm in a hurry, I just use lxsession and put up with the re-configuration of my workstation desktop.
Output from lshw, for anyone interested:
fitpc2i
description: Computer
product: CM-iAM/SBC-FITPC2i
vendor: CompuLab
version: Not Applicable
serial: Not Applicable
width: 32 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.5 dmi-2.5 smp-1.4 smp
configuration: administrator_password=disabled boot=oem-specific cpus=1 frontpanel_password=unknown keyboard_password=unknown power-on_password=disabled
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: CM-iAM/SBC-FITPC2i
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
version: 1.x
serial: Not Applicable
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
physical id: 0
version: NAPA0001.86C.0000.D.1009141059 (09/14/2010)
size: 97KiB
capacity: 960KiB
capabilities: isa pci pcmcia pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot acpi usb agp biosbootspecification
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU Z550 @ 2.00GHz
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@0
version: 6.12.2
serial: 0001-06C2-0000-0000-0000-0000
slot: U3E1
size: 2GHz
capacity: 2666MHz
width: 32 bits
capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp vme de tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority pse
configuration: id=1
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 5
slot: L1 Cache
size: 64KiB
capacity: 64KiB
capabilities: asynchronous internal write-back
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 6
slot: L2 Cache
size: 512KiB
capacity: 512KiB
capabilities: burst external write-back
*-logicalcpu:0
description: Logical CPU
physical id: 1.1
width: 32 bits
capabilities: logical
*-logicalcpu:1
description: Logical CPU
physical id: 1.2
width: 32 bits
capabilities: logical
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 12
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 2GiB
*-bank
description: SODIMM DDR2 Synchronous
physical id: 0
slot: soldered
size: 2GiB
width: 32 bits
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo)
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:d8080000-d80fffff ioport:1800(size=8) memory:d0000000-d7ffffff memory:d8000000-d801ffff
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) PCI Express Port 1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:17 ioport:2000(size=4096) memory:d8100000-d81fffff memory:d8500000-d85fffff(prefetchable)
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:01:c0:08:8e:69
size: 1GB/s
capacity: 1GB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full ip=192.168.57.200 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=1GB/s
resources: irq:24 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:d8100000-d8100fff memory:d8500000-d850ffff(prefetchable) memory:d8520000-d853ffff(prefetchable)
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) PCI Express Port 2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.1
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:16 ioport:3000(size=4096) memory:d8200000-d82fffff memory:d8600000-d86fffff(prefetchable)
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eth1
version: 02
serial: 00:01:c0:08:8e:6a
size: 10MB/s
capacity: 1GB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=10MB/s
resources: irq:25 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:d8200000-d8200fff memory:d8600000-d860ffff(prefetchable) memory:d8620000-d863ffff(prefetchable)
*-usb:0
description: USB Controller
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) USB UHCI #1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:23 ioport:1820(size=32)
*-usb:1
description: USB Controller
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) USB UHCI #2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.1
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:19 ioport:1840(size=32)
*-usb:2
description: USB Controller
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) USB UHCI #3
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.2
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:18 ioport:1860(size=32)
*-usb:3
description: USB Controller
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) USB EHCI #1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.7
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.7
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm debug bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:21 memory:d8020000-d80203ff
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) LPC Bridge
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: isa
configuration: driver=isch_smbus latency=0
resources: irq:0
*-ide
description: IDE interface
product: System Controller Hub (SCH Poulsbo) IDE Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.1
logical name: scsi0
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: ide bus_master emulated
configuration: driver=pata_sch latency=0
resources: irq:0 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:1810(size=16)
*-disk
description: ATA Disk
product: WDC WD7500BPVT-2
vendor: Western Digital
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
version: 01.0
serial: WD-WXG1EB0NHX11
size: 698GiB (750GB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=00078607
*-volume:0
description: Linux filesystem partition
vendor: Linux
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sda1
logical name: /boot
version: 1.0
serial: 2a106660-5d91-4484-a969-391933d05e96
size: 243MiB
capacity: 243MiB
capabilities: primary bootable ext2 initialized
configuration: filesystem=ext2 modified=2011-12-11 00:59:49 mount.fstype=ext2 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=continue mounted=2011-11-26 00:46:02 state=mounted
*-volume:1
description: Extended partition
physical id: 2
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2
logical name: /dev/sda2
size: 698GiB
capacity: 698GiB
capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended
*-logicalvolume
description: Linux LVM Physical Volume partition
physical id: 5
logical name: /dev/sda5
serial: fwqJpw-giIV-KUbZ-adUa-N5KM-PTKS-rFdltZ
size: 698GiB
capacity: 698GiB
capabilities: multi lvm2
*-remoteaccess UNCLAIMED
vendor: Intel
physical id: 1
capabilities: inbound
*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 2
logical name: wlan0
serial: 00:0d:f0:8d:e9:2f
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
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I've used FitPC in the past too (the very first version) and was very happy with this, running full internet gateway but not Zentyal. As you wrote, Apache on FitPC doesn't make sense. and the first FitPC devices were a bit short in term of CPU & memory to run efficient HTTP filter. On the other hand, power consumption was very low meaning UPS was able to keep network and firewall up in case of power failure for a while ;)
I would be happy to do the same with Zentyal but this is another story :-[
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At this moment we are testing the AMD Athlon II Neo N36L an N40L processors in combination with the Proliant solution of HP. We are using Ubuntu 10.04 and 11.10 as base platform in combination with Virtualbox (headless) with 3 Zentyal VM`s (Firewall, LDAP/PDC and Zarafa).
I had a look at this server few days ago (mainly thanks to this topic) and this is indeed a very interesting server for perfect Zentyal deployment (although not with VMs as Jean Paul does).
- one additional NIC (ou dual or quad depending on how many interfaces you need)
- small SSD as system disk
- 8GB of memory if you want to use ZFS
This is going to be much faster than any Atom based config and even cheaper ;D
I'm definitely going to give a try very soon and will let you know. Stay tuned ;)
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I know this topic is old, but thought I would post my experience running Zentyal on a low power pc.
I have been running Zentyal on my hardware for about a year and have had no problems at all! The server runs without a monitor attached and remote access is performed via xRDP. The server is just being used as a home server with about 6 devices on the network.
The hardware is:
- Intel Atom D525 (1M Cache, 1.80 GHz) http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/desktop-board-d525mw.html
- 4GB Ram
- 1TB HD
- 1TB USB External HD for Backups
- 2 x Gigabit Ethernet ports
The following modules are enabled:
- HTTP Proxy
- DHCP
- DNS
- NTP
- OpenVPN
- File Sharing (Active Directory PDC)
- Printer Sharing
- Zarafa
- Webserver (with OwnCloud)
I have enabled and disabled various other modules over the course of the year and the server had coped well, understandable the only limitation is running virtual machines.
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I just ordred some new hardware for a build.
Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-H87N-WIFI
CPU:
Core i5 I5-4570S 6 MB (Haswell)
HDD:
4x WD Red WD30EFRX 3 TB
Ram:
Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x8GB 16GB - Low profile
CPU Cooler:
Noctua NH-L9i
Case:
NSC-400
Maybe overkill?
Going to run the following:
Samba4(File, PDC, Shares)
DNS
DHCP
Gateway(Firewall)
OpenVPN(Client and site-to-site)
Proxy(DNS caching and Proxy cahcing, file and sites)
VoIP
Mail(POP3,IMAP, SMTP and Webmail)
Jabber
Thin Clients
Arround 50-60 clients are going to be joined to the Domain using all the features.
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Arround 50-60 clients are going to be joined to the Domain using all the features.
Will those clients all be thin clients?
Then your setup looks a bit low on redundancy (and maybe low on RAM)
I know a lot of theoretical 'advices' are available and 'rules of thumb' for sizing LTSP configurations. IMO those 'rules of thumb' never come close to the real use of memory, especially when all users have multiple tabs open in Firefox and several documents open in Libreoffice and reading PDF's at the same time.
The only way of reducing memory usage is having fat clients where memory applications like Firefox are installed on the client or inside the chroot.
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Not all Thin clients, maybe 5-6 of them.