Ronald's picture

Hello everyone.

I am installing considering installing Turnkey Linux on a computer I am reporposed as a server.

I have tried multiple other options, but they are either beyond my scope or not really what I want.

If I install the LAMP modue, can I install multiple CMS modules as well while still being able to writed my own code with my editor without any conflicts? (conflicts such as multiple componets not playing well together)

I want to set up my own test and web development environment. I want it extensile, dependable and stable.

Should I install the LAMP module to bare metal,  then add other modules as needed, or would it be better to install in a vmware invironment?

Can vmware be installed first on bare metal, then install Lamp and other modules inside of that?  Seems like vmware would have to be installed to a host first ?

I want multiple appliances installed on the machine which will be compatible, extensible and dependable.

I would like to be able to switch between projects and technologies at will.  I am new to  web development

and could use some advice and knowledge of the community. I am going the self taught route untill I feel confident I can complete a coders boot camp. (Full stack javascript)

I kow there is a lot here, but only answer what you can. All opions welcome, including "constructive" critisism.

I am simply here to learn to help me achive my goals. I would like to learn from you, the backbone of of the kwoledge presented in this community

I thank you all in advance for reading my post

Ron

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Jeremy Davis's picture

I have been using ProxmoxVE (Proxmox Virtual Environment) for years now and have found that it's a brilliant thing. It's a somewhat like VMware vSphere, but all open source and not as limited.

It does require an x86_64 capable CPU (i.e. 64 bit AKA amd64 - note it's not just an AMD thing, Intel CPUs also support the spec). It also needs what is commonly referred to as "CPU virtual extensions" - VT-x (Intel) or AMD-v (AMD). You need to have a CPU that supports it (most recent CPUs do and almost all AMD CPUs, Intel CPUs older than a few years you may need to check your specific model). That will need to be enabled in your BIOS/UEFI too. Historically usually AMDs have it enabled by default, but Intel needs to be enabled, but I'm not sure if that's still the case.

If you choose not to purchase a subscription, then there is a nag screen on log in, but IMO that's a very small price to pay for such awesome software.

As well as providing full virtualisation (so you can run any OS you like including Windows), it also supports containers. And actually TurnKey are partnered with them so you can install TurnKey containers directly within the Proxmox WebUI! :)

There will be a bit of a learning curve, but the web UI is pretty intuitive IMO and considering it's unique name google should give you pretty relevant results if you're looking for further guidance. Their wiki (docs) are pretty good too.

Because containers are really light weight, you will be able to have a number of containers active so you can use individual LAMP appliances for your tinkering and development. That will ensure that there is no conflicts between any of your apps as they can each have their own container. You can then treat your containers as somewhat disposable which is the way it should be IMO...

I hope that gets you started! :)

Ronald's picture

Thank you Jeremy.

I checked out Proxmox and it looks pretty good!!

I am going to download it today and see if I can get it going. Thank you for the very helpful and

thoughtful reply.

Ron

Jeremy Davis's picture

Personally I mostly use (TurnKey) containers on my home Proxmox server.

But FYI you can also install TurnKey to a full VM (from ISO). That is a little more mucking around as you need to download the ISO from us, then upload it to Proxmox, then go through the full install process. But full virtualisation does provide better isolation and AFAIK provides more concrete hard limits on RAM/CPU usage (e.g. if you want to do load testing).

Also this probably doesn't apply to you not yet anyway); but FYI if you later decide you wish to migrate your data to a new server you can use TKLBAM for that. Besides being a platform agnostic backup, it also allows you to migrate your data between instances. For example, you can migrate data between a container and a full VM, or from a local instance to a cloud server, e.g. AWS.

One other thing to keep in mind, is that TurnKey servers are not "modules". They are monolithic, stand alone servers that include a full OS (somewhat pared down in the container builds). That is part of the reason why I suggested a hypervisor such as Proxmox. There is no reason why you couldn't host a number of different applications on a single server, but you'll need to manually install the additional apps and reconfigure your server to serve them. IMO that is where containers really shine. You can have multiple appliances running on the same host and because the overhead is so low (~5%) they have relatively low resource footprint. I.e. the server should use less resources as a container than as a full VM (or bare metal) and has minimal virtualisation overhead.

Regardless, I'd be interested to hear how you go.

Ronald's picture

Hello Jeremy.

I installed Proxmmox today. Very easy install, no issues.

May I ask which build to select? (VM or ISO) I have had little time to check it over much so far, but I don't recall seeing an app manager to grab and install the appliances like LAMP, Wordpress, ect. 

Thank you

This has been very helpful

Ron 

 

Ronald's picture

I fiddled around with this set up a little more and found all I was looking for. I can't thank you enough for pointing me in this direction. I got LAMP installed and I will add Joomla or Wordpress and try them out. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks Jeremy

 

Jeremy Davis's picture

I'm really busy behind the scenes at the moment, so haven't been as active on hte forums as I would like, sorry about that.

Regardless, I'm really glad to hear that you found what you were after and everything seems to be working really nicely for you! Great news! :)

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