Topic: SME on Virtual Server host

[alienjones]

Good day...
Long time since I used SME. My link to the world is not fast enough so I need to consider using a Virtual server or co-hosting. Can anyone offer any help or even to install SME for on a Virtual server please?

All my previous E-Smith and SME installs were as a server for private networks. Australia is falling behind with the rest of the world. The only affordable link I can get is ADSL2+ which is as slow as an overweight dog trying to scratch it's nose. DSL is out of the question too. I have to either use a different server system or install SME on a Virtual. I'm not skilled enough to tackle that task.

All or any help will be gratefully accepted.

[janet]

alienjones

Use the search link above to search for forum posts by RequestedDeletion. He pointed out a hosting solution in recent months.

[alienjones]

alienjones

Use the search link above to search for forum posts by RequestedDeletion. He pointed out a hosting solution in recent months.

Thanks Mary but this is about using SME as a virtual server. I actually want to install it on a debian powered virtual server. If you look around hosting plans you'll see its possible to rent a bare virtual server. It's not possible (as I understand the instructions) to format the "drive" and install a new OS. For SME to work as SME is intended, it needs to be installed on the virtual machine.
"Virtual server" A partition on an existing server which visualizes or mimics a standalone computer. I'm of the opinion I can install apache or any linux application on this server, I just can't change the fact it is a debian OS divided into numerous virtual servers that by themselves can host or run any linux software.

SME is a standalone operating system that sets about formatting the drive of the host machine before installing itself. It takes control of the PC it is installed on. Maybe I'll ask the VS provider. They might know more about the quirks of having an imaginary server alongside several other imaginary servers. I've successfully installed directory software but I want to take to project into the area of hosted sites within SME. Last time I asked myself why I spent six month fiddling wiht SME only to discover the shocking up stream access speed of ADSL  services.

[janet]

alienjones

A 15 second search found this post by RequestedDeletion
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,48812.msg243010.html#msg243010

It seems to be what you are requesting.

[alienjones]

Thanks Mary,
I searched (using his name) as far back as 2004 and only found the YUM reference. I'll follow up on this.

[guest22]

@alienjones,

as Mary indicated, I have virtual SME8 servers running. And yes, several providers do let you install your own ISO next to standard distros they offer to start with.

Looking for a good hosting provider, there are several things you may want to consider:

- Virtualization based on KVM which is part of the linux kernel, so no need to customize anything
- Provider needs to provide the option to install your own ISO
- Out off band access, meaning your provider provides access to your virtual server as if you are physically there
- Price quality balance, that is totally up to you.

My experiences showed that currently Alvotech (I am based in Europe) has all of the above and a great price/quality balance. I am in no way (commercially) involved with them, just sharing experiences.

https://www.alvotech.de/vserver/kvm/compare/

As Mary said, it would possibly fit your bill. If you need more assistance, simply pop the questions.

guest

ps. Just to share what my Virtual SME8 64-bit server(s) do:
- Basic SME8 64-bit
- Server gateway mode (http://wiki.contribs.org/Virtual_Network_Card)
- Asterisk (http://www.sailpbx.com/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page)
- Groupware (http://wiki.contribs.org/Zarafa_on_SME8)
- Websites (http://wiki.contribs.org/Wordpress)

All work perfectly including Asterisk, SIP gateways and real-time conferencing (additional services required)

[alienjones]

I greatly appreciate your reply.

I'm in Australia and because of string and tin can telephony system this country has I need to have all my high load sites physically located in this country. I'll ask my current provider and then (if needed) start shopping around for the privileges. Paranoia seems to control people's thinking here.

If I were to buy Ethernet access it would cost me over $500 per month for what I now have with Virtual servers for $140. per month each. I tried the US, Malaysia, Europe hosting options that look so cheap but sadly you only get what you pay for.

I'll let you know how I go next week. Maybe draw on your help if you don't mind.

Ping Mary... I looked in the wrong group for the post. I should have looked in the entire forum instead of the group I was in. Thanks for your politeness.   

[guest22]

@alienjones,

'because of string and tin can telephony system this country has I need to have all my high load sites physically located in this country'

Is this true? Basically from what I understand from the above, it should not matter where your servers physically are, all of you down under suffer from the same right?

Meaning, your admin tasks by means of server-manager or ssh would result in the same 'lag' or ping times for you and your visitors/clients. (me remembering friends of mine complaining about Telstra and/or satellite)

My suggestion would be to give it a try. Contract period with the company I earlier mentioned is short and cheap. It will also provide you with the opportunity to 'watch and learn' for yourself. I'll help.

guest

[alienjones]

I kid you not. Ping times I haven't done lately but when I had a Virtual server at mydomain.com access was slower than from a local $18 Cpanel account. Godaddy who don't exactly have a reputation for high speed anyway was so slow, I was getting complaints from people trying to access my directory (they paid to be in) that searching for their services often resulted in time out errors.

I'm not talking about anything fancy here, just a simple mysql web directory. The problem is in the under sea and over desert links we have to the outside world. They are just not capable of taking today's load where every youth and bored adult wants to watch Utube movies at full 1080p resolution via cable or ADSL2+.

Often when I try to view an instruction video from IBM or Adobe I have to actually download the entire movie while I sleep so I can watch it uninterrupted in the morning.

Not many people can understand that Australia is the largest Island nation in the world yet has about the the same population as New York City, give or take a few thousand. It takes me five days to drive home to see my mother in Perth (I live in Brisbane). Only 30% of the journey has reliable mobile phone access. No wonder the Government disarmed the population a few years ago!

[guest22]

Fair enough. Looking at this list http://www.vpsau.com/ (KVM ones) I'm afraid it's not going to be cheap...

[alienjones]

Well... cheep is like what you get paying staff with peanuts

The host I currently have a few VPS and a reseller account with ...is not on that list. I'm not surprised. They are a wholesale only host.

I'm writing to the head Tech now to see how much of a bribe he'll take to install SME for me. I'm not a master of coding, more into illustration so I just pay people to do what I can't and avoid the stress. Like that Greek shipping fellow, Onassis once said: "If a project is worth doing, it can stand the cost of of doing it" I haven't totally abandoned the idea of getting neighbouring businesses to share the cost of our own Ethernet link. Distance is always a fly in the ointment around here so it might not work.

I'll let you know how it turns out next week.

[alienjones]

Sorry to reply to myself...
I just looked at the prices of your Euro host and did a trace on the connection. That's not outside what I'm prepared to handle. I should pay more attention. The devil is always in the detail, isn't it? In 1994 when I first got into websites and hosting, anything in Europe was dial-up speed. Ill explore this some more. Thanks for the preserverence.

[guest22]

For your reference, here's some stats on the connection/route from my office to my VPS SME8 server. Obviously both in Europe.

http://imgur.com/jp8hi

[alienjones]

Thanks for all your time RequestedDeletion. When I read your last message "Obviously both in Europe" I decided to check access times for an idea what to expect if I moved my needs to Denmark.

You can check my results yourself:
http://www.ip-adress.com/whois/imgur.com then substitute alvotech.de in place of your domain name.
The results from this site have always been impeccable in the past. They just query other reputable sources and put it all together in human readable form.

AJ.

 

[guest22]

FYI I've submitted a patch to make it possible to run SME Server 8 as a VPS that only has 1 NIC available.

http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7200