Connectivity question for the mob...

Tue Apr 14 08:52:58 MST 2020

Inline:

On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 8:30 PM David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss <
plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:

> Thanks for that, Michael.
>
> The thing is, I’ll just have 2 computers, and if I stack them together and
> hardwire them with a short wire, then I’m thinking I don’t need to connect
> them via the network, right? They can both be connected to the network, but
> … can't I just hook them together via ethernet or Thunderbolt or USB3 and
> speed things up?
>

You'd probably just connect them both to a gig switch, it's probably no
slower than the disk you're copying from, assuming it's a spinner disk.
Export over nfs should be quick enough with a decent switch, even without
use of jumbo frames.

I have a 55” 4k TV that I use as my monitor. It’s equivalent to 4 x HD
> monitors. Works great for my needs. Which is why I only need two computers.
>

I do much the same using 3x 48" 4k tv's that replaced my 6x 24" 1080p
lcds.  I get some quirks using the TV's under linux, but that's another
story.

My VMs run VirtualBox. They’re Windows machines, mostly Win 7. Right now I
> just run VirtualBox and start up a VM that I want to use. I usually put
> them to sleep when I’m done working b/c I’ve found they get trashed if the
> computer farts while a VM is open and the computer went to sleep.
>
> I guess I’m wondering what I’d run “locally” to access a desktop on the
> other machine full-screen (4k) so it looks local. With VNC or RDP, do I
> need something running on the other machine? (I’ve used them but never set
> them up.)
>
> After I my original post, I guess that to run the VMs locally, I’d connect
> to the machine’s file system as a shared FS, then set up VirtualBox and
> link it directly to the VMs in the shared volume. I’m still wondering if
> that would cause it to copy the file to the local machine first, or just
> page it out normally.
>

Do you really need the second computer for anything other than the
storage?  You could remove the disk, throw it in an enclosure (usb or
thunderbolt), and just plug it into your main system, running the VM's
there now - I tend to recycle old storage like this when I don't need
redundant disks.

Otherwise you can keep the second box headless, and just RDP to your
windoze box when needed.  It's not gonna be a fast display/framebuffer as
if you were local (think refresh rate), but if just using it for desktop
use and no gaming/movies (windoze is my visio hypervisor mostly), native
windoze RDP is just fine, and far better than vnc in my experience.

If using something like linux or other vm appliance without decent display
sharing (linux still sucks at this), you can have vbox present them as a
vnc desktop too directly in settings for the vm, but I rather cringe using
vnc these days for lack of security features.

An an out-of-the-box thought … would it work to set the machines up as some
> kind of cluster? I know that’s possible, but I’ve not looked into it ever,
> and I’m not sure it’s even useful in this situation. Maybe someone who
> knows can chime in.
>

Aside from the concept of a cluster sounding cool, it's not useful unless
you are running software that really needs it (ie. blender render farms),
or some scale/redundancy play.  I sync my most important data usually
between at least 2 workstations and two storage NAS's, not necessarily a
*cluster*, but I know my data will always be in one of 4 places always.
Might be meaningful for you to sync important data between the two as well
should one ever die.

I usually just tell people to get themselves a little Synology NAS for
storage, get a little redundancy (ideally), and just keep your data there
on a headless system you can throw in a closet or anywhere as you never
really see or touch it.

>
> -David Schwartz
>
>
>
> On Apr 13, 2020, at 7:33 PM, Michael Butash <michael at butash.net> wrote:
>
> If you want your storage on one system, but compute on another, that's
> iscsi/nfs shared with an external compute.  This is more enterprise-y for
> remote storage, but you can export nfs between them easy enough with
> how-to's and run vm's remote, presuming your network and storage can handle
> the iops.
>
> If you want to access the virtual desktop via vnc/rdp running on another
> system, you just need a server and client for either vnc, or rdp.
>
> You can run a vnc session per virtual desktop in virtualbox and flip
> between them mostly.  I tend to go for a multi-monitor giant workspace with
> multiple systems/windows across them, but works well when in various
> systems and workspaces in enterprises doing work.
>
> If your vm's run on your local system, you can attach to the desktop
> framebuffer direct via vbox ui console, and across as many systems as you
> can run.  I usually run multiple vm systems at a time with the console,
> some with desktops (tails mostly), most others not, but use vbox
> effectively with it, and/or kvm on my desktop when the desktop works.  If I
> get frisky, I spawn multiple monitors on windoze to use like a dual or
> 3-monitor setup when using visio in a large setup with vbox.  Even 4k
> displays this has worked with vbox, kvm not so much.
>
> Oracle is good for something at least with vbox being a decent product
> over time, at least until they try to sue you randomly for using it
> <https://u2206659.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=SJEG7TF39YLaAIMD0HhsfFi6GR-2FtlhKV28fVcHCMyh6PTNz8KJqDuBnwf1w4hIVFuP-2Bgtb-2Bq0I0IR4h0ndOobmo1retiO7JrV0MAoWRQGWI-3DWhnp_o-2BjQxMsWfboH-2B-2BcY2qb3IYCoqvthnvff9ftZz0pNEJ2tF1jbVlVBtrlaPYq4av3GOwPiP8adQOKRa80-2FrUnMFC5K11mzLNi94MfAK0sTSUcnXYIX32gr49Ops-2F80GmjBgcJlKFD-2BDQy3PV1U5JAtA-2Fq0Si7aRr-2Fev92MPYi4BJLDqNz2fjVL1RfBZArWScN9yTsdz-2Fu9P6tLMXZ60IvOhobMtxAQ3wcnMM4MsXnBpnpVF9U8sQhQdAGt0asE4H0Du-2B4PO1V1qaAL2uYQc17giQ-3D-3D>
> .
>
> -mb
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 12, 2020 at 2:28 AM David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss <
> plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>
>> Well, how would you approach what I’m asking about in your preferred *nix
>> platform? I’m sure there’s a very similar if not identical way to solve it
>> in my situation.
>>
>> -David Schwartz
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Apr 12, 2020, at 1:51 AM, Steve Litt via PLUG-discuss <
>> plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > Wouldn't these questions be better asked in a Mac mailing list?
>> >
>> > SteveT
>> >
>> > On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 07:41:26 +0000 (UTC)
>> > David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >> I’ve got a 2014 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM and 2TB of SSD.
>> >>
>> >> I’m thinking of getting a newer one with more RAM, which can be
>> >> upgraded by uers. But the SSD is soldered to the board, so it’s not
>> >> expandable. (My 2014 unit has space for a couple of 2.5” drives I
>> >> guess, and it can be upgraded in the field as well, although I bought
>> >> this from an outfit that did the upgrade.)
>> >>
>> >> I have some VMs that take up 80-120 GB of disk space, and they eat up
>> >> nearly 700 GB of SSD.
>> >>
>> >> At work, we have a bunch of VMs on servers somewhere that we can
>> >> access via VNC connections. Of course, we have to be logged in to our
>> >> company domain using VPN. So there’s a lot of overhead in
>> >> communicating with those VMs.
>> >>
>> >> As an aside, I think one of the coolest things about MacOS is it’s
>> >> multiple desktops — I think they call them “Spaces” these days. I
>> >> have 10 of them set up that I can access via <Ctrl-1> .. <Ctrl-0>. I
>> >> use different desktops for different things, and usually keep apps
>> >> and browser windows open for related stuff on the same desktop.
>> >>
>> >> Now suppose I were to get a new faster Mac Mini with more RAM and
>> >> literally stack it on top of my existing one. I’m curious about a
>> >> couple of things.
>> >>
>> >> First, what’s the best way to set things up so I could use one the
>> >> way I currently am (eg, as my “desktop” machine), and then set up a
>> >> VNC window (or ?) on one or more of the desktops so when I switch to
>> >> them, it looks like I’m working on the other machine?
>> >>
>> >> The other thing I’m wondering is how to go about using the “desktop”
>> >> machine (assume it’s the newer one) to run VMs or apps that reside on
>> >> the other (headless) machine with minimal delays in data access.
>> >>
>> >> Like … would I stick a short ethernet cable between the two e-net
>> >> ports? (Would it need to be wired as a null-modem / cross-over
>> >> cable?) Or maybe a short Thunderbolt or USB3 cable between them?
>> >> Would a hardwire connection be faster than using WiFi through my
>> >> router? I do realize that if I got a 3rd machine, I’d probably need a
>> >> switch. But with just two?
>> >>
>> >> As I said, my VMs are 80-120 GB, and since I only have 16 GB of RAM,
>> >> clearly it’s not necessary to have the entire VM loaded to run it.
>> >> Copying them in their entirey can take a while, so is it even
>> >> possible to run one on my “desktop” machine even if it’s residing on
>> >> the other machine — without copying it?
>> >>
>> >> (I’ve read where people used to use Apple’s OSX Server for things
>> >> like this, but it has apparently been so dumbed-down that people say
>> >> it’s useless today.)
>> >>
>> >> -David Schwartz
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