DLD-UK wrote: 
> Hi,
> 
> I've been running LMS on WHS 2011 on an HP N40L for years and it has
> always been very stable. Some years ago I bought an N54L with the
> intention of adding more disk space but I just never got around to it.
> Lately, the N40L has been powering itself off (I have no idea why?) and
> it seems time to move to the N54L.
> 
> The question is which operating system to choose? As well as running LMS
> the server has only been used as a file server but now I would like to
> also run an email server that can be accessed from my PC's and iPad.
> 
> Anyone got any advice on which operating system to choose? I'd like it
> to be Linux based as my next PC upgrade will run Linux rather than
> Windows 10. I have seen ClearOS, Zentyal and others but have no idea
> which to choose.
> 
> I used to run MusicIP and I would like the ability for the server to
> automatically play a selection of music. As the N40L has been so stable
> I have not kept up to date with the state of LMS and the various addons.
> So any advice on that would be much appreciated. Should I be looking at
> Roon or is LMS still the best option? I have a number of Squeezebox
> devices around the house so that is the priority music wise.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> DLD

DLD,

I don’t know how far you’ve got with your deliberations, or even if you
are still reading this thread. Personally. I would not want to be tied
to propriety ClearOS or paid for Zentyal when other more flexible
alternatives could be used on your hardware.  I suppose the front
runners are Ubuntu Server 16.04.3 LTS(long term support), Debian 9 or
Centos7. 

Ease of installation, use, and maintenance (adding & updating software,
backups etc) are the usual considerations, where “ease” is comparative
and relative to your own linux skills.  If you are already contemplating
using linux on your desktop, you might want to use a similar flavour of
linux on your server rather than trying to grapple with two distinct
flavours of linux at once.  For example, depending on your PC spec, the
latest Kubuntu 17.04 would be a good choice for your desktop with either
Ubuntu or debian for your server.  

A typical basic linux server install would leave you in text mode
working at the command line unless you also installed something like
webmin, but a very good alternative is Open Media Vault 3 which has
already been mentioned. OMV 3 is based on debian 8, and a new OMV 4
based on debian 9 is not far off. 

OMV would turn your N54L into a NAS where functions beyond a basic fie
server are provided for by various plugins.   There is not one for LMS,
but it can be added via a little work at the command line and MusicIP
plugin is still present in the latest versions of LMS.  If you want to
be a little more adventurous, you could use the docker plugin to run LMS
in a container.  

I don’t know how many hard drives you have, or if you’ve used RAID
and/or some kind of drive pooling (stablebit?) in WHS2011.  Nor have you
mentioned if you’ve put a laptop drive into the ODD bay which a lot of
N54L owners have done.  So, you are going to have to think about what
the equivalents are in Linux.  OMV uses a modified debian installer
which assumes you have a disk dedicated to its use, while your data
resides on other drives.  Hence the idea of using a laptop drive for the
OMV system itself while keeping the other four drive bays free.  

OMV is not going to make use of the N54L inbuilt RAID (which is not a
true hardware RAID controller) but uses the tried and tested Linux
“mdadm” software.  But its up to you if you choose to place your hard
drives in a RAID or not.  Email is not one of my strong points, but if
you just want your N54L to act as central client for your external
provider which your other net devices can then access, there are plugins
to help do this. 

Help documents are not a strong point of OMV, but there is a lively
forum with some basic how-to guides and there are some good videos on
youtube to get you started.  OMV will happily run in virtualbox for test
purposes.


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