virtual s/w

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sam-I-am
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 7:58 pm

virtual s/w

Post by sam-I-am » Fri Jun 17, 2016 5:36 am

The computer I'm using as a server is now about 7 years old, so I figure I should pro-actively replace it, before it dies on me. Based on what I've seen on this board, lots of people use virtual computers as servers...any virtual software recommendations? Thanks in advance, Sam Barr

drmkpillai
Posts: 58
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2014 1:43 am

Re: virtual s/w

Post by drmkpillai » Fri Jun 17, 2016 6:38 pm

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stjames70
Posts: 101
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:24 am

Re: virtual s/w

Post by stjames70 » Sun Jun 19, 2016 7:53 pm

Are you looking for web server hosting or an actual local physical server?

If you are looking for a local physical server, this is our setup:

We have used Mac OS X MacPro's as servers since 2008 using VMWare Fusion.

Our virtual server on a MacPro is running Windows Server 2012 while our virtual workstations are running either Win 8 or Win 10.

The virtual server has the Open Dental database and Dexis 11. The virtual machine is backed up to two separate RAID arrays on a daily basis while the physical server's OS X is also backed up on the same schedule.

In the eight years we have had this setup, our virtual machine has died two or three times -- the office was back in action in less than one hour in all instances. We did lose some data -- but no more than 24 hours because of the backup schedule.

Also, we have all the drives encrypted -- only problem is if you forget the password.

If there is a performance hit because the underlying OS is not Windows, I don't see it.

We back up the system MacOS and the Windows Server 2012 VM with CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) -- the copies are exact and can be booted up from the backup RAID arrays immediately simply by choosing to start the backup VM.

I am sure you can do the same with a Windows based machine and VM solutions from either VM Ware or Microsoft. I just found it easier to do this on a Mac platform.

Good luck.

sam-I-am
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 7:58 pm

Re: virtual s/w

Post by sam-I-am » Tue Jun 21, 2016 2:58 am

I think the first reply misunderstood what I was looking for...I'm not looking for web hosting, just looking for a system so that if (when) the computer I run the opendental and apteryx databases on dies, I can get up and running quickly. I assume that if the computer is virtualized, and fully backed up, then in case of failure it would be easier to get that type of setup back running more seamlessly than any other. But perhaps I'm wrong....

So why was it easier on the Mac?. Is it because your familiar with it (I'm not), or is there some inherent advantage? And have you considered the type of constant backup (ala Genie) so that no data is lost at all?

bpcomp
Posts: 304
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:30 am
Location: Tucson, AZ
Contact:

Re: virtual s/w

Post by bpcomp » Wed Jun 22, 2016 4:54 pm

We use a Linux host with VMWare workstation hosting Windows Server 2008 for our domain and serving up Open Dental and our imaging. I chose Linux for it's stability, low resource usage, it's free, and I'm more familiar with it. I wrote some bash scripts which handle all my backups. It mostly breaks down into logging actions, removing backups that are old and then making new backups and moving them around. From the command line it can be as simple as

Code: Select all

vmrun suspend /path/to/virtual/machine.vmx
vmrun clone /path/to/virtual/machine.vmx /path/to/backup/machine.vmx
vmrun start /path/to/virtual/machine.vmx
I chose Workstation over one of the baremetal options because I wanted the setup to be as simple as possible to walk someone through a recovery scenario over the phone or so any reasonably competent computer person could figure out how to get the server back up and running. If the server took a dump and I was out of town, I'm confident that I could walk the Dr through getting a copy of the server running in short order.

Right now we have our servers encrypted, our backup server encrypted, our external USB drives encrypted. The server makes a clone of itself. The clone is then copied to the backup server over the network every night. The copy on the backup server is copied to one of the two external drives. We switch out the drives every morning and one drive goes home with the Dr every night.

All things considered, we have a very similar setup to stjames70. One of the things I love about our setup is that if we are ever hit by the crypto virus, it can eat through our windows network but can't touch Linux where I have backup of the server and all the workstations. I can just delete all the machines, copy the backups over the network and then boot everything up again. We lose 1 day of patient data at most.

If you are interested in looking at my backup scripts, I'd be fine with sharing them.

In response to your question about continuous backup, take a look at this thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5544 We don't have it implemented but have considered it.

drmkpillai
Posts: 58
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2014 1:43 am

Re: virtual s/w

Post by drmkpillai » Thu Jun 23, 2016 12:06 pm

Dear sir,
I have Clinics at 3 different locations,I chose to have a Virtual private server because
1.Its Cheap-Costs about $ 20 a month
2.Auto Daily,weekly and Monthly back up
3.No upfront or maintenance over the period.No hardware or supporting accessories installation or care required.
4.Using RDP,practically no networking issues
5.24 hours on
6.No Data limit or connectivity issues
7.The hosting company gives me Amazing service when required.
8.I have a top end Server that I used Initially to host Opendental, now in hibernation
9.Meets mandatory data standards
10.No space loss due to hardware.
best regards

teethdood
Posts: 267
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:39 am
Location: Visalia, CA
Contact:

Re: virtual s/w

Post by teethdood » Thu Jun 23, 2016 1:45 pm

I have been using Virtualbox (virtualbox.org) for the past 6 years with very few issues (occasional crash every few months, just reboot). It's free but full-featured. Give it a shot and if you need help, just holler. Virtualization is the way to go.
Philip H. Doan, DDS
http://www.kaweahdental.com/

stjames70
Posts: 101
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:24 am

Re: virtual s/w

Post by stjames70 » Sun Jun 26, 2016 5:36 pm

As you are not looking for a web server. (I explored it, and lag times would have bothered me to no end and my local internet provider, Comcast, is not 100% on all the time).

I like Macs because that is the system I have worked with for the better part of 26 years now, and the event of Virtual Machines really has made bare metal OS installations unnecessary in most instances. I think my setup is the easiest to implement as the Mac has very good virtualization and automated commercial backup software. Both bpcomp and teethood also use Virtual Machines and for good reason. They are very easy to back up, as opposed to a full system backup (which I have never found to be easy to startup, specially with Windows systems), and if you get a virus or something nasty, you can just revert back to a clean copy of your virtual machine which you backed up to a safe location.

I think bpcomp's setup is pretty close to what I have, but as I was not about to write my own scripts, I went commercial on the backup solution. Teethood's solution seems to be really great as well, but I wanted something with commercial support (VM Ware).

You are not doing high-end computation, so any performance impact from running virtual machines is negligible when running Open Dental or Dexis. Since your server is going to be at least a five year investment (mine is celebrating eight years running strong), I think your initial hardware choice is only important in the sense that you get a good piece of hardware that either has good support or is easily serviceable.

I have three partners, so we have lots of computers in our office. We have about 20 computers including the server, and I really like the Mac's Remote Desktop software which I use to monitor all the workstations from my server. I don't need to walk to each separate computer to make minor changes, and I can see what my staff is doing with my hardware (they all signed a MOU which states what they can and cannot do with our hardware and the implications of going outside that memorandum of understanding -- and that all computers are my property and that they are monitored at all times so that there is no expectation of privacy). I also use Slink which lets me have secure access to my computers from any remote location (it was very useful when my partners needed some help and I was overseas).

I am currently testing ODrive (Oxygen Drive) https://home.oxygencloud.com with Amazon cloud unlimited. It lets you synchronize any folders in your computer to Amazon cloud drive (or any other cloud service you pick). You open the ODrive desktop client, right click on a folder and choose to have it sync to Amazon Cloud drive. In theory, constant backup of specified folders occurs real time due to synchronization. Oh yes, I forgot, AES-256 bit encryption as the folder is synchronized to the Amazon cloud.

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