Vmware + NAS

Currently i have a VPS with Memset [memset.com], it's a fab little box and I've had no troubles with it what so ever. It runs about 5 of my websites, both for personal and business use. However with a new baby on the way it's time to take stock of things and make cut backs. Unfortunately the VPS has to go :(

My problem now is, where do i host my websites? Luckily I work for an ISP so if necessary could host them there, but i'm a techy and a geek, where would the fun be in that?

Here's what I have at home. A desktop PC with 2.5GB, 120gb hdd and a 500GB NAS....ok you can see from the title where i'm going here :)

I've installed VMWARE esxi on the machine, and installed Windows 2008 server onto the box. I wanted all the drive space for backups etc. [This setup i'm using isn't ideal and if i had multiple, dedicated machines i'd do it totally different]. I then wanted a webserver, i was going to purchase a new hdd for it and put it directly into the box, but as i mentioned earlier, i'm making cutbacks.

VMWARE has the ability to create storage areas on volumes other than the dedicated HDD's in the machine, this is where the NAS comes in. You need to enable NFS on the NAS as this is what VMWARE will connect through, and create a share. Once done you can use VMWARE to create a storage volume on the NAS that you can use to create a new VPS on.

I did have a problem with my NAS at first, the latest stable firm where for the Netgear Nas Duo wouldn't allow the server to connect to it, so creating a volume was impossible, it just wouldn't work. I trawled the internet and no one had a definitive answer...it was driving me nuts. What's this Netgear? A Beta version of the new NAS firmware.....ah sod it let's give it a go [I wouldn't recommend doing this as it could potentially hose your hardware, but i'm a nutter and didn't really care :)]

Install firmware BAM! VMWARE storage on NAS BAM! Sorted...Brilliant.

Ok so now i have

VMware running on my desktop machine, which has windows 2008 running on it's local HDD, i'm also running Centos Linux from the NAS, it seems ok, however there is a little lag when using mysql but for what i use it for it's usable.

Migrating all my sites as we speak, then i can cancel the Memset VPS [when i have more funding i'll be back :)]

It's not the most ideal of setups and is certainly hacked together badly, but it seems to be working OK, i'll leave it running for a bit and see what happens, i can always move over to works systems.