Dual Boot,.. Linux NAS + Windows Server

[trkr81]

Sometimes, I find myself needing both, ... a Linux NAS, and a Windows Server. Synology offers Hyper-V support, and that's a great feature, however,.. virtual machines still require a host computer to run a VM environment. Therefore, it's not really a "headless", low power, super efficient configuration. Rather than just adding iSCSI "storage" for a virtual machine, why not allow the NAS to "RUN" the VM also? This way, a user could fire up a VM app, load their windows OS and run a turly headless windows machine without having to run a VM instance from their host computer.

For me,.. this would be the ultimate BAD-NAS storage device.

[sys]

No matter Synology, Asustor or Qnap, all support the virtualization os, namely Hyper-V, Vmware, Citrix Zen; however, NAS works merely as a datastore instead of the computing server. Logically, the application computer vm should be separated from the storage so all the virtualization or redundancy/migration can be there. If application vm and storage are in the same machine, then in case that hardware is defective, then all are gone.

Letting alone the fact that the computer power from Marvell, Atom or even the i3 and the memory of 1G or 2G practically are too weak for running the VMs, but is sufficient if dedicated as storage.

[trkr81]

Thank you for your response. I like the direction that ASUSTOR is going and I believe it will become a major competitor other NAS providers. However, ASUSTOR (in my opinion) will need to offer the standard features + some exclusive features. Currently, there is a growing market space with the demand to run both Linux and Windows from the same NAS. If ASUSTOR gets this right (before the other guys), they'll have a huge advantage in the marketplace.

After researching, I've discovered that Synology can boot PXE with iSCSI. And while there is documentation of successfully booting Linux OS's, an increasing number of Windows enthusiasts are looking for a low-power Windows NAS solution. Some Synology users claim this can be accomplished using PXE and WinPE with iSCSI. That's a lot of work for a newbie.

There are a lot of people pushing for this. Someone is going to do it. Might as well be ASUSTOR.