Netcup server partitions + Webdav

  • Dear community,


    I am sorry if this is not the right forum section, so please fell free to move it in the right one if I am wrong.

    I am not an expert on IT, so I hope that I will be able to expose my question correctly.


    I work for a company in Vienna and around 3 months ago we have bought a Netcup server, of which I write below the main information:

    Hostname: v2202009129782128009.megasrv.de

    product: VPS 6000 G9 12M iv


    At the moment, we use the server for hosting our Management Software (Bitrix24).

    We would be interested in create some "partitions" of the server, in a way that we could use part of it for Bitrix24, and other parts for hosting other software and platform.

    In particular, we would like to have a partition for Zotero (that needs a WebDav url) and a partition for hosting files.


    Could you please explain me if it is possible and how to do it?

    We also would need information about the WEBDAV and if it's possible to have it on our server.


    Looking forward to your answer, I send you all cordially regards.

    Gaetano

  • Hello Gaetano,


    there are many different ways to "partition" a server.

    It sounds like you need to be able to host multiple URLs, this is usually done with a proxy or webserver like nginx or apache.


    Those are not trivial to configure though - you need to read and understand documentations etc.


    This could be a job for an IT expert - especially when you work with sensible data, customer data etc.

    As you know the GDPR has some sensible fines for data breaches, and the reputation of a company is often endangered when customer's data will be stolen.


    In order to help you we would need more information, what you mean by partitioning - but I doubt that anybody is willing to help you in a way that you can do this easily.


    I think I'm able to help you - I do this stuff for a living and can make sure that your data is reasonably secure.

    This is also true for many others in the forum.


    - Paul

  • Dear Paul,


    thanks a lot for you answer.

    I am not an IT expert, so I will try to explain with my words. Please let me know if further clarifications are needed and I will try to be more clear.


    I would like to divide the server like I usually do for my Hard disk (that's why I talk about "partitions"):

    - a big part of the server should be for Bitrix24, our management platform that is already installed in the server

    - a new "partition" should be for hosting ZOTERO, a free and open-source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials. ZOTERO works with WEBDAV.

    - other possible partitions could host our files, in a while that all the employees have access to them


    I don't know if it is possibile and if it is something that I can manage to do with my limited IT experiense.

    Please let me know if further clarifications are needed or if I should give more information.


    Thanks a lot!

    Bets regards,

    Gaetano

  • Its not possible to "partition" your server the way that you're asking for. Workarounds that come to mind:


    A) use virtual machines on our VPS (=virtual private server)

    - You'll not enjoy that one unless you ask netcup to enable "nested virtualization" which I'm not sure they do on VPS. If they do - its probably not cheap.


    B) get rid of the 'big' VPS6000 and get multiple smaller ones


    C) Simply install multiple programs a.k. services on your VPS6000 - ignoring your idea of paritions


    D) Use containers (docker / podman / ..) for logical separation of your services.
    Via nginx you'd also be able to route multiple subdomains to individual containers. (Same for C, somewhat).
    I've not really investigated how to 'limit' the individual containers in order to not bother the other ones.

    I'd vote for B) as the simplest solution (leaving aside that managing multiple servers w/o automation is creating extra efforts) - I've personally decided to use D).

  • Its not possible to "partition" your server the way that you're asking for.

    Actually it is–think Proxmox in conjunction with LXC containers. (There are reasons why you don't want to use Proxmox on a G9 series RS due to stability issues ATM.)

    Using e.g. LXD–a system container manager, a tool for LXC, an operating-system-level virtualization method–you can basically achieve the same (including logically partitioning your virtual disk drive; think LVM/Btrfs/ZFS–but then, LXC/LXD can even do without those to limit/partition all kinds of resources).


    Having said that: With "limited IT expertise" and/or (virtually) no knowledge regarding the linked references, IMHO the only option to achieve "proper" isolation is to aim for option B suggested by itsmee and/or pay someone to help you understand technical/monetary/time-related requirements regarding both the implementation and management/maintenance of a potential (variety of) solutions regarding your plan in the first place, crybaby .

    VServer IOPS Comparison Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w38zM0Bwbd4VdDCQoi1buo2I-zpwg8e0wVzFGSPh3iE/edit?usp=sharing