Linux Blimp

Helios4 is ARM-based open source NAS SBC (Single-board computer) for Linux. This NAS (Network Attached Storage) comes with 4 SATA 3.0 port and comes with ECC memory. Let us see some details about the Helios4 Arm-Based Open Source NAS SBC and ongoing Kickstarter camping.

What is network-attached storage (NAS)?

NAS is an acronym for Network-attached storage. A NAS server or computer can store and retrieve files from a centralized location on your LAN or Intranet. NAS device typically uses Ethernet-based connections and do not have display output. NAS do not need keyboard or mouse to operate. You can manage your NAS using an ssh-based tool or browser-based configuration tool.

NAS allows users to share data using standard protocols such as NFS, CIFS, SSH, iSCSI, FTP, SSH and more. You can turn NAS into a personal cloud. NAS supports MS-Windows, macOS, Linux and Unix clients. Advanced NAS features may include full-disk encryption and virtualization support.

Helios4 Arm-Based Open Source NAS SBC For Linux

Helios4 is an ARM-based device specially designed for Network Attached Storage (NAS). The ARMADA 38x-MicroSoM from SolidRun is main SoC (system on chip) for Helios4. Kobol claims that the specs for Helios4 are open source and it is an open hardware project.

Helios4 hardware specification

1. CPU – Marvell Armada 388 (88F6828) ARM Cortex-A9. ARMv7 32-bit. Dual Core 1.6 Ghz.
2. CPU feature – RAID acceleration engines and security acceleration engines
3. RAM – 2GB DDR3L ECC
4. SATA 3.0 Ports – 4
5. GbE LAN Port – 1
6. USB 3.0 ports – 2
7. microSD (SDIO 3.0) – 1
8. GPIO – 12
9. I2C – 1
10. UART – 1 (via onboard Micro-USB converter)
11. SPI NOR Flash – 32Mbit onboard
12. PWM FAN – 2
13. DC input – 12V / 8A

Helios4 SBC

Helios4 software specification

1. Armbian Linux operating system
2. Mdadm for RAID support on Linux
3. OpenMediaVault Linux NAS operating system
4. FreeBSD head
5. U-Boot the Universal Boot Loader for SBC. You need it for both Linux and FreeBSD

Helios4 pricing

Helios4 Price

• Full Kit (2GB RAM ECC) – USD 194.60 + VAT + Shipping
• Basic Kit (2GB RAM ECC) – USD 176.20 + VAT + Shipping

Conclusion

Overall Helios4 is a low-cost and a sturdy energy-efficient SoC NAS. It can run both Linux and FreeBSD (head) Unix operating system. It comes with 2GB ECC ram for data protection. It supports software RAID and maxes out disk support up to 48TB (4 x 12TB disks). The price is competitive too. I think it a hackers dream system due to open hardware and open source software. You can order it online here and find more information here.

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.

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What Vagrant actually does is provide a way of automating the building of virtualized development environments using a variety of the most popular providers, such as VirtualBox, VMware, AWS and others. It not only handles the initial setup of the virtual machine, it can also provision the virtual machine based on your specifications, so it provides a consistent environment which can be shared and distributed to others.

The first step, obviously, is to get Vagrant itself installed and working — and as it turns out, doing that requires getting at least one of the virtual machine providers installed and working. In the case of the Kali distribution for Vagrant, this means getting VirtualBox installed.

Fortunately, both VirtualBox and Vagrant are available in the repositories of most of the popular Linux distributions. I typically work on openSUSE Tumbleweed, and I was able to install both of them from the YAST Software Management tool. I have also checked that both are available on Manjaro, Debian Testing and Linux Mint. I didn’t find Vagrant on Fedora, but there are several articles in the Fedora Developer Portal which describe installing and using it.

Read more at ZDNet

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Comparing Spinnaker and Kubernetes in this way is somewhat unfair to both projects. The scale, scope, and magnitude of these technologies are different, but parallels can still be drawn.

Just like Kubernetes, Spinnaker is a technology that is battle tested, with Netflix using Spinnaker internally for continuous delivery. Like Kubernetes, Spinnaker is backed by some of the biggest names in the industry, which helps breed confidence among users. Most importantly, though, both projects are open source, designed to build a diverse and inclusive ecosystem around them.

Frankenstein’s Monster

Continuous Delivery (CD) is a solved problem, but it has been a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster, with companies trying to build their own creations by stitching parts together, along with Jenkins. “We tried to build a lot of custom continuous delivery tooling, but they all fell short of our expectation,” said Brandon Leach, Sr. Manager of Platform Engineering at Lookout.

“We were using Jenkins along with tools like Rundeck, but both had their own set of problems. While Rundeck didn’t have a first-class deployment tool, Jenkins was becoming a nightmare and we ended up moving to Gitlabs,” said Gard Voigt Rimestad of Schibsted, a major Norwegian media group.

Netflix created a more elegant way for continuous delivery called Asgard, open sourced in 2012, which was designed to run Netflix’s own workload on AWS. Many companies were using Asgard, including Schibsted, and it was gaining momentum. But it was tied closely to the kind of workload Netflix was running with AWS. Bigger companies who liked Asgard forked it to run their own workloads. IBM forked it twice to make it work with Docker containers.

IBM’s forking of Asgard was an eye-opening experience for Netflix. At that point, Netflix had started looking into containerized workloads, and IBM showed how it could be done with Asgard.

Google was also planning to fork Asgard to make it work on Google Compute Engine. By that time, Netflix had started working on the successor to Asgard, called Spinnaker. “Before Google could fork the project, we managed to convince Google to collaborate on Spinnaker instead of forking Asgard. Pivotal also joined in,” said Andy Glover, shepherd of Spinnaker and Director of Delivery Engineering at Netflix. The rest is history.

Continuous popularity

There are many factors at play that contribute to the popularity and adoption of Spinnaker. First and foremost, it’s a proven technology that’s been used at Netflix. It instills confidence in users. “Spinnaker is the way Netflix deploys its services. They do things at the scale we don’t do in AWS. That was compelling,” said Leach.

The second factor is the powerful community around Spinnaker that includes heavyweights like Microsoft, Google, and Netflix. “These companies have engineers on their staff that are dedicated to working on Spinnaker,” added Leach.

Governance

In October 2018, the Spinnaker community organized its first official Spinnaker Summit in Seattle. During the Summit, the community announced the governance structure for the project.

“Initially, there will be a steering committee and a technical oversight committee. At the moment Google and Netflix are steering the governance body, but we would like to see more diversity,” said Steven Kim, Google’s Software Engineering Manager who leads the Google team that works on Spinnaker. The broader community is organized around a set of special interest groups (SIGs) that enable users to focus on particular areas of interest.

“There are users who have deployed Spinnaker in their environment, but they are often intimidated by two big players like Google and Netflix. The governance structure will enable everyone to be able to have a voice in the community,” said Kim.

At the moment, the project is being run by Google and Netflix, but eventually, it may be donated to an organization that has a better infrastructure for managing such projects. “It could be the OpenStack Foundation, CNCF, or the Apache Foundation,” said Boris Renski, Co-founder and CMO of Mirantis.

I met with more than a dozen users at the Summit, and they were extremely bullish about Spinnaker. Companies are already using it in a way even Netflix didn’t envision. Since continuous delivery is at the heart of multi-cloud strategy, Spinnaker is slowly but steadily starting to beat at the heart of many companies.

Spinnaker might not become as big as Kubernetes, due to its scope, but it’s certainly becoming as important. Spinnaker has made some bold promises, and I am sure it will continue to deliver on them.

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