CasaOS on DietPi x86 under ESXi

[mousethatischarles]

I'm very much enjoying CasaOS and thought I'd go though my set up for any interested as it's been very reliable.
CasaOS v0.4.9
DietPi v9.6 x86
ESXi 8.0U2
HP Gen8 Microserver, 16mb, Xeon E3-1240 v2 - no extra cooling required as I'm running a Tesla P4 with blower glued to the end!

CasaOS
-addition of a folder @ /var/lib/casaos/www/www
This allows me to have my own web page @ http://IPv4/www/ Useful for local testing or indeed addition of further functions. Updates to CasaOS wipe this out, so (currently) a backup copy of the folder is needed.
-addition of a script so SAMBA shares show up more reliably on Windows machines - there's a few options on github
-I've edited the /etc/samba/smb.conf file (reports DO NOT MODIFY!) with:

[global]
## Browsing/Identification ###
   workgroup = <Your Workgroup Name Here>
   name resolve order = bcast host lmhosts wins
## netbios name = <The Published Name of Your Server Here>
## fruit settings
   min protocol = SMB2
   ea support = yes
## vfs objects = fruit streams_xattr
   fruit:metadata = stream
   fruit:model = Macmini
   fruit:veto_appledouble = no
   fruit:posix_rename = yes
   fruit:zero_file_id = yes
   fruit:wipe_intentionally_left_blank_rfork = yes
   fruit:delete_empty_adfiles = yes
   map to guest = bad user
## hosts allow = 192.168.0.0/16
## hosts deny = 0.0.0.0/0
   include=/etc/samba/smb.casa.conf

...for a bit better behaviour, and edited /etc/samba/smb.casa.conf to add:

[www]
comment = CasaOS share www
public = Yes
path = /var/lib/casaos/www/www
browseable = Yes
read only = No
guest ok = Yes
create mask = 0777
directory mask = 0777
force user = root

...for network access to my added webpage folder, among a few additions - nothing wrong with CasaOS GUI file sharing, but it's currently light on options. Note - updates do not mess with manual additions to the SAMBA files. :-)

DietPi:
A very lightweight Debian-based distro originally developed for the Raspberry Pi, now has versions for all sorts of SBCs, x86 / x64 computers, and VMs - very easy to use, very configurable, very lightweight - highly recommended if you need a base OS to do a job or two, or indeed you want to configure a lightweight desktop environment - I actually use the Native PC version under ESXi rather than the VM version, simply so I can set it up exactly as I want rather than go with a 'ready made' I might need to edit after the fact.
-ZRAM installed to help reduce system requirements still further while keeping up performance - works very well
-I would honestly suggest the CasaOS team look in to making Diet Pi it's preferred base OS.

ESXI:
My preferred VM host, for no better than it's what I know... looking in to a change to Proxmox given all the messing about of late. ;-(
-My smallest VM happily running a Pi Hole on DietPi+ZRAM = 1vCPU, 512Mb RAM, 8Gb vHDD, one vNIC
-CasaOS on DietPi+ZRAM + Dockers inc Jellyfin and GPU passthrough = 2vCPU, 2Gb RAM, 128Gb vHDD, one vNIC, 12Tb filestore
-VM running Windows Sunshine > Moonlight - Games + RetroBat = 4vCPU, 6Gb RAM, 256Gb, 2Tb vHDDs, Tesla P4 GPU, two vNICs
-Other VMs... including OpenWRT 'router' = 2x USB WiFi passthrough and a couple of vNICs

I hope that's of help / interest to some.

My sincere thanks to the CasaOS team for their surprisingly functional but friendly to use software - do please keep up the good work!

I not a lover of things-Linux.
Largely because it's never a good or productive user experience, being made for 'tinkerers' by 'tinkerers' instead of for people who want their OS and software to aid productivity rather than being the purpose. Made all the more annoying by having been around computers since the mid 70s and about as 'over' command-line interfaces as anyone could be.
So CasaOS being so nicely put together and genuinely user-friendly is a doubly nice surprise!