As the subj. Says is it possible to load up the rockstor as the main os and load kvm on it to make the store a vm server. I have been trying to setup a centos7 vm and file server. But I want a nice web gui to manage the server and vm. Rockstor looks like a nice file server with web ui, so if I load kvm and say cloudmin on it, can it also be a vm server?
It can certainly be. It’s been suggested that we add some KVM support on the webui, which sounds like a great idea to me. I think we should pursue it some day soon.
In the meantime, since you are not restricted in any way by Rockstor, I suggest you get going with tools like cloudmin and share your results here.
Will do that. However I want to ask several kore questions and see if someone has a reasonable answers for me.
Q1. The rockstor is based on a later centos7 kernel. Not the regular one, so it should support all standard centos7 options but more?
Q2. A rockstor is basically an add on to the distro, an integrated one but still add on. So underneath is still a basic centos os?
Q3. If I load up the kvm on rockstor I can use the base system as a host and datastore. If I am reading all reviews rockstore is similar to open media vault setup, but can I use it to be a virtualizing host system that also serves as data store for all guests, vm and physical all around?
I know for a fact that it is a hastle to setup like this on omv, tried it.
Yes, Rockstor ships with a later kernel from elrepo.org where the kernel is built with same config as a rhel7 or centos7 kernel with some added options as needed. The main benefit for us is that we can get almost latest btrfs code without deviating more than what’s necessary from centos.
Yes. In the true spirit of free software. You are not restricted in anyway. In fact, of it interests you, tinker and change things as much as you want to.
Yes. I’ll let you be the judge as to how much of a hassle it could be. I do think that this is a great feature down the line. So all your findings would be of use to the community. So please do share your findings, even if they are unfavorable 
I might not be the best person to judge if outcome is not favorable, I am somewhat self taught noob in linux. I am trying to setup a vm /file server for home. So far settled on cent os +cloudmin/webmin
But maybe rockstor is a good option for me
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, and before I do a trial run I have one more question.
I understand that rockstor prefer raw devices, but will it honor an existing pools on partitioned drives?
I have a pool of 1 3tb and 4 2tb drives in raid1.
Will rockstor work with it, or will I need to disassemble the pool and add drives to rockstor.
The pool is not even half full so it would only be nuisance but not big trouble to do it.
Good question. No it doesn’t attempt to import from partitioned drives, sorry. This was a deliberate design choice on our part because supporting various operations with possible partitions complicates the code way too much.
Ok, so once I have it setup, I would plugin my pool and disassemble one drive at a time. And add this disks to the rockstor pool. Got it.