Debian Archives - credativ®

Introduction

Last Saturday, August 9, the Debian project released the latest version of the Linux distribution “Debian.” Version 13 is also known as ‘Trixie’ and, like its predecessor “Bookworm,” contains many new features and improvements. Since some credativ employees are also active members of the Debian project, the new version is naturally a special reason for us to take a look at some of its highlights.

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From July 14 to 19, 2025, this year’s Debian Conference (DebConf25) is taking place in Brest, Western France, with over 450 participants – the central meeting of the global Debian community. The DebConf annually brings together developers, maintainers, contributors, and enthusiasts to collaboratively work on the free Linux distribution Debian and exchange ideas on current developments.

credativ is once again participating as a sponsor this year – and is also represented on-site by several employees.

A Week Dedicated to Free Software

DebConf25 offers a diverse program with over 130 sessions: technical presentations, discussion panels, workshops, and BoF sessions (“Birds of a Feather”) on a wide variety of topics from the Debian ecosystem. Some key topics this year:

Many of the presentations will, as always, be recorded and are publicly available on video.debian.net, or can be viewed live via https://debconf25.debconf.org/.

Credativ’s Commitment – not just On-Site

As a long-standing part of the Debian community, it is natural for credativ to contribute as a sponsor to DebConf again in 2025. Furthermore, our colleagues Bastian, Martin, and Noël are on-site to exchange ideas with other developers, attend presentations or BoFs, and experience current trends in the community.

Especially for companies focused on professional open-source services, Debian remains a cornerstone – whether in data centers, in the embedded sector, or in complex infrastructure projects.

Debian Remains Relevant – both Technically and Culturally

Debian is not only one of the most stable and reliable Linux distributions but also represents a special form of community and collaboration. The open, transparent, and decentralized organization of the project remains exemplary to this day.

For us at credativ, the Debian project has always been a central element of our work – and at the same time, a community to which we actively contribute through technical contributions, package maintenance, and long-term commitment.

Thank You, DebConf Team!

Heartfelt thanks go to the DebConf25 organizing team, as well as to all helpers who made this great conference possible. Brest is a beautiful and fitting venue with fresh Atlantic air, a relaxed atmosphere, and ample space for exchange and collaboration.

Outlook for 2026

Planning for DebConf26 is already underway. We look forward to the next edition of DebConf, which will take place in Santa Fe, Argentina – and to continuing to be part of this vibrant and important community in the future.

DebConf 2024 from 28. July to 4. Aug 2024 https://debconf24.debconf.org/

Last week the annual Debian Community Conference DebConf happend in Busan, South Korea. Four NetApp employees (Michael, Andrew, Christop and Noël) participated the whole week at the Pukyong National University. The camp takes place before the conference, where the infrastructure is set up and the first collaborations take place. The camp is described in a separate article: https://www.credativ.de/en/blog/credativ-inside/debcamp-bootstrap-for-debconf24/
There was a heat wave with high humidity in Korea at the time but the venue and accommodation at the University are air conditioned so collaboration work, talks and BoF were possible under the circumstances.

Around 400 Debian enthusiasts from all over the world were onsite and additional people attended remotly with the video streaming and the Matrix online chat #debconf:matrix.debian.social

The content team created a schedule with different aspects of Debian; technical, social, political,….
https://debconf24.debconf.org/schedule/

There were two bigger announcements during DebConf24:

  1. the new distribution eLxr https://elxr.org/ based on Debian initiated by Windriver
    https://debconf24.debconf.org/talks/138-a-unified-approach-for-intelligent-deployments-at-the-edge/
    Two takeaway points I understood from this talk is Windriver wants to exchange CentOS and preferes a binary distribution.
  2. The Debian package management system will get a new solver https://debconf24.debconf.org/talks/8-the-new-apt-solver/

The list of interesting talks is much longer from a full conference week. Most talks and BoF were streamed live and the recordings can be found in the video archive:
https://meetings-archive.debian.net/pub/debian-meetings/2024/DebConf24/

It is a tradtion to have a Daytrip for socializing and get a more interesting view of the city and the country. https://wiki.debian.org/DebConf/24/DayTrip/ (sorry the details of the three Daytrip are on the website for participants).

For the annual conference group photo we have to go outsite into the heat with high humidity but I hope you will not see us sweeting.

The Debian Conference 2025 will be in July in Brest, France: https://wiki.debian.org/DebConf/25/ and we will be there.:) Maybe it will be a chance for you to join us.

See also Debian News: DebConf24 closes in Busan and DebConf25 dates announced

In the world of virtualization, ensuring data redundancy and high availability is crucial. Proxmox Virtual Environment (PVE) is a powerful open-source platform for enterprise virtualization, combining KVM hypervisor and LXC containers. One of the key features that Proxmox offers is local storage replication, which helps in maintaining data integrity and availability in case of hardware failures. In this blog post, we will delve into the concept of local storage replication in Proxmox, its benefits, and how to set it up.

What is Local Storage Replication?

Local storage replication in Proxmox refers to the process of duplicating data from one local storage device to another within the same Proxmox cluster. This ensures that if one storage device fails, the data is still available on another device, thereby minimizing downtime and data loss. This is particularly useful in environments where high availability is critical.

Benefits

  1. Data Redundancy: By replicating data across multiple storage devices, you ensure that a copy of your data is always available, even if one device fails.
  2. High Availability: In the event of hardware failure, the system can quickly switch to the replicated data, ensuring minimal disruption to services.

Caveat

Please note that data loss may occur between the last synchronization of the data and the failure of the node. Otherwise use shared storage (Ceph, NFS, …) in a cluster if you can not tolerate any small data loss.

Setting Up Local Storage Replication in Proxmox

Setting up local storage replication in Proxmox involves a few steps. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

Step 1: Prepare Your Environment

Ensure that you have a Proxmox cluster set up with at least two nodes. Each node should have local ZFS storage configured.

Step 2: Configure Storage Replication

  1. Access the Proxmox Web Interface: Log in to the Proxmox web interface.
  2. Navigate to Datacenter: In the left-hand menu, click on Datacenter.
  3. Select Storage: Under the Datacenter menu, click on Storage.
  4. Add Storage: Click on Add and select the type of storage you want to replicate.
  5. Configure Storage: Fill in the required details for the ZFS storage (one local storage per node).

Step 3: Set Up Replication

  1. Navigate to the Node: In the left-hand menu, select the node where you want to set up replication.
  2. Select the VM/CT: Click on the virtual machine (VM) or container (CT) you want to replicate.
  3. Configure Replication: Go to the Replication tab and click on Add.
  4. Select Target Node: Choose the target node where the data will be replicated to.
  5. Schedule Replication: Set the replication schedule according to your needs (e.g. every 5 minutes, hourly).

Step 4: Monitor Replication

Once replication is set up, you can monitor its status in the Replication tab. Proxmox provides detailed logs and status updates to help you ensure that replication is functioning correctly.

Best Practices for Local Storage Replication

  1. Regular Backups: While replication provides redundancy, it is not a substitute for regular backups. Ensure that you have a robust backup strategy in place. Use tools like the Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) for this task.
  2. Monitor Storage Health: Regularly check the health of your storage devices to preemptively address any issues.
  3. Test Failover: Periodically test the failover process to ensure that your replication setup works as expected in case of an actual failure.
  4. Optimize Replication Schedule: Balance the replication frequency with your performance requirements and network bandwidth to avoid unnecessary load.

Conclusion

Local storage replication in Proxmox is a powerful feature that enhances data redundancy and high availability. By following the steps outlined in this blog post, you can set up and manage local storage replication in your Proxmox environment, ensuring that your data remains safe and accessible even in the face of hardware failures. Remember to follow best practices and regularly monitor your replication setup to maintain optimal performance and reliability.

You can find further information here about the Proxmox storage replication:

https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Storage_Replication
https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/chapter-pvesr.html

Happy virtualizing!