We are pleased to announce the release of Synex Server 13 Beta 2, with improvements in storage compatibility and boot fixes on EFI installations, while maintaining the philosophy of a minimalist and stable system aimed at businesses and professional users.
In this second beta, the focus has been on improving the installation and disk management experience, especially in scenarios with LVM and LUKS2 encryption, and on strengthening boot robustness on EFI systems.
synex-lvm-manager: simple management of LVM and LVM on top of LUKS2
The main new feature in this version is synex-lvm-manager, an interactive command-line tool designed specifically for Synex/Debian and aimed at server environments.
The goal of synex-lvm-manager is to reduce the complexity of managing storage without losing technical control. From a guided terminal interface, it allows you to:
- Create and manage physical volumes, volume groups and LVM logical volumes in an assisted way.
- Prepare disks and partitions with LUKS2 encryption, and then integrate them into LVM when needed.
- List and review the state of volumes, free space and available devices before applying changes.
- Integrate changes into the system by updating the corresponding configuration (for example, mount entries and unlock actions at boot), reducing the need for manual editing of sensitive files.
- Execute key actions in the correct order, lowering the risk of errors in complex storage configurations.
The tool is designed for real-world server use cases: from new deployments to test labs where encrypted and LVM-based scenarios are recreated frequently.
Improved compatibility with LVM, LUKS2 and EFI
Together with synex-lvm-manager, Synex Server 13 Beta 2 includes and adjusts the packages needed to ensure better compatibility with:
- LVM: full support to manage logical volumes from the base system.
- LUKS2: improved compatibility for modern encrypted volumes, aligned with the current tools in the Debian ecosystem.
- Boot on EFI systems: issues detected in specific installation scenarios (especially with encrypted setups and use of LVM) have been fixed, improving the reliability of the boot process after installation.
The goal of these changes is that, when installing Synex Server in environments with advanced partitioning, LVM and encryption, the experience is more predictable and robust, both in new installations and in lab tests.
ServerHub: active development and aligned with Synex Server
Although this beta focuses on storage and boot, ServerHub remains the central component of Synex Server and continues in active development.
ServerHub is the management platform that automates the deployment of complete business applications through a simple, modular and traceable TUI interface, designed to save time, ensure consistency and keep full visibility over the changes made to the server.
Synex Server 13 Beta 2 keeps this integration: the idea is that you can safely prepare your storage with synex-lvm-manager and then use ServerHub to deploy the applications you need in just a few minutes.
Beta status and feedback
Synex Server 13 Beta 2 is still a testing version. The system is functional, but these storage and boot changes need validation in more real-world scenarios.
We are especially looking for feedback on:
- Experiences using synex-lvm-manager with different disk layouts.
- Installations with LVM + LUKS2 and EFI boot.
- Use cases combining Synex Server with ServerHub in lab and production environments.
Your bug reports, comments and suggestions help us polish the experience before we reach a stable release.
Download and first steps
To try Synex Server 13 Beta 2:
- Download the Synex Server ISO from here.
- Install Synex Server 13 Beta 2 in your test or lab environment.
As always, we invite you to visit our community forum for documentation, support and project tracking.