iSCSI FreeNAS + Win2k16 Plex?

[dalekphalm]

I finally got some progress done on my server Reno and I've made a lot of progress.

 

Server hardware is now running ESXi 6.5. My HBA is using PCI Passthrough to a FreeNAS 9.10.2 VM. I've created a RAIDZ1 6x3TB 18TB array.

 

I've also created a second VM for Win2k16 running Plex.

 

Currently I'm using FreeNAS to share the RAIDZ1 pool to various shares, and on the Win2k16 server, I've mapped the shares to drive letters and I'm using them for Plex.

 

My question is this:

Can I (And if yes, should I) use iSCSI on the RAIDZ1 pool to give the Win2k16 server "direct attach" access to the pool for purposes of streamlining Plex? I would prefer FreeNAS to still handle the Shares, but for the Win2k16 server to also get iSCSI access to the same folders. Is this possible?

 

Alternative setups:

1. Continue as is - FreeNAS shares the folders, Win2k16 Plex maps them like any other computer

2. iSCSI the pool to Win2k16 and create and share the shares using Windows (Seems a bit roundabout to me)

 

Thoughts?

[Electronics Wizardy]

13 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

but for the Win2k16 server to also get iSCSI access to the same folders. Is this possible?

no easy way to have iscsi and and see folders on the host(and you shouldn't unless the filesystem is built for it like gfs and vmfs which are cluster aware filesystems instead of ones like ntfs, zfs, refs, and ext4).

 

14 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Can I (And if yes, should I) use iSCSI on the RAIDZ1 pool to give the Win2k16 server "direct attach" access to the pool for purposes of streamlining Plex? I would prefer FreeNAS to still handle the Shares, but for the Win2k16 server to also get iSCSI access to the same folders. Is this possible?

Id probaly just use samba/cifs the performance isn't much worse, esp for something like plex that doesn't really need much performance.

 

Id just use a folder share.

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

no easy way to have iscsi and and see folders on the host(and you shouldn't unless the filesystem is built for it like gfs and vmfs which are cluster aware filesystems instead of ones like ntfs, zfs, refs, and ext4).

 

Id probaly just use samba/cifs the performance isn't much worse, esp for something like plex that doesn't really need much performance.

 

Id just use a folder share.

Fair enough - I'm okay with that, since it keeps the configuration simpler.

[Komadi]

15 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

I finally got some progress done on my server Reno and I've made a lot of progress.

 

Server hardware is now running ESXi 6.5. My HBA is using PCI Passthrough to a FreeNAS 9.10.2 VM. I've created a RAIDZ1 6x3TB 18TB array.

 

I've also created a second VM for Win2k16 running Plex.

 

Currently I'm using FreeNAS to share the RAIDZ1 pool to various shares, and on the Win2k16 server, I've mapped the shares to drive letters and I'm using them for Plex.

 

My question is this:

Can I (And if yes, should I) use iSCSI on the RAIDZ1 pool to give the Win2k16 server "direct attach" access to the pool for purposes of streamlining Plex? I would prefer FreeNAS to still handle the Shares, but for the Win2k16 server to also get iSCSI access to the same folders. Is this possible?

 

Alternative setups:

1. Continue as is - FreeNAS shares the folders, Win2k16 Plex maps them like any other computer

2. iSCSI the pool to Win2k16 and create and share the shares using Windows (Seems a bit roundabout to me)

 

Thoughts?

Why don't you just run Plex on FreeNAS? That seems like the simpelest solution. It is very easy to setup using the plugin/jails system.

[dalekphalm]

4 hours ago, Koenyie said:

Why don't you just run Plex on FreeNAS? That seems like the simpelest solution. It is very easy to setup using the plugin/jails system.

I used to, but ran into unforeseen issues w/ Plex - transcoding issues of some kind - when pausing, fast forwarding, or rewinding, then playing, the video would suddenly start playing at many times the speed of audio (which played fine). So you'd hear the show/movie as normal, but in 5 minutes, the movie's video portion would be at the credits already.

 

Troubleshooting this via FreeNAS proved troublesome, as there was little info to go on (Lots of transcoding info, but none of this specific issue - often the solution was "update plex", which is useless info).

 

So by running it on Windows Server, it's a platform I'm infinitely more familiar with - and when I ran my old Plex Server on my old server hardware under Windows, it ran well.

[Nikolithebear]

Im currently working on a project similar to this however Im working with two physical boxes.  Im using the FreeNAS file share of the media content for the Windows Server Plex Server to grab over the network.  iSCI seems abit over kill but that can work too. 

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, Nikolithebear said:

Im currently working on a project similar to this however Im working with two physical boxes.  Im using the FreeNAS file share of the media content for the Windows Server Plex Server to grab over the network.  iSCI seems abit over kill but that can work too. 

When looking through FreeNAS Sharing menu, seems like I can just "share" the existing Volumes using iSCSI. I probably won't bother using it, mind you, but it seems like this is what I'd use if I wanted to change my setup.

[Nikolithebear]

5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

When looking through FreeNAS Sharing menu, seems like I can just "share" the existing Volumes using iSCSI. I probably won't bother using it, mind you, but it seems like this is what I'd use if I wanted to change my setup.

Im no expert in freenas what so ever, I just use it for simple ZFS configuration and a GUI to monitor things.  but that does sound like a good idea.  I tried to install plex like you did and ran into all sorts of issues wiether it be playback issues or just getting the container to find my media. Ugh.  

[dalekphalm]

Just now, Nikolithebear said:

Im no expert in freenas what so ever, I just use it for simple ZFS configuration and a GUI to monitor things.  but that does sound like a good idea.  I tried to install plex like you did and ran into all sorts of issues wiether it be playback issues or just getting the container to find my media. Ugh.  

I found Plex setup easy enough for FreeNAS but went back to Windows for it due to much better knowledge or control.

[leadeater]

It shouldn't make much difference, I went with iSCSI to my Server 2016 Plex VM but my setup is a little different. The Plex server is actually my friends and we share the server but it's located at his house, I did iSCSI since it was better for isolation of resources. I also use a Server 2016 storage server and not FreeNAS but makes little difference either way.