NAS/Media Server and Hareware Decision

[SwiftHare05]

I want to build a NAS/Media server for my family to access anywhere where Internet is accessible. They should be able to add/remove/view their own content. They should also have limited rights for other users content. I want this server to be an idea of any enterprise cloud server but much smaller scale obviously and building it in a PC case while running 24/7.

 

Is this possible with consumer grade hardware so the server won't crash/freeze or do I need enterprise level? If possible, what "typical" hardware do I need to view and stream UHD videos smoothly from multiple devices at once while the server is uploading content?

 

I'm not much of a programmer but a technician and technology enthusiast like many others. I'm also not afraid to write code if necessary as long as it works efficiently.

 

Thanks ahead of time all!

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

How many streams at once? Do you need to transcode the streams?

 

Do you plan on using something like plex?

 

Just streaming takes very little cpu power, but transcoding takes a good amount.

 

But something like a i5 10400 should work well here, pretty low power, and enough cpu power for most tasks a home could need.

[LIGISTX]

9 minutes ago, SwiftHare05 said:

I want to build a NAS/Media server for my family to access anywhere where Internet is accessible. They should be able to add/remove/view their own content. They should also have limited rights for other users content. I want this server to be an idea of any enterprise cloud server but much smaller scale obviously and building it in a PC case while running 24/7.

 

Is this possible with consumer grade hardware so the server won't crash/freeze or do I need enterprise level? If possible, what "typical" hardware do I need to view and stream UHD videos smoothly from multiple devices at once while the server is uploading content?

 

I'm not much of a programmer but a technician and technology enthusiast like many others. I'm also not afraid to write code if necessary as long as it works efficiently.

 

Thanks ahead of time all!

 

 

This..... is a very deep and wide ranging question and there is no way one post is going to get you there. I have a homelab with freenas running on it virtually, and its fantastic - but that doesn't mean freenas is for you, there are many options.

 

As far as hardware goes, my homelab is an i3, on a "server" grade mobo and ECC RAM (i3's support ECC, i5's and i7's do not, all AMD CPU's do as well but AMD is a little bit iffy still for "server" OS's, but they are much better supported then they were pre-Ryzen), and you don't even need a "server" mobo, I just got a really good deal on mine; it was basically free.

 

If you use plex to stream content which i recommend, UHD takes 0 amount of CPU or RAM to stream assuming your direct playing it, as in your TV can play UHD (and HDR if its 4k HDR content). Basically, if you have to transcode, don't transcode 4k down to anything else; have a 4k copy and a 1080p copy. Direct playing takes no resources, and 1080p transcode isn't hard, my i3 can do 3 simultaneous trancodes of 1080p to 720p and I only give my plex VM 2 of my 4 total threads..... But 4k........ the first rule of 4K transcoding is don't even try, the second rule is don't bother, the third rule is reference rules 1 and 2.

 

The rest....... is just a lot of research on your part. Its all very possible, its just a lot of research to try and figure out where you want to be hardware wise. We can help, but we can't do it all for you. Lots of googling is in your future :).

 

Google freenas, unraid, and ZFS. Those are good search terms to get you going on the right path to gaining knowledge about what your actually asking. Then google plex, then google Freenas Plex etc

 

Also for reference, my i3 and 28 GB of RAM is enough for freenas, 3 ubuntu server, and a windows LTSC VM...... All run happily. And my Freenas has a vdev of 10x4 TB drives in RAID Z2 and a single 10 TB drive on its own for "throw away data" is it has no redundancy, and freenas I give 16 GB of RAM which is plenty for a home home back/plex server situation. 

[SwiftHare05]

23 hours ago, LIGISTX said:

This..... is a very deep and wide ranging question and there is no way one post is going to get you there. I have a homelab with freenas running on it virtually, and its fantastic - but that doesn't mean freenas is for you, there are many options.

 

As far as hardware goes, my homelab is an i3, on a "server" grade mobo and ECC RAM (i3's support ECC, i5's and i7's do not, all AMD CPU's do as well but AMD is a little bit iffy still for "server" OS's, but they are much better supported then they were pre-Ryzen), and you don't even need a "server" mobo, I just got a really good deal on mine; it was basically free.

 

If you use plex to stream content which i recommend, UHD takes 0 amount of CPU or RAM to stream assuming your direct playing it, as in your TV can play UHD (and HDR if its 4k HDR content). Basically, if you have to transcode, don't transcode 4k down to anything else; have a 4k copy and a 1080p copy. Direct playing takes no resources, and 1080p transcode isn't hard, my i3 can do 3 simultaneous trancodes of 1080p to 720p and I only give my plex VM 2 of my 4 total threads..... But 4k........ the first rule of 4K transcoding is don't even try, the second rule is don't bother, the third rule is reference rules 1 and 2.

 

The rest....... is just a lot of research on your part. Its all very possible, its just a lot of research to try and figure out where you want to be hardware wise. We can help, but we can't do it all for you. Lots of googling is in your future :).

 

Google freenas, unraid, and ZFS. Those are good search terms to get you going on the right path to gaining knowledge about what your actually asking. Then google plex, then google Freenas Plex etc

 

Also for reference, my i3 and 28 GB of RAM is enough for freenas, 3 ubuntu server, and a windows LTSC VM...... All run happily. And my Freenas has a vdev of 10x4 TB drives in RAID Z2 and a single 10 TB drive on its own for "throw away data" is it has no redundancy, and freenas I give 16 GB of RAM which is plenty for a home home back/plex server situation. 

Very interesting and useful information you provided. Thank you and I really appreciate the feedback. Now that I have a better idea I'll continue to do more research.  Thanks again!

[SwiftHare05]

23 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How many streams at once? Do you need to transcode the streams?

 

Do you plan on using something like plex?

 

Just streaming takes very little cpu power, but transcoding takes a good amount.

 

But something like a i5 10400 should work well here, pretty low power, and enough cpu power for most tasks a home could need.

I'm still trying to decide on a transcoder since I'm sure I'll need a couple of them for a few users at once to stream. Also an i5 10400 should be sufficient but then I'm not really sure what I will actually need,  lol. I mean this server is going to be online for dozens of users. I've build a raspberry pi nas as a little project years ago for home use. Now I'm going to run a tower online shop I have a general idea even though this project will be much bigger. I'll just have to continue more research and continue from there.  Thank you very much for your response.